Donald Trump said the USA might take over Gaza once Palestinians leave. No one in the Middle East can accept such a proposal because it would increase instability in the region.
The names floated for the incoming Trump administration suggest that the greater Middle East will remain a focus for Washington. An attention that Iran and Turkey do not like.
The threat of a major war in the Middle East has diminished after the latest missile barrage exchange between Israel and Hezbollah. However, Muslim and Israeli extremists are blocking peace talks in Gaza and the long-term settlement of disputes in the region.
From the USA to China and Russia, from India to the Middle East, political leaders are over 70. Can they still make use of their experience to their advantage, or are they unable to adapt and have thus become a source of problems?
Under the Russian presidency, BRICS is getting ready for its biggest summit yet. But the organization that wants an alternative to the Western economic order, has little chance of upsetting it anytime soon.
As the development of trade routes between the West and the East is in full swing, Iran and Turkey risk being overlooked due to their own policies, despite their strategic position between the two regions.
More and more international observers wonder if Turkish leaders, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in particular, are truly capable of implementing a change. There are some signs indicating this might be possible, although the more knowledgeable pundits remain sceptic, claiming that a return to the reformist agenda of the early years of the government’s mandate (2002-2009) is impossible.
The first steps taken by the Biden administration in the Middle East mark significant changes as compared to the Trump era. The key allies to whom Trump had given a free hand in the region are now given a cold shoulder, while at the same time opening the gate towards a resumption of dialogue with Iran. It remains to be seen, though, how deep these changes are going to be or how long they will take.
The Libyans who took to the streets on February 17, 2011 had been called to a "day of rage." A little later, the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi - who at the time was the longest-lived but also the most eccentric tyrant in the Arab world - would be called the "February 17 Revolution." In retrospect, that is the time when the Arab Spring turned into the great war for the Arab world.
The Middle East seems to be undergoing an all-encompassing reset. One at a time, Arab nations are making their pace with Israel. Monarchies in the Gulf are trying to settle old scores. Radical groups shore up old alliances. Iran gets pushed back after over a decade and a half of expansions. The highlights of the 2000s were the outcome of the attack of the al-Qaeda network on the United States, while those of the following decade the result of the Arab Spring. In the East, the third decade is marked by the political will of its leaders.