All posts tagged: Opinions

China does not need to replace the US in the Gulf | Opinions

China does not need to replace the US in the Gulf | Opinions

Published by Sam Flores

China’s diplomatic calendar this year reflects its growing international weight. A succession of prominent leaders has travelled to Beijing, including those from the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, South Korea, Pakistan and Jordan. The recent visit by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to China, as well as visits by high-level officials from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia earlier this year, confirm Beijing’s expanding role in the Gulf. The region, which has traditionally aligned with the US, is seeing growing competition between the two powers. But this rivalry does not mean that China is seeking to replace the US. It is approaching the region through trade and technology – something that fits into the Gulf’s own economic and development interests. The US model China does not want The US remains the Gulf’s most important external military partner. Its defence partnerships, intelligence ties, weapons systems, naval capabilities, and military presence remain central to regional security. For years, Washington has measured Chinese influence against its own military …

Trump may be BRICS’s best recruitment agent | Opinions

Trump may be BRICS’s best recruitment agent | Opinions

Published by Sam Flores

United States President Donald Trump has made no secret of his hostility towards BRICS. Last year, he threatened an additional 10 percent tariff on any country aligning itself with what he called the bloc’s “anti-American policies”. Since then, his administration has continued to wield tariffs aggressively against trading partners, including BRICS members such as Brazil, India and China. The message appears straightforward: Countries that challenge US economic power should expect to pay a price. But coercion has consequences. And as BRICS leaders meet in New Delhi today, Trump may be strengthening the very incentives that made the bloc attractive in the first place. The more Washington demonstrates its willingness to use access to its markets, its financial system and the dollar as instruments of political leverage, the more reason other countries have to reduce their exposure to them. This does not mean BRICS is becoming an anti-US alliance. Far from it. The bloc’s 11 members – Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates – have enormous …

AfD is rising, but it can still be stopped | The Far Right

AfD is rising, but it can still be stopped | The Far Right

Published by Sam Flores

The victory of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the elections of the East German state Saxony-Anhalt is a dramatic moment for Germany. The party won 44 percent of the vote, securing 39 seats in the 83-seat local legislature. Although this result falls short of a majority, it is close enough. The small, populist BSW party has indicated that it may enable the election of an AfD head of government in the state. This would give executive power to an extreme-right party in a German state for the first time since World War 2. The election has already deeply disturbed Germany. It is the culmination of a decade-long process that saw the AfD move from a marginal protest party to a major political power. Although this election has been a tough blow for the other mainstream German parties, they still have an opportunity to reverse this dangerous trend. That would depend on whether those in power are prepared to take decisive action. When considering what strategy must be adopted in response to AfD’s surge, it …

Mansour Abbas is betting on a Zionist to make Palestinian votes count | Elections

Mansour Abbas is betting on a Zionist to make Palestinian votes count | Elections

Published by Sam Flores

When Raam leader Mansour Abbas appeared alongside former Yesh Atid lawmaker Yoav Segalovich this week and announced that Segalovich would run second on the party’s electoral slate, much of the immediate attention went to the obvious novelty: An Israeli Jewish politician, openly Zionist and a former police major-general, running near the top of the list of a conservative Islamist Arab party. That combination is unusual, and it was meant to look unusual. Jewish participation in political lists representing Palestinian citizens of Israel is not, in itself, unprecedented. Hadash was built around a Jewish-Arab political tradition and has for decades included Jewish candidates and lawmakers. Ofer Cassif sits in the Knesset today as one of its most outspoken Jewish members. What is distinctive about the Abbas-Segalovich arrangement is not that a Jew is running with an Arab list. It is the kind of Jewish political voice Abbas has chosen to place there: a Zionist former senior police commander whose political biography sits comfortably inside the Israeli mainstream, not outside it. Segalovich is joining Raam’s slate, not …

The number 10 shirt must not retire with Messi | Football

The number 10 shirt must not retire with Messi | Football

Published by Sam Flores

When Lionel Messi announced his retirement from the Argentina national team last Monday, the reaction bordered on national mourning. Children cried in schools, journalists shed tears on television, newspapers filled their pages with emotional tributes and a telephone line was even opened for fans to express their gratitude to their idol. All weekend matches in Argentina were briefly stopped in the tenth minute as a tribute to the idol. “I emptied myself. I have nothing more to give,” Messi wrote in his farewell. It was an extraordinary end to an extraordinary relationship. For more than two decades, Messi had carried the expectations of a country that could never quite decide what it wanted him to be. He was compared endlessly with Diego Maradona, criticised for not displaying the same kind of passion and, for years, accused of somehow being less Argentinian because he had left for Barcelona as a child. Yet by the time he walked away, the relationship between Messi and Argentina had been transformed. The player once treated as an outsider had become …

Gulf insecurity fuels US energy dominance | Energy

Gulf insecurity fuels US energy dominance | Energy

Published by Sam Flores

The global energy order is changing. US President Donald Trump celebrated on Truth Social what he called the “biggest oil deal in history” – a 100-year concession on 17 oil fields in Venezuela that would secure 65 billion barrels of oil. Around the same time, QatarEnergy informed Edison, one of its biggest European customers, that force majeure on its liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries would continue until early November. Five more cargoes were cancelled, taking the total to 29, or about 3.8 billion cubic metres of gas. The contract has run since 2009 and normally covers roughly a tenth of Italy’s annual consumption. Edison has kept supplying its customers by finding replacement cargoes elsewhere, including in the US. For decades, the bargain between Washington and the Gulf was clear. The US protected the region and kept its sea lanes open; Gulf producers supplied the energy on which the global economy depended and settled their sales in dollars to benefit the US economy. That bargain has been turned on its head. America no longer simply protects …

Israel bars U.S. citizens over Palestinian ties and opinions : NPR

Israel bars U.S. citizens over Palestinian ties and opinions : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Travelers arrive at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 5. Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua via Getty Images RAMALLAH, West Bank — U.S. and other international travelers are increasingly being denied entry to Israel following interrogations about their connections to Palestinians, plans to visit the occupied West Bank and opinions of Israel, their lawyers say. In August alone, Israel denied entry to a group of U.S. and other international comedians invited to perform for a Palestinian comedy festival, as well as to a U.S. multifaith delegation seeking to tour the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jerusalem with a Palestinian Christian organization. Entry denials have risen sharply over the past year and for reasons that did not constitute grounds for denial previously, including suspicions of anti-Israel views, say Israeli lawyers who represent travelers who were denied entry. “It’s a tremendous change,” said lawyer Adi Lustigman. “It’s been like almost daily or at least weekly that we receive complaints by people denied entrance to Israel.” A Palestinian …

Data Centers: Is a Chinese Bot Farm Feeding You Your Opinions?

Data Centers: Is a Chinese Bot Farm Feeding You Your Opinions?

Published by Jenni Sidey

There has been a fair amount of political activity, pro and con, around the big new data centers, proposed to handle the increased AI traffic — and it all sprang up rather suddenly. The X Safety team conducted an investigation into suspected Chinese inauthentic accounts involved in influence operations: We identified a bot farm of approximately 200,000 accounts. Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate… pic.twitter.com/Mj0SqerdlH — Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) August 28, 2026 Last Thursday, X’s Global Government Affairs unit announced the results of an investigation that may shed a bit of light on the rapid emergence: The X Safety team conducted an investigation into suspected Chinese inauthentic accounts involved in influence operations: We identified a bot farm of approximately 200,000 accounts. Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy. These posts contained claims that AI data centers are driving up household electricity prices and straining the grid. Others included …

Israel says Netanyahu’s son ‘urgently evacuated’ from the US after threat | Benjamin Netanyahu News

Israel says Netanyahu’s son ‘urgently evacuated’ from the US after threat | Benjamin Netanyahu News

Published by Sam Flores

Yair Netanyahu, a podcaster and right-wing activist, had been living in the US for several years prior to his departure. Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s eldest son was flown back to Israel from the United States after a threat to his life, according to Israel’s domestic intelligence agency. The Shin Bet said in a statement on Saturday evening that, “there was a significant threat to harm Yair Netanyahu, and in light of this and after an assessment, a decision was made to urgently evacuate him along with his security team and return him to Israel”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The agency did not specify the source of the threat. US broadcaster Newsmax reported earlier this week that Yair Netanyahu was the target of an alleged Iranian assassination plot last December, while he was living in Florida. Israeli intelligence informed US authorities after it had learned of the alleged plot, the broadcaster reported, citing a US law enforcement official. The report surfaced after Benjamin Netanyahu told …

Mladic died a happy man. He won | Genocide

Mladic died a happy man. He won | Genocide

Published by Sam Flores

The death of war criminal Ratko Mladic made headlines across the world. “The Butcher of Bosnia dies in The Hague”, the international media announced, seemingly suggesting that justice has been served at least in his case. Nothing changed on November 22, 2017 when he was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to life in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Bosnia more than 10 years earlier. Nothing will change now after his death. Contrary to what some may think, the world will not become a better place now. I hate writing this sentence, but here it is: Mladic won. He and his ideas won. He must have died happy, watching the world be overtaken by fascism—a world in which genocide has become normalised. It is what he fought for, after all. In 2017, after Mladic’s verdict was pronounced, I expressed my fear in an op-ed published by Al Jazeera that his ideas had not been defeated, but would instead spread like a drug-resistant bug, adjusting to different …