Lebanon’s parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday, following extensive behind-the-scenes negotiations. This marks a beginning, not an end, for a nation left drained by Hezbollah’s war with Israel amid a region in turmoil.
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The emerging geopolitical paradigm is one of a kind of “armed peace” led by states equipped with nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantee of security. The battlefield now spans the range of hybrid threats and technological breakthroughs, introducing the potential for “strategic surprises.”
On Tuesday, Donald Trump refused to rule out the use of force to seize Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, and his eldest son arrived in the territory. He’s also been threatening land grabs from his neighbors. Is this for real?
With the unpredictable Donald Trump returning to the White House in January, what will global politics be like in 2025? In addition to major issues like the war in Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East and China, there’s another nagging question: What about Europe?
The previous world order, based on the domination of a few superpowers, has been turned upside down in 2024. Will this be the year of explosions, or the year of reactions? French political theorist Jacques Attali explains the theory of order through noise.
Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Israel are reshaping the Middle East in a possible, bigger deal involving a peace deal in Ukraine. With the regional militias and Syria out of the strategic equation, is the next step removing the Tehran regime?
The debate over a possible ceasefire in Ukraine has shifted from territorial defense to securing guarantees for Kyiv. A new formula that involves NATO might be the most realistic hope now that Trump is arriving at the White House.
Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering Brian Thompson, the CEO of the health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, has become a folk hero for Americans across different political ideologies. That’s because the nation has a broken capitalistic healthcare system.
Every day, parts of the Internet disappear, because they are not profitable or nobody cares. It’s the silent loss of decades of culture.
Food companies fatten us up only for Big Pharma to let us inject ourselves slim again. Crazy? Perhaps it’s the beginning of the end for a destructive business model.
A new blood test, designed to detect more than 50 types of cancer, could be the future of early cancer detection. Is it the next big thing, or just another marketing gimmick?
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What Syria’s Future Means For Jordan
Amman and its allies, much like the skeptical secular Syrian opposition, await tangible actions on the ground to match the promises of pragmatist rhetoric from Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who is marketing himself as a statesman committed to building an inclusive new Syria that’s a good neighbor after abandoning extremist ideologies.
The Americans already have direct contact, and the French are arriving tomorrow. While remaining “vigilant” about the Islamist nature of Syria’s new rulers, Western nations are reestablishing ties with Damascus to support a return to stability. Turkey, however, is already one step ahead.
Amid the chaos of the collapsing Assad regime, the businessmen who were close to power know they are at risk.
Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president will undoubtedly bring about a transformation in geopolitics and the world economy. With a businessman rather than a politician in the White House, the country will take a more transactional approach based on negotiations.
Syrian prisons have been opened, unveiling a grim parade of horrors. The emotions are intense, yet much was already known about Assad’s machinery of death — and still, the world could do nothing. The defense of human rights ends where sovereignty begins.
Taking advantage of the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey, the United States and Israel separately carried out airstrikes on targets in different areas of the country, each with its own agenda. The reclaiming Syria’s sovereignty will be one of the most important and complex challenges facing the country’s new rulers.
The scenes of joy and vengeance in Damascus recall the outpouring in Baghdad in 2003 when Saddam Hussein, and his statues, were toppled after years of rule by the same bloody political Ba’athist ideology that has held sway in the region for 77 years. But beware the risks of De-Ba’athification like in Iraq.
Is feminism wrong in its strategy? Are all male machistas? Some ideas on what we men could do better — as politicians like Trump seem to count on young, disgruntled men to push back against the victories of the feminist movement.
The key question is whether any peace agreement will satisfy the U.S. president, or if he will push for real security guarantees for Kyiv. The question is what Trump will do if Russia or Ukraine (or both) refuse to negotiate on U.S. terms and are not intimidated by the threats of the American leader.
The reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris, with the participation of Donald Trump on his first foreign trip since being reelected, has turned into a diplomatic event where everyone will want to engage with the president-elect. Ukraine is at the top of the agenda.
Romania’s out-of-nowhere far right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu has become the latest case study showing just how much sway social media platforms can have over elections, going even farther than Donald Trump on Elon Musk’s X.
Joe Rogan is considered America’s king of podcasters and the voice of hyper-masculinity in the United States. His support for Donald Trump is considered by some to have been decisive in the presidential election. But what’s behind this world of hyper-masculine podcast bros? For Die Zeit, Berlin-based author Norman Ohler writes about his experience as a guest on Rogan’s show.
Before leaving office, the Biden administration yesterday imposed its toughest sanctions yet to deny China access to AI chips. This long-standing policy will undoubtedly continue under Donald Trump, a rare point of continuity.
The Israeli Prime Minister has been clear: The ceasefire in Lebanon will allow him to focus on Iran and on Syria, through which Hezbollah’s weapons are transported. But the underlying factors are Iran’s nuclear program and Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Opponents and former supporters are issuing urgent warnings about Donald Trump, saying he is a fascist. But is he really a new Mussolini or Hitler? What should we be looking for in the months to come? Christian Staas of Germany’s Die Zeit asks historians on both sides of the Atlantic.
As Nicaragua’s weakened opponents expend themselves in jail or exile or in rivalries, communist strongman Daniel Ortega has amended the constitution yet again, to lock himself and his family into perpetual power. Could Donald Trump’s reelection become a miraculous glitch in his plans?
One might think that the rush to announce the completion of the deal refers to its preemptive failure with each party blaming the other for this failure. But there are many moving parts in the negotiations, like there are in the region.
Israel and Lebanon have reached a U.S. and France-brokered ceasefire agreement. It’s an intricate agreement that requires a withdrawal of Israeli forces within 60 days, contingent on Hezbollah retreating north. And it shifts focus, allowing the war in Gaza to continue unabated.
U.S. President-elect Trump has tasked billionaire businessman Elon Musk with making the government cost-efficient. That may be an admirable objective, but the ideology driving it is wrong-headed… and dangerous.
The main conflicts today are deeply interconnected. A recent example is Taiwan’s former president urging Washington to prioritize arms shipments to Ukraine over Taiwan, arguing that the credibility of American deterrence is at stake. Will Trump make the connections?
The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He says it’s an antisemitic move, and is backed by the U.S., but France and other EU countries have stated they will respect the warrant, meaning the Israeli leader is now unable to visit these regions.
Will Mexico’s leftist government show pragmatism in dealing with the next U.S. administration or just keep bashing Donald Trump and watch the dismal effects on its economy, asks Mexican political commentator Luis Rubio.
Russia is expanding its nuclear doctrine and intensifying strikes on Ukraine, including Thursday’s unprecedented launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. This is an apparent response to new U.S. authorization of use of its weapons in attacks on Russian territory. All can be traced to the radical White House transition underway.
Trump is seen as a “transactional” operator by leaders in the Middle East. But the appointments to all key positions related to the region suggest that Arabs should brace for the worst of all deals.
The United Nations suffers from a lack of effectiveness and declining legitimacy due to a failure to reform. The G20 remains the last forum where opposing powers can still talk to one another. But with the return of Donald Trump and his “America First” policy, what comes next is uncertain.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he is not out to topple Iran’s revolutionary regime, but his administration may, at the very least, seek intolerable concessions to the West from Tehran, or sink it with sanctions if it refuses.
A photographer captured the seasoned Iranian official Ali Larijani laughing on his visit Thursday to Beirut, fully aware of what laughter means in such a situation. The seasoned Iranian diplomat knows that many Lebanese hold his regime responsible for dragging their country into a bloody, senseless, and destructive war.
The U.S. has finally allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles following massive Ukrainian bombings of power infrastructure. Though only two months remain for the Biden administration before the uncertainty of the Trump era begins, the terms of any future negotiations are being fought over now.
As Donald Trump prepares for a second term, African nations find themselves at a crossroads. With mixed reactions from leaders across the continent, the implications of his policies raise questions about future U.S.-Africa relations, human rights and climate action.