The Israeli Ultra-Hawks Who Feel Betrayed by Trump’s Iran Deal | The New Yorker: https://arabist.net/2026/06/25/the-israeli-ultrahawks-who-feel.html
Issandr Amrani
@arabist.net
I write about politics, geopolitics, technology and culture, with particular focus on MENA. Recovering journalist and OG blogger at arabist.net; formerly at @open-society.bsky.social and @crisisgroup.org. Usual caveats apply.
Why China Hasn’t Helped the U.S. with Iran | International Crisis Group Because it sees the war as a strategic liability for the US from which it stands to benefit.
Ian’s Is Still The Best Site For Tying Your Shoelaces This is what tears me apart about AI - with here Chris Person writing about a fantastic example, Ian’s Shoelace Site, which is both a wonderful relic of an earlier type of website (wi... https://arabist.net/2026/06/12/ians-is-still-the-best.html
Israel Set to Rapidly Expand West Bank Settlement Before elections later this year. Plus ça change….
Israel Set to Rapidly Expand West Bank Settlement
By Isabel Kershner
nytimes.com
China and the Mediterranean | China Books Review: https://arabist.net/2026/06/11/china-and-the-mediterranean-china.html
En Tunisie, les autorités coupent Internet pour éviter la triche au baccalauréat | Le Monde The Tunisian government has widely jammed or crippled the internet in the country to prevent cheating in high school exams. More staggering incompetence from Kaïs Saïd.
A New Tone and Better Cards in Kyiv | International Crisis Group How Ukraine is emerging a winner out of the Iran war, at least in terms of establishing itself as an exporter of security to the Gulf: When Russia launched its full-scale in... https://arabist.net/2026/06/11/a-new-tone-and-better.html
Saudi Economic Contraction: How MBS Debt-Led Growth Is Creating a Strategic Financial and Geopolitical Trap for Saudi | MENA Unleashed The International Monetary Fund concluded its 2026 Article IV mission to Riyadh this week w... https://arabist.net/2026/06/11/saudi-economic-contraction-how-mbs.html
Congress Is Trying to Permanently Integrate U.S. and Israeli Defense Tech | The Intercept Critical reporting by Austin Campbell: Lawmakers and military experts told The Intercept that Section 224, named “United States-Israel D... https://arabist.net/2026/06/10/congress-is-trying-to-permanently.html
Le Maroc élimine un haut responsable du Front Polisario | Le Monde Morocco carries out drone killing of Polisario leader near Western Sahara berm.
Brussels Institute for Geopolitics – The ideological roots of MAGA’s anti-European offensive On three luminaries behind the national-conservatives' view of Europe. Interesting to see the Israeli link and the whiffs of “Eurabia”.
The ideological roots of MAGA’s anti-European offensive
European leaders are in disarray over the Trump administration’s rapidly eroding commitment to the transatlantic alliance. During the past year, the US government has slapped heavy tariffs on the...
big-europe.eu
The State of the Strait: The Role of Hormuz in the Middle East War So Far | International Crisis Group Comprehensive explainer with quite useful graphics.
Trump’s Defense Department Sees Growing Espionage Threat From Israel - The New York Times Tel Aviv upping spying on Witkoff and other top officials negotiating Iran talks.
Pentagon Sees Growing Espionage Threat From Israel
By Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt
nytimes.com
The Birds of Palestine (Arabic) – Shop Palestine Lovely poster available for sale to raise funds for the Middle East Children’s Alliance (via Kottke)
Iran’s Care for Orphans Has Been Transformed by War - New Lines Magazine: https://arabist.net/2026/06/08/irans-care-for-orphans-has.html
Unmaking the Middle East | Andrew Arsan | The New York Review of Books Review of Fawaz Gerges' two most recent books, What Really Went Wrong and The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East.
Unmaking the Middle East | Andrew Arsan
In two recent books the scholar and commentator Fawaz Gerges asks why the region remains a bastion of authoritarian government, prone to conflict and instability, instead of becoming an economic success story.
nybooks.com
The World Misunderstands the India–UAE Relationship - Gulf International Forum
The World Misunderstands the India–UAE Relationship - Gulf International Forum
On May 15, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed several key defense, energy, and shipping agreements during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brief...
gulfif.org
The U.S. Needs Its Mideast Bases - WSJ It’s astonishing to see this kind of piece, by pro-war longtime neocons Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh, as if the US disbanding its Gulf bases is now in question: Whatever credibility Washingto... https://arabist.net/2026/06/08/the-us-needs-its-mideast.html
If I Were Chuck Schumer | The New York Review of Books Joseph O’Neill, interviewed by Daniel Drake: "If I were Senator Schumer, I would take stock of the polls, which reveal an amazingly unpopular Democratic Party that is despised by i... https://arabist.net/2026/06/08/if-i-were-chuck-schumer.html
Lessons from RightsCon Cancellation for Democracy Promotion Andrew Friedman and Tara L. Thwing, write here for Just Security on the recent cancellation of RightsCon, a major civil society and human rights gathering, by t... https://arabist.net/2026/06/08/lessons-from-rightscon-cancellation-for.html
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu replay 1982 Beirut stand-off | FT Mehul Srivastava and Abigail Hauslohner on the parallels with Reagan and Begin: "As it battled the Palestine Liberation Organization, Israel had laid sie... https://arabist.net/2026/06/04/donald-trump-and-benjamin-netanyahu.html
L’artiste franco-iranienne Marjane Satrapi, autrice de la bande dessinée « Persepolis », est morte à l’âge de 56 ans Satrapi, author of the blockbuster graphic novel Persepolis, about growing up in the early yea... https://arabist.net/2026/06/04/lartiste-francoiranienne-marjane-satrapi-autrice.html
Iran’s New Grand Strategy | Foreign Affairs A fascinating essay by Narges Bajoghli and Vali Nasr argues that the last year of Iran-Israel-US war has fundamentally changed the way Iran is governed, putting nationalist technocrat... https://arabist.net/2026/06/04/irans-new-grand-strategy-foreign.html
The World Capital of French Fries Has a Problem: Too Many Potatoes www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/w... Good reporting on the Belgian potato crisis, including impact of Iran war on Middle East sales.
The World Capital of French Fries Has a Problem: Too Many Potatoes
nytimes.com
“Strategic Balance” under Stress: Egypt and the U.S.-Israeli War with Iran | International Crisis Group "Since the U.S. and Israel set off their war with Iran, Egypt has been looking for an off-ramp. Cairo has used diplomat... https://arabist.net/2026/05/18/strategic-balance-under-stress-egypt.html
Jordan’s New Security Dilemma – Arab Reform Initiative Sean Yom: "Herein lies Jordan’s new security dilemma. Squeezed between Israeli expansionism and Iranian attacks, the Hashemite Kingdom faces unprecedented threats to its ... https://arabist.net/2026/05/18/jordans-new-security-dilemma-arab.html
Nancy Fraser, Gaza as World Event, NLR 158, March–April 2026
Nancy Fraser, Gaza as World Event, NLR 158, March–April 2026
The global reverberations of Israel’s destruction of Gaza, understood as world event—an epochal turning point which serves to reveal the changing nature of the times. Philosophical reflections on the rise of a new-era McCarthyism in Germany and the US.
newleftreview.org
Drones Are Reshaping Sudan’s Civil War - New Lines Magazine "The United Nations reports that another 700 civilians have been killed by drones since the start of this year, which accounts for three-quarters of the total civilia... https://arabist.net/2026/05/18/drones-are-reshaping-sudans-civil.html
Iran nuclear monitor: Month by month – European Council on Foreign Relations Visualization around risks of various scenarios for Iran’s nuclear weapons program – the most likely by far being “neither rebuilds nor negotiates”.