Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Nils A. Haug • March 1, 2026 at 5:00 am
How fitting that the US and Israel finally retaliated against 47 years of aggression by the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the week of the Biblical Purim festival. The greatness of Western civilization was primarily founded on a composite of Judeo-Christian religious values, Greek philosophy and political theory, and Roman jurisprudence, all providing definitive moral guidance. This is the noble civilization that, through its principles, has led much of the world into prosperity, democracy, individual liberty, equal justice under the law, freedom of expression and human rights. Ironically, free speech is under self-imposed threat of termination in their nations, including those located as far from Europe as Australia. When Rubio delivered his inclusionary speech, which received a standing ovation, the following day, the European Parliament, and associated personages, appeared already to have made up their minds. They were happy with the current state of affairs, thank you, and did not need America's cultural, political or scientific input; only its guarantee for defense or support for ideological dreamscapes. Their message was obvious: they would not commit to the US's idea of a common Western cultural heritage, nor would they join the US in preventing civilizational decline. Those brave souls who do have the courage to speak up are ostracized, imprisoned or overruled. Apart from ruinous civil wars to remedy the situation, the last hope seems to reside in a few dedicated personalities, mainly in the US -- that last bastion of free speech -- who occasionally appear to view the status quo as in need of a bit of a shake-up. These individuals evidently believe that the values of the West are worth preserving. Elsewhere, Western civilization endures in a few lonely places, such as Hungary and Poland, as well as the tiny nation of Israel – a courageous country that has spent nearly eight decades fighting – and winning – wars of self-defense, yet continues to be unjustly vilified by almost everyone. These are just some of the brave nations that exemplify, however imperfectly, the reservoir of Judeo-Christian values, the fount of the West. Might anyone else please sign up? Europe's decision-makers, meanwhile, blissfully carry on, condemning Israel, rebuffing the US, and voting to send their countries into barbarism.
Only a few brave nations exemplify, however imperfectly, the reservoir of Judeo-Christian values, the fount of the West. Might anyone else please sign up? Pictured: A Roman statue of Atlas (circa 2nd-century CE) at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. (Photo by Lalupa/Wikimedia Commons)
How fitting that the US and Israel finally retaliated against 47 years of aggression by the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the week of the Biblical Purim Festival. Then, roughly 2,300 years ago, Haman, viceroy to Persia's King Ahasuerus, threw a lot ("pur", plural "purim") to determine the date by which he would kill all the Jews in the empire. This plan's successor sits (or sat) in Tehran's Palestine Square: a "doomsday clock" counting down the minutes until Israel is supposed no longer to exist: 2040, to be exact. Iran's current regime began its bellicosity in November 1979 with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's vows of "Death to America," then kidnapping and holding hostage 53 US Embassy personnel in Tehran for 444 days, until the inauguration of US President Ronald Reagan in 1981 appears to have frightened them off. The hostages were immediately released.
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by Amir Taheri • March 1, 2026 at 4:00 am
[A] war is never won by one side declaring victory but when one side admits defeat. A short, sharp and necessarily limited attack will be followed by Tehran accepting a ceasefire and expressing willingness to enter a new round of negotiations, exactly like what happened last June. In that case the attack would have been pointless because Tehran has already used the negotiation charade that has continued for almost half a century. The second scenario is that the "hardline faction" is defanged and pro-US groups seize control. That would mean returning to the good old days of President Barack Obama when John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif strolled together along Lake Leman to ponder how to hoodwink critics at home. The third scenario is that the attack causes systemic collapse and enables Reza Pahlavi's "team" to concoct a transitional government and organize their referendum. [A]re [you] ready for the long haul that could produce a positive outcome as it did in West Germany, Japan and South Korea after World War II and the peninsular war.
(Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
Then what? This is the question that theoreticians of war from Sun Tzu to Jomini and Liddell-Hart and passing by Clausewitz advise leaders to ask before they order the firing of the first shot in a war. Thus, one may suggest that US President Donald Trump should also ask that question before, as many expect, he triggers a new round of military attacks on Iran. The New York Times believes that by assembling the largest strike force since 2003 Trump has cornered himself in a position from which he cannot wiggle out without losing face or more. Former State Department "strategic brain" Richard Haass claims that Trump is sleep-walking into a war. In Tehran, officials also predict some form of military action which they expect would clear the air without threatening the existence of the regime.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • February 28, 2026 at 5:00 am
In an unsurprising reversal of its own stated principles, the United Nations elevated the Islamic Republic of Iran, the serial human-rights-abusing regime, by appointing it vice-chair to a body charged with overseeing the UN Charter. The European Union failed to block the appointment, despite having previously acted to prevent Russia from holding certain international positions after it invaded Ukraine. European governments possess diplomatic leverage and experience in stopping controversial candidates, yet in this instance they chose silence. The message this appointment sends to the Iranian people and other victims of repressive and exploitative tyrannies, is that the mass murder, torture and blinding of dissidents are secondary to diplomatic etiquette. The result is that rulers of Iran, which has long been the leading state sponsor of terrorism, are now in a position connected to overseeing the principles meant to restrain state violence and uphold international law. The UN's abuses of moral decency and taxpayer-funds have to be stopped – or at least financially curtailed into the irrelevance the UN so painstakingly earned. Authoritarian governments often value symbolic recognition as much as material power: it signals to their populations that resistance is futile and that the world accepts their rule. In the end, this episode raises profound questions about the ongoing viability of the UN and other questionable international institutions.... The organization founded to protect humanity has irrevocably detached itself from the very people it was meant to serve. It is time to withdraw further support from the United Nations and many other unaccountable and untransparent unelected institutions. They had the power to stop these grotesque masquerades but chose not to act.
In an unsurprising reversal of its own stated principles, the United Nations elevated the Islamic Republic of Iran, the serial human-rights-abusing regime, by appointing it vice-chair to a body charged with overseeing the UN Charter. This episode raises profound questions about the ongoing viability of the UN and other questionable international institutions. Pictured: Iran's Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Gholamhossein Darzi listens during a UN Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
After the Iranian regime's recent brutal crackdown on protesters — marked by mass murders, mass arrests, torture, and sweeping internet shutdowns designed to hide the scale of the violence — one might reasonably have expected the international community that piously lectures everyone about human rights and protecting civilians to erupt in outrage and mobilize immediately. Instead, in an unsurprising reversal of its own stated principles, the United Nations elevated the Islamic Republic of Iran, the serial human-rights-abusing regime, by appointing it vice-chair to a body charged with overseeing the UN Charter. UN Watch recently wrote: "NO JOKE: The Islamic regime in Iran has just been elected as Vice-Chair of the U.N. Commission for Social Development, whose priority theme will be promoting democracy, gender equality, and ensuring tolerance and non-violence."
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by Guy Millière • February 27, 2026 at 7:00 am
In January, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk spoke of the "unspeakable atrocities" suffered by millions of Jews, but added that the atrocities had also been suffered by "members of other minorities." Not quite. Although other minorities were indeed persecuted by the Nazis, none of them faced attempted extermination. Speaking in this way trivializes the Holocaust and makes it comparable to other crimes. UN Secretary-General António Guterres not only also trivialized the Holocaust; he tried to claim that the United Nations fights antisemitism. If only! The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs wrote in 2005 that the UN "has become the leading global purveyor of anti-Semitism." Italian legal scholar Francesca Albanese, the UN's "Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories" (her title already indicates a stance hostile to Israel), has made countless antisemitic remarks. Nevertheless, in 2025, she was kept in her position for an additional three years. Despite a budget crisis at the UN, roughly $100 million a year is allocated just to target Israel, along with a UN commission of inquiry that "promotes genocide against Jews." Historically, a "Palestinian people" – as opposed to various Arabs who happened to be living in the area at the time along with various Jews, Christians, Europeans and others -- was totally fabricated. There is simply no trace of a "Palestinian people" or a "national liberation struggle" before 1964. In the Qur'an, Israel and Israelites are mentioned 43 times, Palestine and Palestinians zero. Moreover, the Qur'an itself states that the Land of Israel belongs to the Children of Israel: "And remember when Moses said to his people, 'O my people! Remember Allah's favors upon you when He raised prophets from among you, made you sovereign, and gave you what He had never given anyone in the world. O my people! Enter the Holy Land which Allah has destined for you ˹to enter˺. And do not turn back or else you will become losers." — Quran 5:20–21 (Al-Mā'idah) "And We said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the land.'" — Quran 17:104 (Al-Isrā') "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality, today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism." — Zuheir Mohsen, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, in 1977. "For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." — Zuheir Mohsen, 1977. Palestinian terrorism became treated as acceptable terrorism. The need to create a Palestinian state to get the better of those overly successful, upstart Jews emerged as an imperative. Consequently, it also became possible to say that the Holocaust was just one crime among others; that Jews, too, could commit atrocious crimes. For the Europeans, this manufactured overhaul of the facts may have come as a relief: they could now tell themselves that if the Jews were as bad as the Nazis, then murdering Jews was perhaps not such a terrible undertaking. Palestinian terrorism became treated as acceptable terrorism. The need to create a Palestinian state to get the better of those successful, upstart Jews emerged as an imperative. Particularly unacceptable to many people is the Israelis refusing to sit back and let themselves be wiped out. All the same, the Israelis would warn Gazans to evacuate in advance of impending military strikes, with large numbers of leaflets, text messages and phone calls in Arabic, and the IDF even organized mass evacuations to safe zones. If Palestinians tried to leave, their own leaders would shoot them. The international community called these Israeli efforts to save Palestinian lives a "genocide." "If Israel is attempting genocide, they are really, really bad at it." — US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. That Israel was fighting for its survival against a terrorist organization that itself has explicitly genocidal aims was painstakingly ignored. By preserving the memory of slavery in Egypt at the time of the pharaohs nearly 4,000 years ago, the memory of the Holocaust, and the many persecutions in between, Israeli Jews maintain their determination not just to fight and survive, but to excel. For Westerners, Jew-hate, sadly, is just a distraction, a means of denial to keep them from seeing the real threat to their existence: the hijrah, Muslim migration to the West to make it Islamic.
For Westerners, Jew-hate, sadly, is just a distraction, a means of denial to keep them from seeing the real threat to their existence: the hijrah, Muslim migration to the West to make it Islamic. (AI image generated by Google Gemini)
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, when he liberated Europe's concentration camps, insisted that journalists and photographers document the atrocities immediately, or, he predicted, the world would soon say they had never actually happened. In a few years from now, the last survivors of the Holocaust will have disappeared, and the memory of what happened will fade even further. The Holocaust was infinitely more than an attack on "dignity and human rights." It was a unique crime: the attempt at the total extermination of an entire people by industrial means in supposedly civilized countries of the West.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 26, 2026 at 5:00 am
Recently, there have been attempts to give Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) a role in post-war management of the Gaza Strip -- along with Qatar, Turkey and Pakistan, all Islamists and long-term adversaries of Israel. Earlier this week, the office of UN Special Coordinator for Gaza Nikolay Mladenov, who was appointed by the US as the Director-General of Trump's "Board of Peace," revealed the establishment of a "Liaison Office" for the PA. Mladenov seems to believe that the PA can play a positive role in the Gaza Strip, even though polls published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research have consistently shown that more than 80% of Palestinians believe it is corrupt. Unsurprisingly, Palestinian officials were quick to welcome Mladenov's announcement: it whitewashes the PA and makes it appear as a legitimate and credible party in post-war Gaza arrangements. Meanwhile, a senior Palestinian official closely associated with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Azzam al-Ahmad, also Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told the Egyptian newspaper Al-Shorouq, in an interview published on February 23, that "Hamas is not a terrorist organization and we reject its disarmament." Al-Ahmad also rejected [other] demands by the Trump administration.... The statements by al-Ahmad are proof that the PA leadership continues to talk in two voices: one in Arabic intended for Arab audiences and the second in English directed at Westerners. Based on public opinion polls conducted in late 2025, a large majority of Palestinians share al-Ahmad's opposition to the disarmament of Hamas. Just because many Palestinians might be enraged at Hamas does not mean they are ready to live peacefully side-by-side with Israel. What we are currently witnessing is an attempt to bring the PA back into the Gaza Strip through the back door. If the PA does not consider Hamas a terror organization and wants it to keep its weapons, what exactly is it going to do in the Gaza Strip? Pay salaries to Hamas and its employees? Or perhaps serve as a channel for transferring billions of dollars in aid to Hamas? In light of al-Ahmad's statements, it is clear that the PA's return to the Gaza Strip would only help Hamas and other terror groups maintain their political and security control of the territory. Al-Ahmad is currently trying to convince Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups to join the PLO. According to reports, that is why he recently met in Egypt with representatives of the terror groups. The PA wants to return to the Gaza Strip not to replace Hamas, but to join forces with it.
Earlier this week, the office of UN Special Coordinator for Gaza Nikolay Mladenov, who was appointed by the US as the Director-General of Trump's "Board of Peace," revealed the establishment of a "Liaison Office" for the PA. Pictured: Mladenov speaks at the "Board of Peace" meeting in Davos, Switzerland on January 22, 2026. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Recently, there have been attempts to give Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) a role in post-war management of the Gaza Strip -- along with Qatar, Turkey and Pakistan, all Islamists and long-term adversaries of Israel. Earlier this week, the office of UN Special Coordinator for Gaza Nikolay Mladenov, who was appointed by the US as the Director-General of Trump's "Board of Peace," revealed the establishment of a "Liaison Office" for the PA. Mladenov seems to believe that the PA can play a positive role in the Gaza Strip, even though polls published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research have consistently shown that more than 80% of Palestinians believe it is corrupt. According to Mladenov's office:
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by Drieu Godefridi • February 25, 2026 at 5:00 am
Deprived of Marxism, the Spanish left has sought refuge in a disparate ideological mosaic: radical environmentalism, complicit indulgence toward political Islam, the dismantling of borders, unconditional support for the Palestinians against Israel – all stacked together into an improbable and incoherent magma. The Sánchez government has another reason for aligning with jihadists: the corruption scandals that have engulfed even the prime minister's immediate family. The high point of the Spanish left's radicalization was reached with a January 2026 decree legalizing between 500,000 and a million illegal immigrants. Although presented as a humanitarian and economic measure, this slap-happy decision provoked widespread outrage among Spaniards. Traumatized by its history, cornered by the judiciary, and deprived of ideological reference points, the Spanish left appears to be locking itself into radical dogmas and adopting increasingly divisive policies simply to remain in power.
Deprived of Marxism, the Spanish left has sought refuge in a disparate ideological mosaic: radical environmentalism, complicit indulgence toward political Islam, the dismantling of borders, unconditional support for the Palestinians against Israel – all stacked together into an improbable and incoherent magma. The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (pictured) has another reason for aligning with jihadists: the corruption scandals that have engulfed even the prime minister's immediate family. (Photo by Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
Between corruption and radicalization, Spain's government seems to be spinning out of control. In 1936, Spain plunged into civil war. A proud nation collapsed into violence, fire, and devastation. The Spanish Civil War, which set a communist-dominated Republican left against an authoritarian nationalist right, claimed roughly half a million lives. Priests were dragged through the streets, beaten, and mutilated — ears, noses, even genitals cut off — before being shot or having their throats slit. Nuns were raped prior to execution, in cases documented across several regions. Churches were set ablaze with priests still inside. In many towns, militiamen forced clergy to drink motor oil or gasoline before burning them alive. Spain's right wing, not to be outdone, killed just as many.
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by Lawrence Kadish • February 25, 2026 at 4:00 am
President Donald Trump has assumed a quiet but strategic leadership role in advancing our country's pursuit of fusion energy -- the same process that powers the sun and one that could literally provide America with unlimited energy far into the future. Pictured: Trump holds up an executive order on the rapid development, deployment and use of advanced nuclear technologies, on May 23, 2025, in the White House. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Perhaps not since Teddy Roosevelt have we had a president who thinks as big as Donald J. Trump. From his projection of military power that protects our national interests to his understanding of how a complex economy powers the greatest nation on earth, President Trump has demonstrated a unique appreciation of what America must do to maintain its global leadership. It is for that reason that he has assumed a quiet but strategic leadership role in advancing our country's pursuit of fusion energy -- the same process that powers the sun and one that could literally provide America with unlimited energy far into the future.
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by Gordon G. Chang • February 24, 2026 at 5:00 am
A Declaration of Arrest Report, issued by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in connection with the detention of Ori Solomon on January 31, states that there is a "deeper conspiracy" between an illegal biological lab in Reedley, California and a residence containing apparently dangerous substances in Nevada. Fortunately, in California, Code Enforcement Officer Jesalyn Harper in December 2022 noticed a garden hose connected to a supposedly abandoned building. She entered the structure and discovered what appears to have been a secret biological weapons laboratory. Inside, Harper found Chinese nationals working in white coats. The lab stored nearly a thousand transgenic mice—773 live and more than 175 dead— "genetically engineered to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus." Authorities also found medical waste and chemical, viral, and biological agents. There were on-site at least 20 potentially infectious pathogens, including those causing coronavirus, HIV, hepatitis, and herpes. Moreover, the Chinese regime is behind that conspiracy. All this demonstrates that China's Communist Party, which could have ordered Zhu and Wang to shut down the effort after the discovery of the Reedley lab, allowed it to continue. Among other things, the continuation of the effort suggests there is a broader effort to spread disease in the United States. "It is indeed brutal to kill one or two hundred million Americans. But that is the only path that will secure a Chinese century, a century in which the Communist Party leads the world." — General Chi Haotian, China's defense minister and vice chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission, reportedly secret speech advocating the extermination of Americans. Chi's plan was to use disease for this purpose. "We are on notice that the Chinese regime is preparing to spread disease in America. We have been very slow off the mark..." — Blaine Holt, retired U.S. Air Force general, now specializing in civil preparedness measures, to Gatestone, February 2026.
China has been maintaining at least two facilities — one in California and the other in Nevada — that are part of a biological weapons program. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
China has been maintaining at least two facilities — one in California and the other in Nevada — that are part of a biological weapons program. A Declaration of Arrest Report, issued by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in connection with the detention of Ori Solomon on January 31, states that there is a "deeper conspiracy" between an illegal biological lab in Reedley, California and a residence containing apparently dangerous substances in Nevada. On January 31, Las Vegas SWAT and federal agents raided a home on the eastern outskirts of the city and seized over a thousand vials of an unknown substance or substances. Those vials have been sent to an FBI lab in Maryland for analysis. A housecleaner tipped off authorities after she and others temporarily residing at the home got "deathly ill." Solomon was the property manager of the location.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 23, 2026 at 5:00 am
Although Hamas has expressed its willingness to hand over its government institutions to the NCAG [Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza], there are indications that the terror group seeks to control the new committee and turn it into a Hamas puppet. The NCAG is already under pressure from the terror group to incorporate thousands of Hamas terrorists into a newly established Palestinian police force in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, in addition, is seeking to ensure that its civil servants be placed on the payroll of the NCAG. "There is a prevailing sense within the committee and other parties that Hamas is determined, by all means, to keep its members within the new administrative framework overseeing the Gaza Strip." — Asharq al-Awsat, quoting "sources close to" NCAG, February 14, 2026. What we are currently witnessing are direct and indirect efforts by Hamas to continue governing the Gaza Strip even after the establishment of Trump's "Board of Peace" and the NCAG. Hamas... sees itself as an essential part of the post-war arrangements in the Gaza Strip. In the viewpoint of Hamas, the role of bodies such as the "Board of Peace" and NCAG should be limited only to paying salaries, funding reconstruction and ensuring the entry of aid supplies into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the terror group will focus its efforts on rearming, regrouping, rebuilding its terror infrastructure, and planning more attacks on Israel. Anyone who believes that the NCAG will be able to operate as an independent governing body in the Gaza Strip is abysmally uninformed. Its members will undoubtedly be at the mercy of Hamas and its masked thugs. "The image promoted by some international parties that the committee is a means to remove Hamas from power seems far removed from reality. The facts on the ground indicate that Hamas still maintains military, organizational, and ideological control within Gaza, and that any new administrative body cannot operate independently of its will or outside its sphere of influence. Real power remains in the hands of those who possess weapons, organizational networks, and the capacity for sustained popular mobilization." — Mahdi Mubarak, Arab political analyst, rumonline.net, February 16, 2026 Hamas should have been asked to end its rule over the Gaza Strip and hand over all its weapons before, and not after, the formation of the NCAG. Since that has not happened, Hamas will become the largest beneficiary of the billions of dollars that are about to be invested in the Gaza Strip.
What we are currently witnessing are direct and indirect efforts by Hamas to continue governing the Gaza Strip even after the establishment of Trump's "Board of Peace" and the Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). Pictured: Hamas terrorists in Gaza on February 15, 2025. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), established last month in accordance with US President Donald J. Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas war, is about to assume its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip. The NCAG's main mission is to manage the day-to-day operations of the civil service and administration in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the war, which erupted after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion of Israel. The committee, whose members are described as "independent technocrats," is headed by Ali Shaath, a top official of the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. Shaath previously held several positions in the PA, including Deputy Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, and Undersecretary at the Ministry of Transport.
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by Pierre Rehov • February 22, 2026 at 5:00 am
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched an ambitious diplomatic offensive aimed at unifying the Sunni world under Ankara's leadership. The objective is not merely reconciliation with former rivals. It is the construction of a Sunni diplomatic and strategic "wall," or "noose," around Israel, replacing the Iranian "Shi'ite crescent" with a new configuration of Sunni power. The Turkish-Saudi reconciliation is particularly significant. Following years of tension after the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Ankara and Riyadh have now moved decisively toward strategic cooperation. Turkish and Saudi officials increasingly frame Israel as a destabilizing actor in these theaters. The emerging partnership is not merely economic; it reflects coordinated positioning against perceived external threats, with Israel explicitly cited. Turkey and Egypt have now signed a $350 million military framework agreement covering joint weapons production, intelligence sharing, and military exercises. Turkish air defense systems and munitions are slated for delivery, and bilateral trade is projected to reach $15 billion. As the guardian of the Suez Canal and a dominant actor in North Africa, Egypt provides logistical leverage capable of influencing maritime routes critical to Israel's economy. On February 9, 2026, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint communiqué condemning what they called "Israeli expansionist policies in occupied territories" and calling for Islamic unity. Some analysts describe an emerging "Sunni axis," or noose, influenced by Muslim Brotherhood ideology; backed by Turkish military power, financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and designed, by expanding into Gaza, to encircle and finish off Israel. The UAE, under the impressive leadership of Sheikh Mohamed ben Zayed al Nahyan, pursues a technocratic, anti-political Islam agenda that diverges sharply from Erdogan's ideological sympathies.... Still, the coalition's ultimate aim, apart from the UAE, unmistakably seems to be "containing" Israel. Recently, Saudi media have featured openly anti-Israel and antisemitic headlines not seen in years. The kingdom appears to be totally aligning itself with anti-Israel countries such as Qatar and Turkey, while "tensions with the UAE explode." Egypt, Israel's chilly peace partner since 1979, has reportedly expanded military infrastructure in the Sinai Peninsula in ways that should, under the supposed peace treaty, raise serious questions. Turkish and Egyptian intelligence services are reportedly coordinating efforts to counter rival influences and restrict Israel's strategic access. Israeli analysts increasingly describe it as the replacement of Iran's Shiite axis with a Sunni bloc influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood. The coalition presents itself as promoting regional peace. Yet "peace" may translate into the vaporization of Israel, especially should a future Israeli government prove more pliable. Erdogan's participation in "stabilization" efforts would significantly expand Turkish influence within the emerging Sunni crescent. Ankara's well-documented support for Muslim Brotherhood networks — which are Hamas's patrons, ideologically and financially – should raise obvious concerns. Netanyahu's insistence that Israel determine which international actors, if any, operate in Gaza, serves multiple strategic purposes. It prevents Turkish entrenchment in Gaza, maintains Israeli control over post-war arrangements, and signals to Washington that Israel views Turkish expansionism as a long-term threat transcending personal or political relationships. Whatever the obstacles, Erdogan's direction seems clear: a militarily and economically anchored Sunni alignment to constrict Israel's strategic space.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched an ambitious diplomatic offensive aimed at unifying the Sunni world under Ankara's leadership. The objective is not merely reconciliation with former rivals. It is the construction of a Sunni diplomatic and strategic "wall," or "noose," around Israel. Pictured: Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman to Ankara, on June 22, 2022. (Photo by Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)
While much of the world's attention remains fixed on Iran and its Shi'ite axis, another geopolitical realignment is taking shape — more quietly, more pragmatically, and potentially just as consequential for the US, Israel and the Middle East. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched an ambitious diplomatic offensive aimed at unifying the Sunni world under Ankara's leadership. The objective is not merely reconciliation with former rivals. It is the construction of a Sunni diplomatic and strategic "wall," or "noose," around Israel, replacing the Iranian "Shi'ite crescent" with a new configuration of Sunni power.
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by Amir Taheri • February 22, 2026 at 4:00 am
"Look at our times a handful of imposter clerics
Having no notion of reason and science
Having no notion of what man is about
Desperate like donkeys in search of fodder
All they care about is eating and fornicating
Have cast aside notions of shame and honor
They seek nothing but loot and plunder
Alien they are to rules of faith."
— Sanai, 11th century Persian poet, from a samizdat distributed in the "holy" city of Qom, the bastion of Iranian clergy, February 20, 2026, the 40th day of the deaths of thousands of protesters across Iran. Surprisingly, despite unprecedented security deployment, no attempt was made to stop the tract. It quotes an unnamed cleric addressing fellow clerics: "They gave you money to build a school but you built a palace for yourself!" — Editorial in daily Jumhuri Islami, founded in 1979 and owned by "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Today, however, every village mullah insists on having a luxury tomb, if not a full-blown shrine with ceramic tiles and mirror work. Before the 1979 revolution, the clergy was largely independent of state funds. In 1977, total government "gifts" to a dozen grand ayatollahs in Qom, Tehran and Mashhad were estimated at $3 million. Today, voluntary donations have evaporated, leaving the clergy dependent on a secular authority that uses a clerical vocabulary. Thus the current wave of attacks on the clergy could come from the "deep state" including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that may be thinking of a post-Khamenei arrangement in which the turbans move stage left to exit.
Last Tuesday, as Iranians organized mourning ceremonies on the 40th day of the deaths of thousands of protesters across the nation, a samizdat with a poem lampooning the clergy was distributed in the "holy" city of Qom, the bastion of Iranian clergy. Surprisingly, despite unprecedented security deployment, no attempt was made to stop the tract. Pictured: The Shrine of Fatima Masumeh in Qom, Iran. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)
Last Tuesday, as Iranians organized mourning ceremonies on the 40th day of the deaths of thousands of protesters across the nation, a samizdat was distributed in the "holy" city of Qom, the bastion of Iranian clergy. The single-page tract included parts of a poem by Sanai, an 11th century Persian poet lampooning the clergy. Part of it read: Look at our times a handful of imposter clerics
Having no notion of reason and science
Having no notion of what man is about
Desperate like donkeys in search of fodder
All they care about is eating and fornicating
Have cast aside notions of shame and honor
They seek nothing but loot and plunder
Alien they are to rules of faith.
Surprisingly, despite unprecedented security deployment, no attempt was made to stop the tract.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • February 21, 2026 at 5:00 am
A deal would also buy Iran time to rebuild and expand its military capabilities, particularly its drone and ballistic missile program — the largest in the Middle East. "Iran's drones and ballistic missiles can finish 40,000 US troops," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed the US Senate.... Survival today means strength tomorrow. Any deal that allows the mullahs to survive to torture their citizens another day would be looked on by both the international community and history as the pinnacle of American hypocrisy: a permanent stain on the values that the United States and the Free World purport to uphold. America's stature as the world's guarantor of freedom and humanitarian values would be demolished overnight. Conversely, if Trump would just do what he promised -- "Help is on the way" -- his place in history, as one of the greatest leaders for freedom, as in tearing down the Berlin Wall, would be forever assured. It would place him forever in a league with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. Let us hope he will join these winners and Make Persia Great Again.
A deal would also buy Iran time to rebuild and expand its military capabilities, particularly its drone and ballistic missile program — the largest in the Middle East. "Iran's drones and ballistic missiles can finish 40,000 US troops," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed the US Senate.... Survival today means strength tomorrow. Pictured: A Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile is displayed during a military parade in Tehran, on September 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
There is one thing the Iranian regime needs now more than anything else — something upon which its survival may depend. That lifeline is a deal. Precisely for that reason, at this moment of maximum pressure, President Donald J. Trump's offering Tehran an agreement — especially one that provides sanctions relief, legitimacy, or breathing room — could become the single most consequential mistake of the century. The regime needs a deal because it needs a breath of relief. It is under pressure from several directions simultaneously. Internally, Iran has recently witnessed incessant waves of unrest, protests, and uprisings that cut across class, ethnic, and generational lines, with many Iranians calling for regime change -- despite openly being gunned in the streets.
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by Gordon G. Chang • February 20, 2026 at 5:00 am
The U.S. Department of Commerce has decided to allow American data centers to buy Chinese equipment, thereby permitting Beijing to steal as much as it wants and perhaps remotely control or take down these critical facilities. Moreover, Commerce recently has not implemented a number of other obviously needed restrictions on Chinese technology and Chinese companies. In general, Commerce has shifted its tech-security efforts away from China. Reuters states that late last year "leadership instructed staffers in the office charged with policing foreign tech threats to 'focus on Iran and Russia.'" Last month, Commerce replaced the head of this office with a political appointee. Similarly, last year the administration did not, as it was contemplating, place critical export controls on software. Trade-surplus countries, such as China, have little ammunition in trade wars. They are the ones with everything — their surpluses — to lose. Trump should remember that the next time he refuses to keep out China's Trojan Horse products and services, such as the internet services above.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has decided to allow American data centers to buy Chinese equipment, thereby permitting Beijing to steal as much as it wants and perhaps remotely control or take down these critical facilities. Commerce has also decided not to impose a ban on the U.S. operations of Chinese state-owned China Telecom. (Photo by Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
The U.S. Department of Commerce has decided to allow American data centers to buy Chinese equipment, thereby permitting Beijing to steal as much as it wants and perhaps remotely control or take down these critical facilities. Moreover, Commerce recently has not implemented a number of other obviously needed restrictions on Chinese technology and Chinese companies. The Trump administration's effort to protect American infrastructure from China has collapsed. It now appears Beijing has a veto on American tech policy. On February 12th, Reuters reported the Trump administration "has shelved a number of key tech security measures aimed at Beijing." The Commerce Department, in addition to not barring Chinese equipment from data centers, has decided not to impose a ban on the U.S. operations of Chinese state-owned China Telecom.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • February 19, 2026 at 5:00 am
When addressing Arab audiences in Arabic, however, Hamas leaders and senior officials have been saying the exact opposite. Anyone who believes that Hamas would "keep their word" is grotesquely misguided. Before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, many people seemed to believe Hamas when its leaders used to say that they were interested in maintaining their ceasefire with Israel. Moreover, the assumption that pro-Hamas members of the "Board of Peace" such as Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan would participate in any effort to disarm the terror group is clueless and misinformed. Recent statements in Arabic by two of the terror group's senior officials, Khaled Mashaal and Mahmoud Mardawi, show that Hamas remains vehemently opposed to Trump's plan, specifically the provisions concerning disarmament, the involvement of foreigners in the governance of the Gaza Strip, and the deployment of an international security force there. According to Trump's plan: "There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning..." [Emphasis added.] Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist in any borders and understandably wants to keep its weapons to pursue its Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist state. "We do not accept the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or a return of the mandate. Palestinians govern Palestinians." — Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas's political bureau abroad, manassa.news, February 8, 2026. It is crucial that the Trump administration and the rest of the international community start paying attention to what Hamas says in its own language, Arabic, not what some of its leaders or friends in Qatar and Turkey tell foreign officials in English and behind closed doors. Disarmament would undermine Hamas's core identity, reduce its political influence within Palestinian politics, and deprive it of what it claims to view as deterrence against Israel. Historically, however, Israel does not attack anyone unless it is attacked first. The only way to ensure the success of Trump's plan is by insisting that Hamas cease to exist, both as a political and as a military entity, and vanish from the Palestinian universe. Failure to do so will only encourage Hamas and other Islamists to pursue their Jihad to kill more Jews, eliminate Israel, and defy Trump.
Recent statements in Arabic by two senior Hamas officials, Khaled Mashaal (pictured) and Mahmoud Mardawi, show that Hamas remains vehemently opposed to Trump's plan, specifically the provisions concerning disarmament, the involvement of foreigners in the governance of the Gaza Strip, and the deployment of an international security force there. (Photo by Mohammed Saber/AFP via Getty Images)
As the US is preoccupied with the crisis in Iran, the Palestinian terror group Hamas has again announced its rejection of President Donald J. Trump's 20-point plan for ending the war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders may have told US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during secret meetings that the terror group does not rule out the possibility of laying down its weapons. "Hamas has always indicated that they would disarm," Witkoff said in November 2025. "They've said so – they said it to us directly during the famous meeting that Jared [Kushner] had with them. I hope they keep their word because if they do, they'll understand that the development plan we have for Gaza is really terrific – a lot better than anyone has ever discussed before."
When addressing Arab audiences in Arabic, however, Hamas leaders and senior officials have been saying the exact opposite.
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by Anna Mahjar-Barducci • February 19, 2026 at 4:00 am
Having already designated Muslim Brotherhood branches elsewhere in the region, Washington should now extend that policy to Sudan's Islamic Movement — the local iteration of the Muslim Brotherhood — to counter its massively destabilizing influence and prevent Sudan from becoming a hub for transnational jihadism. In September 2025, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade for destabilizing activities and its reported ties to Iran. The designation underscored concerns that the battalion functions as part of a broader Islamist armed structure embedded within Sudan's military campaign and linked to external actors. In addition, human rights organizations and church groups have accused SAF-aligned forces of targeting Christian communities and church properties in conflict zones. Failure to address these dynamics risks ceding strategic control of Northeast Africa and the Red Sea corridor to the Muslim Brotherhood — endangering global trade routes and emboldening jihadist organizations across the region. The United States should designate Sudan's chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization — a step that is not only strategically sound but essential to safeguarding regional stability and U.S. as well as global security. Failure to do so will most likely have serious long-term consequences for the United States. Inaction will allow the Muslim Brotherhood to consolidate its influence across Northeast Africa and the Red Sea corridor, threatening vital global trade routes, fueling transnational jihadism, and emboldening militant actors throughout the Middle East and North Africa region, from Yemen to Libya and beyond.
The Muslim Brotherhood has embedded itself within the Saudi-backed Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), using the military as a vehicle to reassert influence over Sudan's governance, strategic geography, and access to the Red Sea — a critical artery for global commerce. Pictured: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the SAF, speaks in Port Sudan, on February 17, 2025. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
The United States has taken important steps by designating key Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). These actions acknowledge the Muslim Brotherhood's support for terrorism. Unfortunately, this transnational jihadist network poses serious threats far beyond those countries. Sudan's long struggle for a stable and democratic future, for instance, has been repeatedly undermined by the Muslim Brotherhood. After decades under Islamist rule and amid the current civil war, the Muslim Brotherhood remains a powerful political and military presence. The movement has embedded itself within the Saudi-backed Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), using the military as a vehicle to reassert influence over Sudan's governance, strategic geography, and access to the Red Sea — a critical artery for global commerce.
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