Jeanna Smialek

2 weeks 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.

2 weeks 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.

2 weeks ago | english.aawsat.com | Tariq Al-Homayed |Jeanna Smialek |Nabil Amr |Hazem Saghieh

There are several ways to interpret what we saw from the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. However, one thing we are sure of is that Trump knows exactly what he wants and how to get it, and he pursues it relentlessly.

2 weeks ago | english.aawsat.com | Jeanna Smialek |Nabil Amr |Hazem Saghieh |Abdulrahman al-Rashed

European Union officials are taking a two-part approach to President Trump’s unfolding trade war, offering to slash tariffs on American-made cars and industrial products even as they prepare to retaliate imminently with wide-ranging levies. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU’s executive branch, said on Monday that the 27-nation bloc would be willing to employ a “zero-for-zero” approach on products including cars, eliminating tariffs on the goods if the United States did the same.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Jeanna Smialek

Europe wants to negotiate, but it is also trying to project strength. As Trump warns nations against retaliation, that strategy could be perilous. The European Union is responding to President Trump's sweeping trade war with a handshake and a punch: It is promising the administration potential wins while also preparing its own retaliatory tariffs on American products starting next week. The questions are whether the enticements are enough, and whether a show of strength could backfire.