NEED TO KNOW OMAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/879a3e5a-a617-49b5-abb4-fdbfe94fec95.png"] Loss and Change In early 2017, the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman invited Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, to his palace in Muscat. A year later, he held an audience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Arab rulers usually don’t have...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a0fb995d-af7e-4394-ad02-ecc76a056a44.png"] Annals of Reconstruction Russian President Vladimir Putin recently floated the possibility of a meeting between Syrian President Bashar Assad and US President Donald Trump in Damascus. The suggestion might have been a joke, Fox News reported. But jokes contain grains of truth. Putin was...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQ [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/33937638-6eed-4550-afae-cdf6ed1357a6.png"] Taking Advantage of a Crisis The Islamic State was sinking. Now, maybe not so much. A coalition of forces, including US troops, nearly wiped out the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in the Middle East in 2018, four years after the militants seized Mosul, then...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW YEMEN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/bae900cf-351d-4712-98f0-bfd668d7484e.png"] The Setting for Peace Predictions had been optimistic for Yemen. “Violence in Yemen will likely subside in 2020, amid signs the warring factions want to find a resolution,” wrote Al Jazeera in December, citing United Nations officials. Houthi rebels, with the help of Iran, ousted...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW FRANCE [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/058f2f5f-34dd-4386-a154-c3f09ac353e9.png"] Giving and Taking French President Emmanuel Macron’s move in late 2018 to increase fuel taxes to fight climate change sparked unrest among the so-called “yellow vests,” who staged demonstrations against the tax and high living costs in general. Macron responded with a crackdown that...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQ [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/33937638-6eed-4550-afae-cdf6ed1357a6.png"] Hostages The killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani triggered a cascade of events that is upending the Middle East. An American drone killed Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force, at Baghdad International Airport on January 3. The fallout has been...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW AFGHANISTAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/63dbd3ab-8c9f-403c-b1d4-f10b4c9a44c2.png"] The Fog of War Americans recently learned that their military has been less-than-truthful about Afghanistan. “U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW LIBYA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/955e87c2-1f99-445c-91e0-aacf1bcfd70f.png"] Indirect Diplomacy A new proxy war is escalating in Libya. Turkey is planning on sending troops to the North African country on the Mediterranean to counter the forces of Khalifa Hifter, the rebel commander who has laid siege to the capital of Tripoli since...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQI KURDISTAN [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/0c38a7d3-e4bd-4693-833c-aeff4232f230.png"] Of Ironies and Tragedies Kurds in Iraq voted for independence by a landslide two years ago. Since then, their semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq has lost 40 percent of its territory to the central government’s forces while the economy, already struggling...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW PALESTINE [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/386c69f8-fd57-4d52-879b-b9bdf641ffe4.png"] Disillusioned in the Swamp After tense negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the political factions Fatah and Hamas, Palestine is expected to hold legislative and presidential elections early next year. It’s about time. Palestinians last cast ballots for their leaders in 2006. The Jerusalem...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ALGERIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/954056b5-eefa-4934-9ebe-c7818ba081e5.png"] Of Eggs, Tomatoes and Ballots Protesters in Algeria are throwing tomatoes and eggs at politicians’ campaign headquarters ahead of the Dec. 12 presidential election. Others have blocked access to campaign offices to scuttle the vote, which they consider a sham. As the Associated Press...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW IRAQ [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/33937638-6eed-4550-afae-cdf6ed1357a6.png"] Springing Anew In the years after the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, critics said the US had achieved the opposite of its goals, plunging the Middle Eastern country into chaos and providing an opportunity for neighboring Iran to expand its power. Now the...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW WORLD [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/dce47e18-e5d0-45e9-b34c-579ae97d703b.png"] Whack-a-Mole The Islamic State was thought to be at a low. The death last month of the extremist group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in northwestern Syria was a turning point for the militant group, many said. “Their recovery has been very slow, their organization is fragile...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW UNITED ARAB EMIRATES [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/62965c62-fd12-4e62-b5d9-596edf60314d.png"] Glittering Skylines, Hedging Bets The glittering skylines of Dubai and Abu Dhabi highlight how the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, has been at the vanguard of the new Middle East. In a region where oil revenues have enabled many Arab countries to...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW TURKEY [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/7690ac2f-dd96-41b5-a42f-055b31e06d65.png"] A Genie Is Out Russian troops in Syria recently moved to the country’s northeastern border with Turkey, occupying territory that American troops left on orders from US President Donald Trump. The Russian moves were part of a deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW SYRIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/a0fb995d-af7e-4394-ad02-ecc76a056a44.png"] Letting the Genie Out The Turkish-Syrian border is on fire, according to Kurdish officials who spoke to Reuters recently. Everyone from Capitol Hill to the Middle East and beyond knows why. Last week, US President Donald Trump pulled the small contingent of American soldiers from...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW EGYPT [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/b3bfa138-2a35-4b2f-a606-17aecd7c09ce.png"] Of Pharaohs and Tin Ears Egyptians are furious about corruption. Their rage stems from viral videos posted by Egyptian businessman Mohamed Ali, who alleged that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi forced him to build luxury hotels and palaces for Sissi and his cronies in the military...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW TUNISIA [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/9fcb8edf-e081-4318-ab32-04abb3d5c1e6.png"] Reset in Tunis If Nabil Karoui wins Tunisia’s runoff presidential election on Oct. 13, he might deliver his victory speech from a jail cell. Imprisoned in August on charges of money laundering and tax evasion, the media mogul claims he is the victim of...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/4eb1114d-3a8f-4e5d-a79b-a29d71e260fc.png"] Counterclockwise Carousels It seemed like Benjamin Netanyahu was in trouble. The results of the Sept. 17 election in Israel had been inconclusive. Neither the conservative prime minister nor his centrist main rival, ex-army leader Benny Gantz, garnered enough votes to form a government outright...
Read full story →NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL [map url="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a2e22d7f24f6d1e3464d05be4/images/4eb1114d-3a8f-4e5d-a79b-a29d71e260fc.png"] A Messy Do-Over Israeli President Reuven Rivlin delivered a rare rebuke of Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu in the runup to the country’s parliamentary elections on Tuesday. Netanyahu has been pushing for legislation that would allow political parties to videotape polling stations, ostensibly to...
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