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.
Category: Geopolitics
The release of journalist Cecilia Sala from Iranian prison after 21 days is a triumph of diplomacy and urgency, orchestrated by the Italian Prime Minister herself. Meloni used an urgent meeting with Donald Trump to help unlock the negotiations.
Drones and other new technologies are important, but the foundation of success remains the mobilization of the economy, numerical superiority, and artillery. A military expert reflects on three years since Russia’s invasion.
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.”
Syria’s new education minister, Nazir al-Qadri, may have quietly revealed the true intention of the new government, replacing the generic word “law” with “Sharia,” Islamic law. This and other changes to school curricula appear to be happening after the government has denied such changes.
Its scenery is breathtaking, but there are also more strategic reasons that incoming President Donald Trump is pushing to force Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States.
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?
How can we transcend the anonymity of numbers? How can we preserve moments of love, resilience and defiance against oppression. Egyptian filmmaker and writer Basel Ramsis reflects on human connection, memory and the fight against dehumanization.
Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro plans to declare himself president on January 10, as he becomes the likely winner of the 2024 elections. Will there be a showdown or a revolt, or will a tired nation give in to tyranny?
The ZUMA press photographs marking and making news for January 7, 2025 include an earthquake in Tibet, Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement and Charlie Hebdo commemorations in Paris. Earthquake in the Himalayan region Rescuers help injured people from Zhacun Village in Xigaze, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted this Himalayan region. A […]
Jordan has cautiously followed the emergence of Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, from the ranks of jihad fighters to a statesman. Amman is increasingly concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood could exploit the rise of Islamists in Syria to sow chaos in Jordan, or the return of extremist fighters to areas on its borders.
To mark 10 years since the heinous Jan. 7, 2015 attack on the French satirical magazine that left 12 people dead, Worldcrunch is republishing a collection of 29 front pages of international newspapers from the following day.
Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, and Olaf Scholz have all responded in the past few days to Elon Musk statements siding with Europe’s far right. Among top European leaders, U.S. tech billionaire seems to only have eyes for Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.
Once a hub of commerce and industry in the Middle East, Syria’s means of production have been destroyed by years of conflict. The country’s new leaders are making economic recovery a priority. First, though, it must begin by lifting international sanctions.
In 2025, elections in several key countries will reflect ongoing global issues like inflation, the rise of populism, and geopolitical tensions. Voters in Belarus, Germany, the Philippines, Canada, and Chile will decide on leadership amidst significant challenges.
The refusal of Syrian transition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa to shake hands with the German minister sparked controversy. However, Europeans, who fear a resurgence of ISIS if Syria plunges into chaos, have a vested interest in the success of this transition, despite their reservations.
Kursk is becoming synonymous with a nightmare for Vladimir Putin, a dynamic that the Kremlin prefers not to talk about, a flaw in the apparently invulnerable Russian shield.
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?
Al-Sharaa has surprised many with his openness to dialogue after a past linked to al-Qaeda. He represents a complex model that embodies the transformation of Syria since the beginning of the revolution in 2011.
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.
The deadly Jan. 1, 2025, attack in New Orleans serves as a reminder of the persistent threat to the U.S. from individuals inspired by extremist Islamist groups.
Iranian officials are still wondering how its dear ally Bashar al-Assad fell so fast, and why his military was lost before the rebellion even started.
The radical far-right in Israel’s government is demanding to build settlements in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s army is creating the conditions for this.
The new governor of the Damascus region has articulated a surprisingly soft stance on Israel’s aggressive action in both Syria and Gaza in hope that this would lead to U.S. recognition of the new regime.
Stunning reports of positive exchanges between the long imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish government, coupled with the collapse of the Syrian regime, are reshaping the dynamics for the Kurds scattered across the Middle East. But beware of betrayal.
It is a gas and electricity war that extends from Moldova to Slovakia to Finland, with very real consequences for millions, which is ultimately a reflection of how Russia is waging a hybrid war with any means to bring both Ukraine and Europe to its knees.
Germany needs 400,000 skilled workers from abroad every year. So why does the visa application process make it incredibly difficult for them to come to the country? For Die Zeit, Simon Langemann reports on one young Ivorian’s efforts to move legally to Germany as a migrant worker.
The absence of documentation and an international accountability mechanism capable of deterring warring parties in Yemen has exacerbated the severity of violations related to sexual assault against children. These violations have spread across social media, revealing the extent of unspoken crimes that have yet to find their way to justice.
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.
What Netanyahu represents and symbolizes historically and ideologically on the global level, beyond just Israel and the U.S., is unmatched. It says a lot about where the world has arrived. Where it’s heading is up to the rest of us.
In Syria, the Muslim Brotherhoods and the Kurds have long suffered from repression more than other factions in Syrian society. They suffered not only because of their opposition to the regime but also their identities. Rebuilding a functional Syrian state requires deep reflection and hard compromise on what the nation’s identity and laws will be.
Despite her pleasant air and sense of fashion, the now former Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad was bound to be tied to her husband’s fate. Born and raised in the UK, she was respected by some for openly battling cancer and later adored in China for her glamour. Still, she was largely despised at home for having helped cover her husband’s long list of alleged war crimes.
The Palestinian Authority insists that its operation in the Jenin refugee camp was intended to maintain security and thwart any Israeli plans for the West Bank. Yet other Palestinian factions have criticized the move, which comes amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Russia’s Parliament has approved a law that would limit migrant children’s access to schools. It contradicts basic decency, international law and the Constitution. It is also bad for Russians.
Looking back, 2024 was a year of momentous elections around the world. The results, from country to country, show overall that the global health of democracy remains precarious when some of those who win elections do not seem to believe in the political system which brought them to power.
While Russia had to negotiate with former Syrian rebels for the withdrawal of around 500 Russian soldiers trapped in Damascus, Vladimir Putin remained silent on the crushing defeat he suffered in Syria. Instead, he has threatened the West, as if to show he is not weakened by the fall of his ally Assad.
After the downfall of Bashar al-Assad, Kurdish citizens of Syria rejoiced, but deep concerns over the people’s fate have not gone away.
Djibouti, where the French president is visiting, remains home to a French military base with 1,500 soldiers, making it the largest in Africa following a string of setbacks for France in the Sahel, Chad and Senegal. France’s Africa policy is in need of reinvention.
A post-Assad tour of Damascus, that singular Middle East capital, from which the Ba’ath Party spared nothing and desecrated everything. How quickly it shed all the ugliness that the Assad regime had spread over more than five decades!