INTRODUCTION Although Fahrelnissa Zeid spent her life living and working in Türkiye, Europe, and Jordan, she did not see herself as belonging to any particular nation or faith.1 Instead, she understood her identity as an artist in universal terms, saying that she belonged “neither to a country, nor to a religion. I was born on this earth. […]
The 2026 United States (US)-Israel attack on Iran came as a profound shock to the Gulf states. Though far from a unitary actor, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states all shared to varying degrees three core assumptions: hosting US bases and cultivating close diplomatic ties to Washington would deter an attack by any hostile power; maintaining dialogue with […]
INTRODUCTION The imaginary construction of the West’s need to ‘save’ women outside its borders, backed by military power and political legitimization across decades, is what Edward Said invited us to reconsider in his seminal work Orientalism. Instead of focusing on how people in the Middle East are represented or misrepresented, he calls for us to consider the power-knowledge nexus […]
INTRODUCTION The downfall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, closed a painful chapter in Syria’s history, ending more than half a century of Assad family rule which shaped political, social, and economic spheres for all Syrians. From Ba’athification to Assadification,1 the Syrian state revolved around the Assad persona and the country became what was dubbed Souriyya […]
The US is not simply withdrawing from multilateralism, it is increasingly bargaining through absence. It is re-pricing cooperation, reducing external constraints, and renegotiating the terms of global governance. Washington’s recent behavior toward multilateral institutions is not an episodic withdrawal, it constitutes a strategic repertoire used to renegotiate the terms of international cooperation.
With the paralysis of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), stakeholders in the international community are increasingly looking to economic, legal, and coalition-based alternatives. As the current global order undergoes a major transition, substantial UNSC reforms are necessary to remain relevant and to avoid further fragmentation in the international system.
Libyan artist Asmahan Elfergani’s work is largely absent from the formal record of art history, but she is remembered in oral histories and private collections. This Essay seeks to establish a preliminary biography of the artist and her work as it endures through homes, conversations, and the quiet persistence of remembrance.
The architecture of ceasefire governance in contemporary conflicts has shifted from universal institutions toward selective coalitions of powerful states with profound implications for global security: Enforcement becomes selective, violations are interpreted asymmetrically, and the objective transforms from sustainable peace to strategic advantage.
In 1979, the first issue of Majid Magazine, one of the oldest publications for children in the Arab world, was published in Abu Dhabi. Majid Magazine rapidly spread across the Arab world and contributed to forming a shared pan-Arab identity through its characters and themes.