GCC

The Litani and Beaufort Still Shape the South

The Litani River and Beaufort Castle still matter because south Lebanon's geography keeps turning old landmarks into modern strategic lines.

Private Capital Steps Up as Gulf Water Risks Mount

As missiles menace Gulf desalination plants and temperatures climb, Saudi Arabia's water contractor gambles on investor appetite for strategic water survival.

Proxy Drone War: Iraq and Belarus as Staging Grounds 

Iraq and Belarus are now serving as drone launchpads against Gulf and Baltic states, giving Tehran and Moscow a deniable reach across two fronts.

Foreign Capital Flows into Damascus Despite Insecurity

As European trade ties return and energy giants sign deals, Damascus car bombs ask whether stability can coexist with transition.

Epic Fury II: Tactical Arrests and Bigger Plans

Europe absorbs the bombs and the bills as Washington, emboldened by daring renditions, keeps weighing renewed strikes on Iran with an endgame still undefined.

Popular

Ageing Societies Slow Science’s Edge

Ageing societies do not only strain pensions and healthcare. They may also make science less bold, less disruptive, and more incremental over time.

Strategic Autonomy: How the UAE Chose to Self-Arm

Under real Iranian missile fire, the UAE learned that state security cannot be outsourced, and it has kicked off the Gulf's most ambitious arms build-up.

Idlib to Bamako: The Real Differences in Jihadist Power

Africa’s jihadist groups are gaining territory and pressure, but they still lack the cohesion, legitimacy, and state collapse that made HTS’s seizure of Damascus possible.

British Safety Laws: Chat Control to Crowd Control

Britain's child safety legislation is quietly turning into a tool against digitally-triggered communal violence, with big implications for privacy and power.

France’s Trust Crisis Moves Upward

Three stories in a single week, a murdered child, a pop icon charged with rape, and a former mayor appealing his blackmail conviction, are not the same scandal but they are feeding the same mood in France.