Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Thick smoke from an airstrike by the US-led coalition rises in Kobani, Syria, as seen from the Turkish-Syrian border, on October 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Opinion: A Farcical War

by Samir Atallah | Dec 30, 2014 | Opinion

It takes years, or sometimes even decades, until we can judge whether the response to a major event has been correct or not. While we also know that sometimes a good decision can tip over to become a bad one, simply based on timing. US President Barack Obama’s delay...

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The late Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandsons, Ali Khomeini, right, and Yasser Khomeini, second right, greet former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, left, as parliament speaker Ali Larijani, second left, sits with them during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini at his shrine just outside Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 4, 2013 (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader)

Opinion: On the Meanings of Influence

by Samir Atallah | Dec 27, 2014 | Opinion

During his recent Arab tour Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani proudly stated that his country’s political influence extends from Lebanon and Syria to Iraq and Yemen. However Larijani did not need to emphasize this fact, which is something that is equally...

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Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, as he opened a fourth round of the US-Colombia High-Level Partnership Dialogue (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Opinion: Kerry’s Political Dilemma

by Samir Atallah | Jul 27, 2014 | Opinion

There can be no doubts about the intentions of US Secretary of State John Kerry. From his actions as head of the US State Department, it is clear that he is a well-intentioned man. Based on these good intentions, he is always roaming the world, scarcely spending...

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In this photo released by Middle East News Agency, the Egyptian official news agency, Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour casts his ballot in the presidential election in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, May 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Middle East News Agency)

Opinion: Farewell, Adly Mansour

by Samir Atallah | May 28, 2014 | Opinion

Interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour, who presently holds the highest constitutional power in the country, went to vote in the presidential elections on Monday as if he were any other Egyptian citizen. Elsewhere, many are calling for Egyptians to boycott the...

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The new Libyan flag is raised during a parade in the eastern city of Benghazi to celebrate the second anniversary of Nato’s first military operation in Libya on March 19, 2013. Source: AFP PHOTO / ADBULLAH DOMA

Opinion: Post-Revolution Libya

by Samir Atallah | May 16, 2014 | Opinion

During the 2011 uprisings against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s 40-year rule, demonstrators raised the tricolor flag of the monarchy. That flag somehow reassured the Libyan people—not because they wanted the monarchy to return, but because the flag symbolized the...