United States

Washington's New Ambassador, Michel Issa, Lands in Lebanon... Who is He?

The new United States ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, landed in Beirut on Friday to begin a particularly delicate mission. His arrival comes at a time when Washington is seeking to redefine the scope of its engagement in a country caught in a deep institutional crisis, latent tensions in the south, and growing international pressure over ...

Alcohol at School: The Untouchable Taboo in Anglo-Saxon Countries

Some contrasts say everything about a nation. While France long poured wine into schoolchildren’s glasses, Anglo-Saxon societies have always firmly and unequivocally banned any form of alcohol at school. This difference is not merely legal: it reflects distinct national histories, collective beliefs, and radically different views of childhood ...

Sharaa in Washington: A Turning Point for Syria

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited the White House on Monday for a historic meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that capped a year in which Damascus has rapidly come in from the cold and reintegrated into the international community. Sharaa has helped steer Syria through this complex path, beginning with pushing the Assad regime out of ...

Francophone Europe and the Muslim Brotherhood: Between Myth and Reality

While the presence of Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers in France and, more broadly, across Francophone Europe has long been established, the issue only entered mainstream public debate recently, following the publication of a government report on the Brotherhood’s influence in France last May.  The report stirred widespread ...

Revolution, Power, and Repression: The Political Downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

From the 2012 electoral victory to the upheavals that followed, the trajectory of the Muslim Brotherhood in contemporary Egypt reflects a decade of tensions, divisions, and radical transformation. On January 25, 2011, millions of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and other major cities, demanding an end to Hosni Mubarak’s ...

Sayyid Qutb: From the Muslim Brotherhood to Global Influence

Born in 1906 into a devout family in a village of Upper Egypt, he studied educational sciences, much like Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder. Alongside his career as a teacher and civil servant in the Ministry of Education, Sayyid Qutb gained recognition as a literary figure, moving within Egypt’s intellectual circles, including ...

Syria and Israel in Direct Talks, Sharaa Says Damascus Ready for ‘New Chapter’ With U.S.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa confirmed that Syria and Israel have begun direct negotiations for the first time in half a century, signaling a major diplomatic shift in the Middle East as Damascus also seeks to rebuild relations with the United States after decades of hostility. In an interview with The Washington Post after his meeting with ...

The Flood that Sunk the Palestinian State

The Palestinian state is now history, owing to Hamas’s 2023 Al-Aqsa Flood attacks on Israel that dealt a fatal blow to Palestinian nationhood, a project that began in 1968 and peaked with the 1993 Oslo Accords. Hamas’s folly has prompted the UN Security Council to consider ending its longtime orthodoxy in support of a Palestinian state and ...

For Many Syrians, Ahmad al-Sharaa's US Visit Marks New Beginning

On the streets of Damascus on Tuesday, Syrians viewed their leader's visit to Washington as a shift towards the West that could pave the way to reviving the country's war-battered economy. On Monday, Donald Trump received Ahmad al-Sharaa, a first for a Syrian head of state since independence in 1946 and a crowning achievement for the ...

US Aircraft Carrier Arrives in Latin America to Boost Anti-Drug Operation

A US aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the Latin America region on Tuesday, escalating a military buildup that Venezuela has warned could trigger a full-blown conflict. In a statement, the US Naval Forces Southern Command said the USS Gerald Ford, whose deployment was ordered nearly three weeks ago to help counter drug trafficking, had ...

Mali Slides into Chaos Following French Withdrawal

At the end of October, the United States issued an unequivocal warning to its citizens in Mali. In a statement released on October 28, the U.S. Embassy in Bamako urged American nationals to leave the country “immediately,” as the capital struggles with a severe fuel shortage imposed by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda. Since September, ...