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3 weeks ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Mustafa Fahs |Hazem Saghieh |Amir Taheri |Hanna Saleh
Between Aoun's insistence on the state monopolizing arms and Hezbollah reverting back to its position on maintaining its arms, reproducing its previous taboos and reiterating the notorious threat “to cut off the hand that reaches for the weapons,” Lebanon (its state, people, sectarian and political parties) face two opposing challenges.
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3 weeks ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Amir Taheri |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed
A few days ago, on the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Lebanese war, the culture of shirking responsibility for this conflict beamed once again. Several writers and observers have pointed to some manifestations of this culture whose prevalence has not been hindered by its corruption. The war is "the events," or the "inauspicious" or "painful" events - terminology that is meant to downplay its belligerent identity and emphasize its emotional impact while also obscuring its real makers.
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3 weeks ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Amir Taheri |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Hazem Saghieh
It was barely a month ago when TV watchers across the globe saw a show in which new US president Donald Trump treated visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as one of those voodoo dolls made for pushing needles into thus dodging a curse. After the show TV talking heads speculated that having come to the White House dressed as a rockstar rather than a statesman, Zelensky had angered Trump and thus deserved what he got.
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4 weeks ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Hazem Saghieh |Eyad Abu Shakra
The moment Naim Qassem publicly and explicitly approved the ceasefire agreement, before Amos Hochstein even landed in Tel Aviv, he was, in effect, admitting to the collapse of Hezbollah’s project. The party’s insistence on securing a binding ceasefire agreement, even while Israeli forces remained on southern Lebanese soil, amounts to nothing less than a confession: the gamble on “resistance” has failed, and the role of the weapons has expired.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Amir Taheri |Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed
Despite the great deal of sound and fury that it has generated, it is perhaps too early to assess the lasting impact of President Donald Trump’s latest fireworks on tariffs. Some things, however, are certain. Contrary to assertions by talking heads on the small screen, we are not heading for a global trade war. True, the US is the world’s biggest economy and ranks second as a trading power. But its share of world trade hovers around 12 percent or under 10 percent of its GDP.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Jeanna Smialek |Nabil Amr
The most dangerous impediment to the Lebanese authorities’ current efforts to restore the state is that the country sits atop a dangerous minefield of “zombie” weapons and “zombie” banks. The camp of illegitimate arms intimidates rivals by clinging to narratives that defend its maintenance.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Jeanna Smialek
A combination of two intertwined tendencies is driving the behavior of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel: absolute exceptionalism and pre-emptive-ness that feeds on assumptions of the worst intentions. Exceptionalism, in this sense, amounts to suspending the ordinary, with its laws and norms, and considering the capacity to impose this suspension an exclusive right reserved only to the party behind it. Meanwhile, the world is split into absolute enemies and absolute friends, with nothing in between.
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2 months ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Mustafa Fahs |Amir Taheri |Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh
In the Arabic dictionary, the verb “yumana’” or “tamana’” derives from “mana’”, with its noun form being “mumana’a”, meaning “resistance” or “opposition.” The dictionary defines “mumana’a” as a form of “dispute” that arises between two or more parties. On the surface, Iranian officials present their relationship with Washington as adversarial, engaging in rhetorical confrontations. However, beneath the surface, there is neither true conflict nor outright resistance.
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2 months ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Mustafa Fahs |Amir Taheri |Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh
As France’s President Emmanuel Macron casts himself as Europe’s new leader in a joust against Donald Trump he might do well to have a look at two great Frenchmen who advised against haste and hubris. The first is that paragon of diplomacy Talleyrand who managed to survive four regimes, including one created by a bloody revolution and another that set Europe on fire before drowning it in blood.
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2 months ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Nabil Amr
The events that transpired on the Syrian coast were triggered by a terrorist operation at the hands of "remnants" of the deposed regime. However, it quickly morphed into something else, something much bigger that raises a series of pressing questions about our lives and our politics: How can we deal with grudges and vengeful tendencies? How should we approach the social contract in a pluralistic society?
