Middle Orient

The United Arab Emirates’ exit from OPEC is not a technocratic adjustment to oil policy; it is a geopolitical signal. Beneath the surface of production quotas and market strategy lies a deeper rupture: the erosion of Gulf unity as a guiding principle of regional order. Accelerated by wartime vulnerability, sharpened …

Leaked meeting minutes show Russia’s deputy defense minister leaning on Syria to pay a $37-million bill for keeping oil flowing. Months after that meeting, the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell to a rebel coalition. Syria’s new government has continued to negotiate with Russia over its total debt of at least …

A brief and poorly explained landing of a U.S. military transport aircraft in Tbilisi at the end of March 2026 has become a subject of discussion and speculation about its real significance, fueling suspicions that more complex geopolitical signals may lie behind the official explanation of a “routine flight.” Let’s …

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The low-sophistication, high-volume approach used in wartime attacks claimed by the front group HAYI has exposed critical vulnerabilities in Western efforts to harden soft targets, curb online recruitment, and protect Jewish communities amid spillover from the Middle East. At the outset of the Iran war, many expected the regime to …

The US-Israel combined force achieved meaningful operational and strategic successes vis-à-vis the Iranian ballistic missile program before the ceasefire. The combined force spent weeks striking a wide range of missile facilities across Iran based on long-standing US air warfare theory and doctrine. This effort disrupted Iran’s missile operations, degraded its …

Crude prices jumped after Iran resumed attacks against the UAE and vessels trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Brent contracts rose sharply on Monday night but were down slightly at $113.09 per barrel at 03:02 GMT on Tuesday. West Texas Intermediate contracts followed a similar pattern and …

Key Takeaways Iran is attempting to demonstrate its “control” over the Strait of Hormuz in response to US attempts to secure freedom of commercial navigation in the strait. Iran is attempting to disrupt these US efforts and demonstrate its control by attacking commercial vessels, oil infrastructure in the United Arab …

The US-Israel War on Mankind and Fear of the Future Wars are paradoxes of conflicting political and individualistic interests – gains in the present and loss in the future. At times America supports Israel’s war on Iran and the Arab world as if a child of a surrogate mother but …

When President Donald Trump triggered the current war against Iran more than 60 days ago, the assumption mostly promoted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the junior partner in the enterprise, was that the whole thing would be wrapped up within weeks by Tehran implicitly admitting defeat, as it did …