MSN: Hittite Empire’s Enigmatic “Wish Stone” Continues to Puzzle Archaeologists

By Beth Snider. Archaeologists are still grappling with the enigma surrounding a mysterious large green stone discovered at the Temple complex in Hattusa, the capital of the ancient Hittite Empire. Referred to as the “wish stone” by locals, its rich green surface has been polished smooth over centuries by the hands of countless individuals, each

Consortium News: Iran’s Strategic Patience Is Spent

By As’ad AbuKhalil. Direct retaliatory strikes mark a new phase of the Islamic Republic’s conflict with Israel. By all accounts Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel was unprecedented. It wasn’t U.S. ‘shock and awe’ but it was massive, sophisticated and dazzlingly theatrical. It is too early to assess the damage caused by its combination of missiles

France 24: Turkey’s Erdogan in Iraq for rare state visit to discuss water, oil, security

By News Wires’s Editorial Dept (AFP). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived on Monday 22/04/2024 in neighbouring Iraq for his first state visit there in years, with water, oil and regional security issues expected to top the agenda. Erdogan was greeted with a 21-gun salute at Baghdad‘s international airport by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani,

The Business Standard: Lebanese food: A cuisine steeped in history and geography

By Nazia Adnin. Lebanese cuisine was heavily influenced by occupying powers and many new dishes were added to the cuisine throughout its history “The secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” -Mark Twain I first tried Lebanese cuisine at dinner party, which also

Asharq Al-Awsat: Questions Regarding the Cultural Themes of War

By Hazem Saghieh. Last Sunday (7/4) the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” published an investigative report by Judy Maltz, the newspaper’s Jewish World correspondent, entitled “Six Months On: How October 7 and the Gaza War Transformed Jews Across the Globe.” It traces how these two major events have reflected on the lives of Jewish individuals: 7 in

Rai al-Youm: Erdoğan’s inaction over Gaza

By Abdel Bari Atwan. Verbal condemnation needs to be matched by practical measures Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is coming under heavy criticism in Turkey and from within his governing AK party — not to mention the opposition — these days, and his popularity in the Arab and Islamic world has been plummeting. In both cases,

RIAC: Iran: The Middle East’s Joker

By Andrey Kortunov. Last Sunday, February 11, Iran celebrated the 45th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Celebratory rallies were held in over 1,400 towns and 35,000 villages across the country. In Tehran, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi spoke to the participants of the festive processions. It is well known that Islam does not approve of

RIAC: A Pivot to the East and the Islamic Dimension of Russia’s Foreign Policy

By Ildar Galeev and Kirill Semenov. The year of 2023 may well have been a year of further consolidation of Russia’s pivot to the East, especially in the Middle East and across the South, as well as to the Islamic world. Amid the pressure of Western sanctions, Moscow managed not only to retain its positions

Responsible Statecraft: Red Sea is today’s arena for clash of African-Arab power politics

By Alex De Waal And Mulugeta Gebrehiwot. This didn’t start with Gaza. The last decade has been a rollercoaster of hope and horror for the peoples here. For the Arab Gulf kingdoms, the Horn of Africa is a strategic perimeter. They want to minimize political threats — some are hostile to Islamists, all want to

Responsible Statecraft: Evidence of ethnic cleansing growing in West Bank and Gaza

By: Paul R. Pillar. Increasingly brutal IDF activity, official Israeli rhetoric, and settler-led violence is making it harder to deny a policy designed to expel Palestinians Even if one were to take at face value Israel’s declarations that its assault on the Gaza Strip and its two million residents is all about “destroying Hamas,” the