James M Dorsey

The writer is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg's Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, and a book with the same title.

Saudi Arabia and Israel put a high US price tag on diplomatic relations

Like Israel, Saudi Arabia wants a formalised security agreement, even if that accord may not target Iran as explicitly as Israel’s request does.

Playing games in Nato, Turkey eyes its role in a new world order

Nato’s spat over Turkish opposition to Swedish and Finnish membership is about more than expanding the North Atlantic military alliance.

S Arabia targets a more Republican Washington

Rather than push for an immediate improvement of strained relations with the United States, Saudi Arabia appears to be looking forward to a

Russian societal tensions are mirrored in Putin’s Orthodox church

The Russian Orthodox Church blesses rather than fire weapons. In doing so, it has emerged as a powerful weapon in its own right in President Vladimir Putin’s civilisationalist arsenal.

Saudi, Emirati religious moderation yet to inspire others

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have drawn praise for social reforms that have domestically reduced the role of religion in public life.

Christmas finally arrives in Saudi Arabia

Long banned, Christmas has finally—at least tacitly—arrived in Saudi Arabia; just don’t use the name in marketing or be ostentatious about your tree.

A new world: The Middle East tries cooperation alongside competition

Just in case there were any doubts, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu demonstrated with his visit to Lebanon last week that improved relations between Middle-Eastern rivals would not bury hatchets.

Reducing Middle East tensions can lessen sectarianism and open doors for women

Two separate developments involving improved relations between Sunni and Shia Muslims and women’s sporting rights demonstrate major shifts in how rivalry for the leadership of the Muslim world and competition to define Islam in the 21st century are playing out in a world where the Middle Eastern states can no longer depend on the United States coming to their defence.

September 1, 2021
September 1, 2021

Af-Pak takes on a new meaning with the rise of the Taliban

Recent attacks on Kabul’s international airport by the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate raise multiple questions, as well as the spectre of paradigm shifts in the drivers and expanding geography of political violence.

August 24, 2021
August 24, 2021

Afghan debacle potentially puts UAE on the spot

Afghanistan is showing the United Arab Emirates the downside of being a haven for deposed leaders and exiled politicians whose wealth is reportedly parked without question in Emirati financial institutions.

August 5, 2021
August 5, 2021

Afghanistan may be a bellwether for Saudi-Iranian rivalry

Boasting an almost 1,000-kilometre border with Iran and a history of troubled relations between the Iranians and Sunni Muslim militants, including the Taliban, Afghanistan could become a bellwether for the future of the rivalry between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia.

June 27, 2021
June 27, 2021

Forging a future with rather than against Iran

The rise of hardline President-elect Ebrahim Raisi has prompted some analysts to counterintuitively suggest that it could pave the way for reduced

March 1, 2021
March 1, 2021

A possible obstacle to the revival of the Iran nuclear accord

A little acknowledged provision of the 2015 international agreement that curbed Iran’s nuclear programme explains jockeying by the United States and the Islamic republic over the modalities of a US return to the deal from which President Donald J Trump withdrew.

February 25, 2021
February 25, 2021

Myanmar: Exploiting lessons learnt in the Middle East

Demonstrating for the third week their determination to force the country’s military to return to its barracks, protesters in Myanmar appear to be learning lessons from a decade of protest in the Middle East and North Africa.

February 24, 2021
February 24, 2021

Turkey signals sweeping regional ambitions

A nationalist Turkish television station with close ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dug up a 12-year-old map that projects Turkey’s sphere of influence in 2050 as stretching from South-eastern Europe on the northern coast of the Mediterranean and Libya on its southern shore across North Africa, the Gulf and the Levant into the Caucasus and Central Asia.

January 31, 2021
January 31, 2021

Islamophobia: A useful prop for Muslim religious soft power

Think the Muslim world is united in opposing Islamophobia? Think twice.

January 28, 2021
January 28, 2021

Iranians move into front line of Middle East’s quest for religious change

A recent online survey by scholars at two Dutch universities of Iranian attitudes towards religion has revealed a stunning rejection of state-imposed adherence to conservative religious mores as well as the role of religion in public life.

January 6, 2021
January 6, 2021

Erdogan positions powerful Turkish military as backbone of regional strategy

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ushered in the new year pledging to employ his country’s military to secure Turkey’s place in a rebalanced new world order.

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