The iconic film starring Humphrey Bogart, The Maltese Falcon, deals with 1940s-era treasure-hunters seeking a jewel-encrusted gold statuette plundered by pirates in 1539 while it was being shipped from Malta to the Spanish court of King Charles V. Sam Spade, the fictional detective portrayed in the film by Bogart, finally recovers the namesake bird in…
EU’s Mogherini expressed hope that US administration would forego protectionist policies Germany’s von der Leyen stressed that the use of military means alone cannot lead to success International community must work together against the “plague” on Jordan’s borders Panel called for Russia to put more pressure on Syrian government Syria is at a…
One key to understanding the changing dynamics in Russia and their impact on the Middle East lies in history. The imperial tzars, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin appear to have little in common outside of their Russian citizenship, but they shared common aspirations about the country’s place on the global stage and about their own…
While Operation Euphrates Shield, the Turkish-led offensive into Syria to drive Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) forces away from the border region, appears to have achieved strong initial success, occupying hundreds of square kilometers of Syrian territory, the longer-term objectives and the consequences of Turkey’s incursion remain unclear. On August 24, armored vehicles…
Higher education in the Middle East is often an unrecognized casualty of conflicts, with priority given to more pressing humanitarian needs, says a latest policy briefing from Brookings Doha Center. Campuses have been bombed in Syria, Gaza and now Yemen; occupied or closed in Libya and Iraq; and been the subject of severe police crackdowns…
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq has reported that violence claimed the lives of 1,103 Iraqis in February and 1,375 in January. Its figures did not include the one third of the country held by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and have certainly been overtaken in the offensive by the Iraqi army and allied…
Mark Schnellbaecher, Regional Director – Syrian Crisis Response at the International Rescue Committee speaks to TRENDS at the World Economic Forum 2015, Jordan about how technology is aiding humanitarian relief efforts.
With millions of refugees fleeing Syria for neighboring countries, host nations, at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, appealed to the international community, to help them deal with the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. “We need a Marshall Plan to provide support,” said Imad Najib Fakhoury, Minister of Planning and International…
H.M. King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein of Jordan opened the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa today at a convention center on the banks of the Dead Sea. Abdullah urged world leaders gathered at the forum not to let the crises facing the Middle East and North Africa to allow…
The Middle East faces the prospect of an influx of hundreds of thousands more refugees, especially minor children. In a recent piece for the Brookings Institution, Omer Karasapan, Regional Knowledge & Learning Coordinator, World Bank, states that, of the 4 million Syrian refugees in the region, more than a million are children under 18, who…
