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AI Has No Respect for Elections
Joe Kawly is the host of MBN’s podcast The Diplomat, covering the global contest for power and influence. Artificial Intelligence will steal your judgment before it takes your job. The world’s next elections won’t be lost at the ballot box but in the invisible war for your attention. When I recently spoke with Jonathan Katz,…
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No, Turkey is not the Next Iran
Erdoğan’s New Turkey, as illiberal as it is, can help build peace in the Middle East Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity. Follow him on X at: @AkyolinEnglish. On October 9, 2023, just two days after…
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The Missing Leader
Rami Al-Amin is a Lebanese writer and journalist based in the United States. He holds a master’s in Islamic-Christian Relations from Saint Joseph University in Beirut and is the author of O Ali, We Are No Longer the People of the South (2008), and The Pakitan: A Statue’s Biography (2024). Anyone seeking to understand the…
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Meet the Middle East’s New Soft Power Superpower
As Beijing quietly deepens its economic, diplomatic, and media footprint across the Middle East, its influence is increasingly felt in capitals from Riyadh to Rabat. With billions invested in infrastructure, culture, and storytelling, China’s “soft power” campaign is reshaping perceptions of power and partnership in a region long dominated by the United States. This week,…
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It’s Not Only Up to the United States
The Gaza peace plan will work only if major regional players do their part. Ezzedine Fishere is an Egyptian novelist and journalist and a Senior Lecturer at Dartmouth College. The Trump plan has brought a ceasefire to Gaza, with a prisoner and hostage swap. That is no small feat. It took an extraordinary American intervention…
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The IAEA Doesn’t Trust Tehran. Should the Rest of the World?
Andres Ilves has overseen Iran coverage for the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and now MBN. His newsletter Iran Briefing will launch next week. Subscribe here. The old playbook for dealing with the Iranian regime has outlived its usefulness. It’s time for a new one. In the aftermath of the 12-day war with Israel and…
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Message from Libya: The Boat Is Full
Hassuna Baishu is a Washington-based Libyan journalist who has worked across the Middle East and North Africa. In Main Square, in the center of Tripoli, crowds of Libyans are venting their anger. This time, though, the object of their ire is not the 14-year civil war that has divided their country, or the warlords that…
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These Two Countries Made Peace. Don’t Let it Fall Apart
Ezzedine Fishere is an Egyptian novelist and journalist and a Senior Lecturer at Dartmouth College. The Israeli-Egyptian peace is often taken for granted. It shouldn’t be. What began in the mid-1970s as a set of modest disengagement agreements has, over half a century, grown into one of the most durable security relationships in the Middle…