Middle East
A Grain of Truth
Egyptian food has long had a bad reputation, but it’s time to reassess what you think you know about mahshy, molokhia in duck stock, koshary — and tamiyya versus falafel.
The Politics of Naming Journalists
The CPJ's decision to review eight journalists removed from its Gaza casualty database has sparked a broader dispute over how the organization defines journalism, culminating in a board vote to reaffirm its existing standards.
The Arabs of Hyderabad
From royal guards to entrepreneurs and wrestlers, Hyderabad’s Yemeni-origin community has navigated the collapse of princely rule, the violence of 1948 and life in independent India, preserving its identity and reinventing itself in a changing city.
Pakistan Is Taking on a New Role in the Middle East
Pakistan’s mediation in the Iran war and its growing ties with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar signal its emergence as a key security actor in southwest Asia’s shifting order and a significant expansion of its regional stature.
Inside the End of Kurdish Self-Rule in Syria
A deal between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces that will end Kurdish self-rule in northeastern Syria is moving forward. But mistrust runs deep, and many SDF fighters reject integration, while civilians, worn down by war, hope for stability but fear what unification could bring.
Saudi Arabia’s Break With Interventionism
After decades of shifting alliances that failed to deliver stability, Saudi Arabia now has a “zero-conflict” policy toward its neighbors. It is this, rather than a turn to Islamism, that is paradoxically creating tension with the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
The Unruly History That Weighs on the New Syria
The challenges facing Syria today are connected to three previous beginnings: the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, independence in 1946 after World War II and the fall of European colonial empires, and the birth of Hafez al-Assad’s regime in 1970.