Worldcrunch
Donald Trump and some 20 European and Middle Eastern leaders meet Monday in Egypt to discuss Gaza, but with different agendas and objectives. The risk is that this will lead to a ceasefire without a peace process, which is a recipe for future disasters.
Two years after the worst massacre in their history, Israelis have yet to recover from the trauma. The war in Gaza still rages, with the nation waiting for the results of ongoing negotiations. While they have achieved military victories, the moral struggle remains unresolved — leaving Israel at a critical crossroads.
Negotiations on the implementation of Trump’s plan for Gaza began on Monday in Egypt. No one wants to be held responsible for failure, which gives the first phase— a ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners — a real chance of success. What comes next will be far more complex.
From Iran and Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, lasting peace can only arise from shared economic interests and the containment of regional power ambitions.
Donald Trump’s 21-point plan, unveiled after his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, falls short of the Franco-Saudi proposal adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Even if implemented, it is unlikely to offer a viable path toward a political solution.
A summit of Arab countries will be held in Doha on Sunday to discuss the consequences of Tuesday’s Israeli raid on Hamas in Qatar. The Gulf states have reacted very negatively to this Israeli incursion, which appears as an act of pure hubris by Benjamin Netanyahu.
With more than 115 attacks since 2023, Yemen’s Houthis now offer ship operators a website to register vessels and avoid drone or missile strikes, a move that raises alarms among maritime security experts and highlights the rebels’ bid to control global shipping lanes.
There is a pervasive fear among Iranians, which the Tehran regime does nothing to abate, that chaos could follow the fall of the Islamic Republic. But Iranians should know that opting for superficial reforms or a republic similar to this regime will simply perpetuate its oppression, corruption and ineptitude.
One-quarter of the way into the 21st century, Israel is emerging not only as a staunch ally of the United States but also as the dominant regional power. That inevitably places it in direct competition with Iran, both in its current theocratic form and in a potential free and democratic future.
Egypt has perfected the art of passive resistance in navigating international pressures — delaying, complicating, and outlasting unwanted initiatives. From blocking the Arab NATO project to managing the fate of two Red Sea islands, Cairo deploys its bureaucratic “Madame Afaf” tactic to stall without confrontation.
Eight decades after the UN Charter was signed, the so-called rules-based order is looking pretty battered. Still, the fact that someone breaks a rule doesn’t make it invalid. Law and reality never fully align. Otherwise, we wouldn’t need law.
One moment he’s launching strikes, the next he’s declaring a ceasefire. At this speed, the surrealism of the Trump era is most evident. We journalists should be the ones to cut through that fog. Just not instantly.
👋 Hæ hæ!* Welcome to Wednesday, where U.S. President Donald Trump swears at Israel and Iran for not respecting the ceasefire, rejects a report stating that the U.S did not destroy the Iranian nuclear program, where seven Israeli soldiers are killed in Gaza, and our daily quiz question is all about social media. Meanwhile, Worldcrunch’s […]
For nearly a century, the West has approached the Middle East with strategic interests — but little genuine understanding. From coups to regime changes to failed red lines, each intervention has produced unintended consequences. Maybe it’s time we admit: the problem isn’t the region. It’s us.
After a week of unprecedented conflict between sworn enemy states, Israel and Iran may actually be holding back in the coming days, as the White House mulls its options. But surprises are no doubt in store with so much at stake.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said what others were thinking: Israel is doing the world a favor by trying to stop Iran’s nuclear program: Westerners and Arabs but also Russia and China, all would rather Tehran doesn’t get the bomb. But it may now be up to President Trump who is only concerned with his own interest.
As Israel and Iran trade missile strikes, people of the Middle East are divided between cheering and gloating in a conflict of axes fighting over the ruin of the region. We must return the debate to its root: Who represents the peoples of this region? Who defends their right to freedom, not to arms?
As Netanyahu’s war recalibrates alliances and redraws red lines, international law fades into irrelevance, Gaza becomes background noise, and the West’s moral compass spins off course.
The U.S. president insists he wants peace and claims no involvement in Israel’s military campaign against Iran. But conflicting signals, secret briefings, and political pressures raise the question: just how far is Trump willing — or able — to stay out?
👋 Lumela!* Welcome to Monday, where Tehran launches fresh strikes on Tel Aviv as the conflict between Israel and Iran enters its fourth day, U.S. police arrest a suspect in the Minnesota lawmakers’ shooting and our daily quiz question is about a British woman breakthrough. Meanwhile, German weekly Die Zeit reveals the inside of the […]
In a bold move, Israel targeted Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and leadership in an operation that may have been years in the making, much like last year’s attack on the pagers of Hezbollah members.
Neither Israel nor Hamas has any interest in declaring victory or defeat. Yet, as a moral obligation, Hamas must preempt the Israeli mission and agree to withdraw from Gaza.
Egypt has tried again to reaffirm its historic regional role by condemning Israel’s war in Gaza. But Cairo’s economic weakness, and reliance on Israel and the Gulf countries, ultimately leave its hands tied.
With global diplomacy now driven more by personalities than institutions, summits resemble showdowns — and geopolitics risks becoming a game where the stakes are dangerously real.
The Israeli army has imposed itself as the most powerful in the region in the wars waged since Oct. 7. But this military hegemony does not come with any political solution: This is Netanyahu’s weakness at a time when Trump is visiting the wealthy princes of the Gulf.
Donald Trump surprised everyone by meeting Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Syrian president, a former jihadist. It’s all about Trump’s gut and what Saudi Crown Prince MBS has planned for the region’s future.
U.S. President Donald Trump is on a Gulf tour that is adding to Israel’s worries about its strongest ally: the U.S. has negotiated the release of an American hostage with Hamas, and a ceasefire with the Houthis, without involving Israel.
Israel is calling up tens of thousands of reservists as its military operations threaten to expand in Gaza and grow more significant in Syria. This escalation raises serious questions about the goals behind what has become one of the longest wars in the country’s history.
The United States has “quietly” kept bombing Yemen, more than 50 times in two weeks. But what if Donald Trump’s real target is Iran?
Egypt has perfected the art of passive resistance in navigating international pressures — delaying, complicating, and outlasting unwanted initiatives. From blocking the Arab NATO project to managing the fate of two Red Sea islands, Cairo deploys its bureaucratic “Madame Afaf” tactic to stall without confrontation. As Trump returns with bold regional proposals, Egypt is once again playing the long game, waiting out the storm.
After suffering losses last year, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia has transferred its war against Israel from the ground to cyberspace — at the risk of undermining the precarious ceasefire between the two countries.
While Tehran has denied any involvement in Syria, elements affiliated with the ousted Assad regime in Syria say Iran is helping their fight to topple the government of President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The Saudis could regain the political and financial clout they once enjoyed in Lebanon, which was lost for two decades to Hezbollah and its foreign patrons. Could that restore a measure of prosperity to a country brought to its knees by decades of civil war and the unwelcome interventions of Tehran and Damascus.
The 75,000 wholesalers in the export manufacturing hub of Yiwu say they have been moderately affected by the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, which he has just announced he will double. Many had already pivoted to developing countries to sell their goods.
An AI-generated video shared by Donald Trump on his social network depicts the transformation of Gaza he has proposed: luxury resorts, and no Palestinians. An abomination toward the victims of the war, it also contains a depiction of Trump himself that is the seed of his own inevitable downfall.
With the downfall of the Assad regime, Algeria lost a strong ally in the Arab region. Algiers is now seeking to establish relations with the new leadership in Damascus, hoping to maintain its old alliance despite the change of regime.
Around the world, the left and progressive media are serving Russia’s interests against the West when they lambast Israel. Since the Cold War, Russia has exploited and distorted the Palestinian cause to serve its ideals. And Iran is pursuing it on a smaller scale and with its own proxies, as Moscow’s geopolitical tool in the region.
The year started without the tyrant of Damascus. Lebanon elected a president. Gaza has a ceasefire. Some of this progress is due to external geopolitical forces, yet there are signs that the region could be turning around from within.
Regime change in Syria is a big point Turkey has scored against its regional rival the Islamic Republic of Iran, which may soon be pushed out of another crucial sector, trade and transportation in the Caucasus, Shahram Sabzevari writes in Kayhan-London.
Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States — with an important role played by Donald Trump — along with Qatar and Egypt. It’s a relief to families of hostages and Palestinians in Gaza but also raises the question of the “day after,” which remains unwritten.