Divergences

It has been more than a year since the Assad regime was overthrown and the Syrian Transitional Government has held together despite provincial demands for autonomy, enormous economic challenges, Israeli occupation and military strikes, and pressure from the wars in Iran and Lebanon. In some respects, Ahmad al-Shara‘a is making substantive efforts to create a more inclusive and representative polit...

Iraq will go to the polls on November 11 in an election likely to be dominated by the Iran-backed parties of the Shi‘a Coordination Framework. Although Moqtada al-Sadr is boycotting the election, he is likely weighing his options in both the short- and medium-term. That may mean quietly supporting independent candidates who could sway the government formation process while biding his time in case...

The decade-long conflict in Yemen has settled into a fragile stalemate, with neither the internationally recognized government nor the Houthi movement able to secure a decisive victory. What role have Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran played in sustaining or shaping the war—and how are global powers like China, Russia, and the United States competing for influence in the region? Can Yemen’s fracture...

Iran is militarily weakened and politically divided. It is unlikely to restore the pre–12 Day War status quo with Israel, particularly as its regional proxies struggle to recover. Many Iranians have lost confidence in their government and would welcome fundamental change. Yet even under a new regime, challenges for the West would remain. Any government in Tehran would likely pursue a nuclear energ...

Chinese journalism is expanding its footprint across the Middle East in ways that sharply diverge from Western outlets like CNN. Rather than sending foreign correspondents, China’s CGTN deploys local reporters to tell regional stories, building trust and sidestepping the backlash often directed at U.S. and European media. As CGTN positions itself as a friendlier, non-interventionist alternative to...

The Middle East is becoming an increasingly contested arena in the emerging strategic competition between the United States and China. For global hubs like Dubai, this rivalry threatens to upend long-standing economic models built on openness, interconnectivity, and neutral ground. As tensions escalate, the region faces difficult choices about how to navigate great power politics without sacrifici...