Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Jasim Al-Azzawi
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Mr Netanyahu comes calling to peddle a war
A Desperate Gamble: Netanyahu’s Agony Benjamin Netanyahu comes to Washington not as the triumphant wartime conqueror, but as a politician on the threshold of political and personal ruin. His two-year campaign against Hamas has disintegrated into a strategic debacle. Despite its sheer military superiority, Israel remains mired in an unwinnable…
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Washington’s favorite delusion: Hamas without weapons
For years, a single line has been repeated like a catechism in Washington and Tel Aviv: Hamas must disarm, dissolve itself, and politely exit Gaza. This demand is presented as a non-negotiable precondition for any sustainable peace, an iron law of security. Yet, to anyone who has read a history…
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Pakistan’s nuclear gamble: The new great game in the Middle East
Three capitals —Washington, Tel Aviv, and Tehran —are suddenly recalculating after a development that, on the surface, appeared to be routine defence cooperation. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan’s deepening strategic ties have carried whispers of something larger: a pathway, however tentative, toward Riyadh acquiring nuclear capability should it decide that Iran’s…
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The Palestinian recognition cascade: America’s diplomatic isolation
The series of Palestinian recognition by key Western allies is a seismic shift in the international status quo Washington has spent decades constructing. When Britain joined Canada, Australia, and Portugal in recognising Palestinian statehood, it was not a gesture of goodwill—it was a thunderous strategic shift that threatens to leave…
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Release the Gaza tapes, Mr President
Standing beside Britain’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, President Trump declared that he had seen the horrific images of Hamas atrocities — babies butchered, women raped, civilians massacred. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the same. President Biden once did too, before quietly walking it back. But the question that refuses…
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You can’t see the forest for the trees: How the Oslo Accords became Israel’s greatest strategic victory
They say that hindsight is 20/20. It is more than three decades now since that historic handshake on the White House lawn in September 1993, when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shook hands under President Bill Clinton’s smiling supervision. The Oslo Accords were hailed as a breakthrough in Middle East…
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Algeria reborn: A silent rise from ruin to prominence
From the ashes of Algeria’s “Black Decade,” an agonising period marked by unspeakable violence and national trauma, emerges a country quietly reclaiming its future. The scars remain, but so does the resilience forged in fire. Today, Algeria stands at the threshold of renewal, secure, stable, and increasingly self-assured. This is…
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Netanyahu, you crossed the Rubicon
History is littered with men who mistook hubris for destiny. They stand tall over the destruction they have created, still unbowed, still convinced that one more act of brutality will vindicate them. Benjamin Netanyahu has now added his name to their list. The failed assassination attempt in Doha was more…
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An immigrant, a visionary, and gunboat diplomacy: How three men helped shape three powerhouses
In the annals of history, greatness tends to begin with one individual who thinks differently. Sometimes it is a visionary immigrant, sometimes a leader with unshakeable resolve, and sometimes a gunner whose aggressive mindset sparks a revolution in ideas. What they have in common is not their background or methodology,…
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Whatever happened to Libya?
More than a decade after the butchery of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya lies marooned between the wreckage of revolution and the mirage of reconstruction. What was once trumpeted as the dawn of liberation has disintegrated into a cruel deadlock: dueling governments, hollow parliaments, and a shredded national soul. Beneath the sand…
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Egypt’s silent crisis: A paradox of stability and tension
Egypt has long been an enigma to the world, a bewildering paradox for over a decade. It appears, outwardly, to be a shining example of stability in the post-Arab Spring world. But this imposed quiet holds a nation quietly suffering under compounded economic and institutional strain. In this land of…
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The stalemate behind the smiles: Why Saudi-Israeli normalisation remains a mirage
Despite years of quiet overtures, symbolic gestures, and high-level diplomacy, the prospect of formal normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel remains stalled. At the heart of the impasse lies an immovable but straightforward truth: Riyadh’s price for peace is Palestinian statehood. Jerusalem won’t pay it, and Washington keeps moving the…
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The second strike: Why Iran’s preemptive response may come sooner than expected
Eight days ago, President Donald Trump made a move that could push the Middle East toward a second war from which there is no coming back: he sacked Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), for uttering an inconvenient truth. Kruse’s sin was not insubordination or…
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The Gaza trap: How asymmetric warfare shattered Israel’s illusions
The 7 October 2023 assault on Israel tore through one of the most fortified borders in the world and left its vaunted military humiliated. Hamas, with its ragtag arsenal and tunnels carved through sand, brought a nuclear-armed state to its knees. This was not just a tactical ambush. It was…
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The crisis of disarming Hezbollah: Lebanon on the edge
The Lebanese government’s plan to disarm Hezbollah by year’s end is less a policy than a provocation. If pursued, it risks pushing Lebanon toward the very abyss it claims to avoid: civil war. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has instructed the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to prepare a timetable for dismantling…
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China’s spectacular rise
Following President Nixon’s historic visit to China in the early 1970s, many believed that fostering economic ties with China would pave the way for stronger alliances and mutual benefit. This initial optimism about economic integration with China was rooted in the assumption that a rising, prosperous China would inevitably integrate…
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Israel’s image: From darling of the West to global pariah
For 77 years, Israel has enjoyed the unwavering support and admiration of the West, frequently championed as the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel built its reputation on technological innovation, military prowess, and a perceived alignment with Western values. The United States, in particular, has long treated Israel as…
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The phantom ceasefire: Why a second strike on Iran seems inevitable
A Pause, Grossi’s red flags, and unfinished job In late June, US and Israeli forces declared a halt in their operations against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. But among seasoned observers, this pause is seen less as a peace effort and more as a tactical breather. Experts have dubbed it a phantom…
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Netanyahu’s Gaza gambit: A last stand or strategic folly?
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes forward with his plan to conquer the remaining 25 per cent of the Gaza Strip, the move is being met with fierce resistance, not just from the international community but from within Israel’s own military and political establishment. The plan, approved by the…
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The seeds of intervention – American exceptionalism and the 1953 Coup in Iran
The question of why the United States often seems quicker to resort to military intervention than diplomacy is one of the most lasting and unsettling questions. The late President Jimmy Carter called the US the most “warlike” country on earth, and lamented his country’s thirty wars, conflicts, and assassinations since…
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Starvation as strategy: Netanyahu’s war crimes and America’s shame
Moral outrage and political tsunami The pièce de résistance in the political tsunami that swept across parliaments, streets of world capitals, and podiums, culminating in a cascade of recognitions for Palestine, was Israel’s starvation campaign. A deliberate deprivation that tore through the veil of diplomatic neutrality. When images of emaciated…
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From rust to rockets: The battle to modernise Iran’s legacy air force
The recent 12-day war between Israel and Iran dramatically exposed the gaping vulnerabilities in Iran’s air defence capabilities. Israeli F-35, F-15, and F-16 jets operated with near impunity, bombarding critical Iranian sites, including airbases, nuclear facilities like Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz, and vital industrial and energy infrastructure. The Israeli Air…
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Israel at a crossroads: Warnings from within on war crimes and the cost of denial
Moral unravelling “Israel is losing its soul,” warned Gideon Levy, whose columns in Haaretz have long served as moral indicators in Israeli discourse. He is not a lonely voice in the wilderness. His lament is echoed by his colleague, journalist and author Amira Hass, and by Haaretz’s editorial board, which…
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Winners and losers of the 7 October War
The Middle East conflict escalated after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, disrupting the region and prompting global reflection. The war has produced notable winners and losers. Let’s start with the losers. Main losers Israeli narrative For 77 years, Israel meticulously cultivated an image of victimhood, presenting itself as…