Arab World

Two major recent developments illustrate ongoing challenges and potential new obstacles in the war in Yemen, the major objective of which, the put down of the rebellion by the Iran-backed Houthi separatists appears to be sidelined by other considerations and misunderstandings.

Trump and his enablers do enough damage in America and to their direct targets, but the indirect effects are also quite serious, not least of all in the Middle East. Two very current, sad examples are Saudi Arabia and Israel.

It takes some time to understand why there is such great appeal for fantastical thinking in the Middle East, but after some investigation the reasons become clear. The idea of Arabs as helpless spectators in some global plot run by secret cabals only hinders the advancement of Arab society.

The sixth anniversary of The Arab Spring has come and gone, but not many people noticed. One of the main reasons was its utter failure to create either a stable, democratic, or secular Arab world.