When the CIA was an Outpost of Arabism

History has never witnessed a leader quite like Donald Trump — a mix of ignorance, arrogance immorality, brazenness, insensitivity and sheer stupidity.

It is ... inevitable that the direction the country is going in will have to change.

The challenge for Washington is no longer whether it possesses sufficient capabilities, but whether the political system can align those capabilities behind a coherent long-term priority.

[I]t is difficult to see how the Gulf nations would agree to sign the Abraham Accords and how the Accords could be a precondition to peace with Iran.

Trump’s willingness to defend an ally may depend upon whether he currently gets along with its political leadership.

The Beijing summit did not produce a major agreement between the great powers on the region, but it firmly established that Middle Eastern crises are now deeply tied to the great-power dialogue.

In a globalised economy, the knock-on effect is less of a surge but more of a deluge that reaches East Africa with alarming speed.