Middle East & Africa

Chad’s transitional government asserts its power with violent repression.

From the Baltic Republics to Crimea, Washington has opposed forcible annexation—and the Golan Heights should be no exception.

As uprisings happen in China and Iran, it’s no accident the United States hasn’t been involved.

In a U-turn from the Trump administration, Team Biden wants to court African nations without talking about Beijing.

Tehran has been eager to make up for Russia’s newfound absence in the South Caucasus.

A NATO ally once again looks like a frenemy.

Robert Malley on the stalled nuclear deal and Washington’s plan to help Iran’s protesters.

Global tax reforms resisted by richer nations could reduce reliance on tax havens and bring much-needed revenue to African governments.

Off the playing field, Iran’s protests and ongoing uranium enrichment have heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Post-apartheid South Africa remains steeped in the “rainbow nation” ideals of reconciliation and forgiveness—but it has never truly reckoned with accountability.

Migrant workers from South Asia and Africa have suffered for years under the Gulf nation’s kafala system. They deserve compensation for wage theft, injuries, and death.

Deep in the Algerian desert, a Sahrawi-run event puts Western Sahara’s struggle for liberation on the big screen.

Justice is unattainable without evidence. Documenting abuses by gathering and archiving this evidence must be a priority.

Critics of the World Cup host nation overlook the reforms the government has undertaken.

After a surprise peace deal in Ethiopia, there is hope for progress in talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

A soccer-loving nation is isolated from the global sport.

From Benin to Mozambique, President Paul Kagame is flexing his small country’s military muscle—and transforming the continent’s security landscape.

Autocrats among those invited to summit in Washington.

If the JCPOA really is dead, the United States will soon have to choose from a range of bad options.

As peace talks progress in Tigray, tensions are mounting in Oromia.

A street vendor’s plight highlights violations that Washington would prefer to ignore.

Africa needs to reduce emissions and protect food security. Villainizing livestock will lead to neither.

The Eritrean president has his own interests in Tigray, and they could undermine Ethiopia’s truce with the TPLF.

Shipping workers abroad helps the North Korean leader evade sanctions and finance his nuclear weapons.

The climate summit won’t bring change to Africa until the West gets serious about “loss and damage.”

The host of the climate conference is an authoritarian state that depends on dirty energy and forcibly silences its domestic environmentalist movement.

The last thing either leader wants right now is a major confrontation.

Falling aid budgets and ballooning debt in the developing world are impediments to climate action. Green aid projects can bring poorer countries on board.

The Islamic Republic has always cultivated a reservoir of devoted female support.

Economic development is the only proven path to climate resilience.

Unlike in 1979, much of the Iranian working class is precariously employed—and they have more to lose than their chains by joining the protests.

With most votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu and ultranationalists look like big winners.

As the world arrives for COP27, Cairo is turning to the IMF as its economy falters.

They’re shaking up the aging clerical establishment to a degree not seen since the 1979 revolution.

Benjamin Netanyahu ignores mounting criticism of his closest running mates’ agendas at his own peril.

The Religious Zionist Party’s rise isn’t about immigration, crime, or populist economics—it’s driven by Jewish supremacy and anti-Arab racism.

One year after a military coup, activists continue to mobilize despite deadly crackdowns.

Cracks have begun to emerge between EU member states on Syria policy.

Peter Obi belongs to the Igbo minority and lacks a major party platform, but he promises a break from the country’s corrupt gerontocracy.

The crowdsourced protest anthem “Baraye” has become a thorn in the side of the theocratic government in Tehran.

Tehran has taken its fight against the West to Europe.

Feeling secure with its influence on the continent, Beijing will take a more strategic approach in the years to come.

Riyadh and Tehran are rivals on almost everything, but they are both supporting Russia’s war effort to give Washington a black eye.

Media liberalization would allow journalists to report on the country’s labor reforms from within rather than imposing a jaded narrative from without.

Developing countries are finally ready to play hard ball over climate reparations.

An extremist alliance with links to al Qaeda is making headway across northern Syria, drawing Russia and Iran deeper into the conflict and posing problems for Turkey.

Alon Liel discusses the lack of arms for Ukraine and the long-term damage accommodating Moscow could do.

As U.S. President Joe Biden ramps up sanctions on Russia, suspected war criminals in Africa escape unscathed.

In many ways, Trump’s actions weakened both Israel’s security and that of the Jewish community in the United States.

Western diplomatic failure looms large in the world’s forgotten catastrophe.

Non-Persian minorities, often overlooked in the West, may hold the key to the uprising’s course.

The biggest obstacle to regime change is a security force designed to protect the regime to the point of civil war.

Low Arab turnout would pave the way for Benjamin Netanyahu and the far right.

Britain and the United States overthrew the country’s last democratic government. Supporting pro-democracy protesters is an opportunity for redemption.

Washington can’t keep getting fooled by dictators.

Four decades of repression and segregation have sparked a protest movement led by women that threatens the Islamic Republic and inspires the world.

Iranian women are highly educated but underemployed, driving frustration.

Moscow has been winning the propaganda war across the continent. Can Kyiv change perceptions?

With the OPEC+ production cut, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made it clear he’ll do as he pleases, regardless of U.S. objections or interests.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi emboldened the morality police to bolster his wobbly administration. The opposite has happened.

The latest parliamentary election blocked needed change in the oil-rich nation.

A U.S.-brokered maritime border agreement could have profound effects on the entire Middle East.

But it’s business, not personal: A looming global recession threatens oil demand.

The country’s second coup of the year could bring yet another African government into Moscow’s orbit.

Israeli analysts have transformed a tool of objectivity to one of distortion.

Jordan tried to reestablish ties with the Syrian dictator’s regime. It was a disaster.

Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger due to government failures to invest in preventive infrastructure.

The world is long overdue for the abandonment of the unstated but powerful hegemony that exists around the great imperial languages of centuries past.

Crises at home and abroad have touched off food shortages across the country.

It’s all about democracy, stupid.

Workers report sexual coercion and poor conditions at the Hawassa Industrial Park.

Divorcing recognition from the Palestinian question has unleashed Israel’s worst angels.

The supreme leader’s stance could become a source of widening divide.

There are several politically inconvenient realities its detractors and defenders should consider.

The Islamic Republic is no stranger to protests—but this time, they’re leaving a permanent mark.

South African leaders have consistently rejected U.S. efforts to punish African countries for nonalignment.

The Houthis have a poor track record in negotiations. But giving up on negotiating with them isn’t an option.

President Kais Saied’s government is turning away from Rabat, warming up to Algiers, and inviting Polisario Front leaders to Tunis.

Leading lawmaker calls on Biden to address Zimbabwe’s “dire” authoritarian turn after the incident.

The increasingly violent rivalry between Moqtada al-Sadr and Iran will decide Iraq’s future.

COP27 will put Biden’s human rights agenda on a collision course with his climate change agenda.

Will a monarch known for voicing his personal views apologize for Britain’s crimes in Africa?

Growing evidence points to a joint communication center in Beirut that coordinates activities in the region.

On Middle East politics, Jared Kushner is not the disruptor he says he is.

Tehran’s program is far more advanced than in 2015. Only a credible threat of force will stop the regime from crossing the threshold.

The nuclear agreement could unleash Chinese activity in the Gulf and complicate U.S. goals in the Indo-Pacific.

The first country to default in the COVID era makes a deal with the IMF.

The grim events that took place at historical sites such as Ghana’s Elmina Castle made all of us.

Modeled on NATO and enabled by the Abraham Accords, a joint force would foster deterrence and security in the region.

The Ethiopian government’s chokehold on humanitarian aid needs to end. 

After five months of relative calm, Tigray is once again under fire.

Kyiv is struggling to find leverage against Russian narratives.

South Africa’s former president had the chance to launch a massive program of regional economic integration but failed to seize it.

A revival of the nuclear deal might only delay an Iranian bomb—but it could help the West deal with the looming winter energy crisis.

The country’s fragile postwar democracy is threatened like never before.

President João Lourenço’s MPLA faces an unusually strong challenge from a united opposition.

A “game-changing” bill hits an impasse over programs in Haiti and Libya.

A nearly $1 billion U.S. arms sale to the country will promote further violence.

As the Egyptian president spends on projects of questionable value, the people are suffering.

The U.S. secretary of state is urging Kigali, Kinshasa, and others to stop backing militias in the region—but a lasting peace deal remains elusive.

Beijing has been increasingly clear about its global military ambitions.

They could divulge sensitive U.S. military training and intelligence to Tehran, a U.S. lawmaker warns.

When civilian institutions are undermined, soldiers step in.

In Europe and the Middle East, plans for missile defense are a mixed blessing.

Exactly two years after a deadly blast, the capital was again enveloped in dust.

The cleric’s “spontaneous peaceful revolution” is more of a bid to maintain his own influence—and the political status quo.

U.S.-China competition could benefit Africa by forcing each side to offer what it thinks it is best at.

The Biden administration insists it’s not focused on geopolitical competition, but its new document is full of references to Russia and China.

A Saudi-sponsored tournament shows why China and other rising powers will struggle to replace established global institutions with their own.

Despite the Shiite cleric’s apparent efforts against Iranian influence in Iraq, his chief inspiration is Iran’s founder and most famous supreme leader.

Ali Khamenei won’t give up power for anyone—not even his president.

The EU’s obsession with security in the Sahel is a reflection of its own anxieties—and a betrayal of its values.

The strategy seeks to grapple with China’s growing influence in Africa without painting African countries as geopolitical pawns.

The top U.S. negotiator is making a last-ditch trip to Vienna.

New elections won’t fix what increasingly looks like a systemic problem.

Few restraints remain for Tunisian strongman Kais Saied after his constitutional referendum passed overwhelmingly and opposition parties boycotted the vote.

Rivals become allies as outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta backs his old nemesis in a closely fought election.

The incompetence of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his team is partly responsible for the current impasse.

As Biden’s Saudi visit showed, state-to-state shaming isn’t the only way to shift the calculus of authoritarian rulers who abuse their citizens.

A constitutional coup in a country that has long been a beacon for freedom would encourage authoritarians across the continent.

Biden’s trip to the region showed that while many Arab nations want to collaborate with Israel, they don’t want to do it in public.

Blinken to travel to the continent after Lavrov’s “charm offensive” tour.

A military coup, natural resources, and roiling insecurity are a recipe for Russian intervention.

Tourism initiatives and conservation of UNESCO heritage sites have led to forced evictions of Indigenous peoples.

Resistance and endurance are pointless if diplomatic and economic opportunities are not seized when they arise.

Hollowed-out posts could leave the United States playing catch up to China and Russia.

Standard theories of global progress continue to be largely limited to raw extraction.

Despite Moscow’s military shortcomings and Western efforts to make it an international pariah, Vladimir Putin remains a capable player in the region.

Beijing remains uninterested in choosing sides in the region’s ongoing power games.

Zamfara state’s decision to provide weapons to untrained individuals could lead to more small-arms proliferation and widespread violence.

Wealthy European countries that sought to halt funding of fossil fuel projects across Africa are now scrambling to secure the continent’s oil and gas.

The U.S. president’s trip was an immediate and time-limited response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, domestic economic woes, and Iran.

“Now, I see that even the woman has a life.”

With control over oil revenues and smuggling profits up for grabs, militias from the western city may once again exercise outsized influence over who leads the country.

The president’s trip to Saudi Arabia and talk of regional security guarantees are a dramatic departure from his rhetoric during the 2020 race.

U.S. intelligence believes Sudan has rebuffed Moscow’s hopes of establishing its first naval base in Africa.

Europe is ramping up its use of the dirtiest fuels—but keeps pressing Africa to stick to draconian green goals.

FP columnist Adam Tooze discusses how fluctuating oil and gas prices are changing the world as we know it.

For too long, Washington has sacrificed its principles to appease the kingdom—and gotten almost nothing in return.

His trip won’t lower gas prices, but it can shore up Washington’s global standing.

After leaning heavily on the United States, Iraq is finding its own footing.

In a new era of superpower conflict, Washington needs to recommit to the region.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering a formal defense agreement with the UAE. Here’s why it shouldn’t.

On the anniversary of its liberation from the Islamic State, Iraq’s second city heals its scars.

Global oil markets have already felt the pinch of Libyan oil shutdowns helped along by Russian mercenaries.

Hossein Taeb’s sudden removal from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is part of a wider project to install a new generation of zealots.

Winter is here. And the country is facing its worst-ever energy crisis.

Both Israel and Saudi Arabia want a stronger deterrence stance on Iran.

Preventing growing Chinese influence in the Middle East is more important than making Riyadh a pariah.

The U.S. president’s upcoming trip to the region is being driven largely by a domestic political crisis linked to the price of oil.

The changes would grant the president almost untrammeled power.

The country’s multiple challenges require a generational change in leadership.

After promising to prosper without international aid, Nana Akufo-Addo’s government is seeking international financial assistance to address an economic crisis.

The M23 rebel group is back, threatening to take much of the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo—and sparking wider regional tensions.

The xenophobic firebrand Nhlanhla “Lux” Mohlauli is courting poor Black voters by stoking hatred of foreigners. It’s working.

As Israel ups the ante of covert warfare, Iran scrambles to respond.

Indigenous people are being forced out from so-called protected areas.

The scramble for battery metals threatens to replicate one of the most destructive dynamics in global economic history.

Targeting senior leaders critical to an enemy program makes strategic sense from Israel’s perspective.

Beijing is stepping up its diplomatic efforts in the Horn of Africa as U.S. influence wanes.

Boris Johnson’s offshoring of asylum-seekers won’t stop the human smuggling trade—or deter people fleeing tyranny who are intent on reaching Britain.

Biden must make it clear to Saudi leaders that continued ballistic missile cooperation with China will jeopardize U.S. missile defense assistance.

Africa’s largest democracy systematically excludes women and young people from politics in a country where the median age is 18.

But a fifth election in less than four years is more likely to produce deadlock—again.

A religious revival rooted in the country’s imperial history has coincided with civil war and the spread of genocidal rhetoric—endangering a diverse and multifaith nation.

Lebanon’s large refugee population has long given up on their futures in the country.

A tenuous U.N. truce has provided relief to civilians but may only entrench a power imbalance in the country’s civil war.

The right-wing Israeli leader’s fragile coalition is vastly preferable to a return of Netanyahu.

King Philippe stopped short of apologizing for colonial-era atrocities, angering the Congolese opposition and diaspora.

Many countries in southern Africa want to unload big stockpiles of ivory to fund conservation, even though the trade is banned.

Special “protocol” treatment has become a way of life for the privileged few.

Talk of security guarantees for the UAE and a thaw in Washington-Riyadh relations could enhance—or weaken—U.S. standing in the region.

A new book tells the forgotten story of migrants stranded in Libya amid United Nations incompetence and Western indifference.

How two decades of misjudgments by Washington helped lead Tehran to the nuclear brink.

Nearly 4 million refugees are caught in the crossfire of Ankara’s heated domestic politics.

Trying to make Mohammed bin Salman a “pariah” was bound to fail.

Ankara’s arms sales to Niger could make the country the center of counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel.

They should be more scared of shutting it off.

A new book on the documents recovered in the Abbottabad raid reveals an organization far weaker than many believed it to be.

The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) is the one body with enough power to derail Saied’s plans.

Iran is threatening to execute an Iranian Swedish doctor—and human rights activists say the West isn’t doing enough.

Egypt and Israel are undermining their peace treaty—and it needs to be stopped.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi promised reform and freedom of expression. Now he’s using archaic laws to stifle free speech.

Washington’s curtailment of reproductive rights at home and in U.S. foreign aid programs has historically had dramatic effects on women’s rights across the continent.

A new coalition could check—or even dislodge—Hezbollah and its iron grip.

Moscow is already deeply involved in destabilizing wars.

The Kremlin believes it’s the true heir of classical civilization—and is poised to replicate its pillage of Syria in Ukraine under the guise of cultural preservation.

A recent book examines the origins and end of an affair between the film industry and the Jewish state.

As in Afghanistan, Trump’s decisions to withdraw have only emboldened terrorists.

Shireen Abu Akleh was neither a terrorist nor a dissident. But Israeli authorities treated the journalist’s funeral as a threat to their security.

Scolding and paternalism are not winning over African leaders when it comes to ties with Russia.

Settlement growth in the West Bank is a product of population pressure, not policy.

The plan would satisfy concerns across the political spectrum by tackling the thorniest issues in new ways.

Where it counts—in the halls of government and boardrooms—the effort to boycott Israel doesn’t even register.

After years of political deadlock, the country may be starting to shake off its ruling class.

After a long delayed indirect election, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud faces many challenges.

Whether it’s Iran, China, Cuba, or immigration, U.S. President Joe Biden often finds himself stymied by his predecessor’s foreign policy.

Europe’s arguments against restitution have ignored the legitimate claims of African scholars and governments for 50 years.

Spain has traded five decades of neutrality on Western Sahara while getting nothing but a spyware scandal in return.

Asia gets the attention, but the real economic revolution is the inevitable growth of an overlooked continent.