The Trump Factor in Today's Middle East

The Trump factor in today's Middle East

WASHINGTON, DC: As Donald Trump parades through the Middle East this week, he will encounter a very different region than the one he experienced during his first term. True, the Israeli-Palestinian problem remains unresolved, as do the challenges emanating from Iran’s much-advanced nuclear programme and the instability and dysfunction in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. But this old wine is now packaged in new bottles. Beyond the garish…

Trump's Middle East Blind Spots

There are certain risks that Israel must never take, even if that sometimes means saying a polite but firm no to Trump Photo: AP Images IF anyone believed that Israel’s proven military prowess in its seven-front war against enemies sworn to its destruction established it as the power to be reckoned with in the Middle East, they were mistaken. In President Trump’s America, money speaks far louder than tanks and warplanes. Trump claims to have ext…