World Bank

September 3, 2026 | Ahmad Sharawi |

Syria Is Off the Terror List, but Washington Still Has Leverage

US President Donald Trump has fulfilled the promise he made to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in May 2025, to give Syrians “a chance at greatness.” At the end of August of this year, Trump...

August 21, 2026 | Edmund Fitton-Brown, Dr. Emily Brearley

How the US Can Reclaim the World Bank from China

China extracts a sweet deal from a global financial institution just a few blocks from the White House.

August 20, 2026 | Keti Korkiya |

Central Asia’s Power Needs Are an Opportunity for Washington

Blackouts across Central Asia should be a light-bulb moment for Washington as it seeks to diversify critical-mineral supply chains. An August 14 blackout across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and...

August 20, 2026 | Samuel Ben-Ur

Venezuela continues difficult recovery from twin earthquakes as oil sales surge

Venezuela’s recovery from the June 24 earthquakes has grown increasingly costly as the death toll has risen, infrastructure damage has become clearer, and reconstruction has placed new pressure...

August 11, 2026 | Antonia-Laura Pup, Angela Howard

Do not let China win Ukraine’s reconstruction

Beijing must not benefit from reconstruction contracts for infrastructure it helped destroy

August 5, 2025 | Ahmad Sharawi, Natalie Ecanow

Qatar Is Powering Syria

For Syria, Qatar’s money is power. On July 31, the Qatar Fund for Development announced plans to fund a surge of natural gas deliveries to Syria. Deliveries began on August 2. The gas, which is flowing...

June 17, 2025 | Dr. Brenda Shaffer |

G-7: Africans Deserve Real Electricity

The  G-7 countries are meeting this week in Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada. This G-7 meeting will focus on geopolitical issues. While many disagreements currently prevail among the G-7 countries,...

June 2, 2025 | Sinan Ciddi, Natalie Ecanow

Turkey and Qatar Are Buying Into Syria. The US Should Be Wary of Their Motives

With Washington’s blessing, Qatar and Turkey are cementing their role in post-Assad Syria. On May 29, Syria signed a $7 billion memorandum of understanding with the United States, Qatar, and Turkey to...

May 1, 2025 | Peter Doran |

Inside the secret genius of the Ukraine mineral deal

President Trump has just struck one big, beautiful deal with Ukraine — and its impact could reach far beyond rare earth minerals. Unveiled yesterday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent,...

April 10, 2025 | Dr. Brenda Shaffer |

Canada should push the G7 to help end energy poverty

Ending fossil fuel funding doesn’t reduce emissions but does hurt the world’s poorest people

March 25, 2025 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Who Destroyed Lebanon: Hezbollah or the Banks?

A “bloc” of lawmakers, political parties, media outlets, and non-governmental organizations are peddling a platform that distracts attention from the paramount importance of disarming Hezbollah and...

March 12, 2025 | Clifford D. May |

The clean energy revolution that didn’t happen

Cast your mind back to September 6, 2019, when presidential candidate Joe Biden, campaigning in New Hampshire, took the hand of a 24-year-old activist. “Kiddo,” he said, “look in my eyes. I...

January 22, 2025 | Dr. Brenda Shaffer, Svante Cornell

The Hidden Renewable Energy in Central Asia

One of the biggest threats to human health, and a major source of air pollution, is regularly hidden in statistical reports as “renewable energy:” the burning of dung, wood, and lump coal. While most...

January 6, 2025 | Mariam Wahba

Turning the Page on Intolerance: Egypt’s Textbook Reforms

Egypt has made significant strides in purging school textbooks of antisemitic content and other problematic material, revising over 350 state-issued books since 2018 as a part of an ambitious reform program....

December 17, 2024 | Mariam Wahba |

Egypt Revises School Textbooks to Expunge Antisemitic Content

Egypt has made significant strides in purging school textbooks of antisemitic and anti-Christian content, with approximately 80 percent of Egyptian students in elementary and preparatory education now...

December 3, 2024 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Gulf countries talk like Iran, act like Israel

The GCC rhetoric on Israel masks its true aims to decouple Syria's Assad and the Islamic Republic and declaw Hezbollah in Lebanon

November 25, 2024 | Dr. Brenda Shaffer |

Return Funding for Reliable Energy to the World’s Poorest

A centerpiece of President Biden’s agenda was a government led effort to greatly reduce production and consumption of fossil fuels. One of the key policies Biden enacted to pursue this goal was ending...

November 8, 2024 | |

‘You are Going to See the Sanctions Go Back On’: Trump Expected to Restore Maximum Pressure Against Iran

Maximum Pressure to Make a Comeback: President-elect Donald Trump plans to increase sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of a return to his previous administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign, former Trump administration officials told The Wall Street Journal.

October 29, 2024 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iran’s military budget is growing: What does that mean for the Middle East?

Iran wants to increase the accuracy of its range and the overall number of its ballistic missiles.

October 25, 2024 | Mariam Wahba |

MBS Bets on Egypt’s Fragile Economy

For the first time since 2022, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) visited Cairo last week to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Their meeting, coupled with Saudi Arabia’s recently...