Donald Trump
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Saudi Arabia, MbS and dissent
Who’s afraid of Princess Basmah?
With Trump out of office, Saudi Arabi’s Crown Prince MbS has lost one of his key protectors. Dissidents are seizing their opportunity to muster support. The latest case to be brought to international attention is that of a Saudi princess and her daughter, abducted and held without charge. By Jannis Hagmann
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Jamal Khashoggi's murder and U.S. intelligence
Mohammed bin Salman – from darling to international pariah?
U.S. President Biden has announced he will be excluding Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from future talks between Washington and Saudi Arabia. Is this just lip service that will soon be subsumed by Saudi Arabia’s powerful bargaining position? Analysis for Qantara.de by Karim El-Gawhary
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Appealing to U.S. President Joe Biden
Tawakkol Karman: Ending the Yemen war requires U.S. action
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman says the time has come to pressure Saudi Arabia and the UAE to withdraw from Yemen so that the country can resume the peace process and restore a Yemeni state. Interview by Rafiah Al Talei
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Charting the history of Iran sanctions
The Islamic Republic's never-ending labour pains
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been subject to sanctions ever since its creation in 1979. The more the regime has entrenched itself and expanded its power in the region, the more sophisticated the sanctions have become, effectively crippling the country. Will they ever end? Ali Sadrzadeh traces their history
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Turkey seeks its role in the Middle East
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign policy rethink
Turkey is largely isolated in the Middle East. Partners are few and far between. Its closest ally, Qatar, has just made peace with its neighbours. Together with the change of power in the USA, this is forcing Ankara to rethink. Background by Kersten Knipp
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27th Men's Handball World Championship
Egypt 2021, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi’s search for a fig leaf
Hosting major sports tournaments can confer prestige on a country, but in the case of Egypt, the 2021 Handball World Championship will do little to repair relations with either the United States, Italy, or the Arab Gulf states, argues James M. Dorsey
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Reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Qatar
A turning point for the whole Middle East?
Saudi Arabia and its allies have agreed to set aside their differences with Qatar at a summit meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The restoration of diplomatic relations could have strategic resonance far beyond the Gulf nations and change the entire region. By Karim El-Gawhary
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End of the Middle East two-state solution?
Israeli highways – a fast track to West Bank annexation
This summer it was reported that Israel had abandoned its plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Now, however, Israel is driving forward its settlement programme in the territory with a master plan for road construction. Inge Gunther in Jerusalem has the details
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Egypt – Dollars to despots
Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's international patrons
Egypt's economic strategy of heavy borrowing implicates international actors in regime repression and increased social deprivation of the lower and middle classes, effectively fuelling instability and violent extremism – not only at home, but also potentially across the Middle East. An analysis by Maged Mandour
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Coronavirus in the Middle East
"Pandemic of poverty" for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
Social and economic upheaval in Lebanon in 2020 has deepened and magnified the poverty of Palestinian refugees. The country's "forgotten" Palestinians are bereft of international support and almost totally dependent on UNRWA. Lifting the restrictions on their economic status would help. By Stephen McCloskey
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DW documentary on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
Seeking answers to a heinous crime
Did the Saudi state plan the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi? Was Khashoggi so much of a threat to the Saudi regime that it was prepared to commit a terrible crime to get rid of him?
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U.S. foreign policy in the Arab world
Joe Biden and the Middle East – bid farewell to Trumpism
Recognising the shifting geopolitical priorities facing America and the Arab states, analyst Marwan Muasher cites three areas in which U.S. President-incumbent Joe Biden's Middle East policy is likely to differ from that of his predecessor Donald Trump