The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

  Contrasting the displaced in Israel and Lebanon If you value independent, fact-based analysis, please consider subscribing to my column and podcast. Paid subscribers help ensure the survival of The Turbulent World’s unvarnished journalism that lets the chips fall where they fall. You can contribute by clicking on the subscription button at https://jamesmdorsey.substack,com and choosing one of the subscription options.  To watch a video version of this story   or  listen to a n audio podcast click   here .  Thank you for your support and loyalty.  Israel may soon return tens of thousands of evacuees to their homes along the border with Lebanon, with or without a ceasefire with Hezbollah. The return of the evacuees would allow Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to tout a significant success in his 13-month-long war in Gaza and Lebanon, even if it may be short-lived without a ceasefire, if not in an equitable negotiated resolution of Israel’s disputes with Lebanon and the Palestinians. M

  By James M. Dorsey If you value independent, fact-based analysis, please consider subscribing to my column and podcast. Paid subscribers help ensure the survival of The Turbulent World’s unvarnished journalism that lets the chips fall where they fall. You can contribute by clicking on the subscription button at https://jamesmdorsey.substack,com and choosing one of the subscription options.  To watch a video version of this story   or  listen to a n audio podcast click  here .  Thank you for your support and loyalty.  The Middle East may not preoccupy Donald J. Trump. Still, the president-elect preoccupies the Middle East as it attempts to figure out how he will handle the wars ravaging Gaza and Lebanon and threatening to spark an all-out conflagration between Israel and Iran. Middle Eastern views run the gamut from optimism that Mr. Trump will strengthen Arab autocracy and cut a deal with Iran to pessimism that he will give Israel carte blanche to do what it wants to sugges

  By James M. Dorsey If you value independent, fact-based analysis, please consider subscribing to my column and podcast. Paid subscribers help ensure the survival of The Turbulent World’s unvarnished journalism that lets the chips fall where they fall. You can contribute by clicking on the subscription button at https://jamesmdorsey.substack,com and choosing one of the subscription options.  To watch a video version of this story   or  listen to a n audio podcast click  here .  Thank you for your support and loyalty.  Donald J. Trump’s electoral victory promises to give Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a free hand, at least temporarily, to deal with Iran and its non-state allies, Hamas and Hezbollah. For Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Trump’s success is a welcome reprieve at a moment when the prime minister fears his alignment with the global far-right potentially may be fraying at the edges with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announcing a suspension of arms sales to Israel. To c

  By James M. Dorsey If you value independent, fact-based analysis, please consider subscribing to my column and podcast. Paid subscribers help ensure the survival of The Turbulent World’s unvarnished journalism that lets the chips fall where they fall. You can contribute by clicking on the subscription button at https://jamesmdorsey.substack,com and choosing one of the subscription options.    To watch a video version of this story   or  listen to a n audio podcast click  here .    Thank you for your support and loyalty.    United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed is manoeuvring to replace Qatar as the main Gulf player in post-war Gaza with the backing of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Messrs. Bin Zayed and Netanyahu see humanitarian aid provided by the Emirates and the prospect of UAE-funded post-war reconstruction as a way to marginalise Hamas and drive a wedge between the group’s leadership and Hamas-appointed civil administrators. Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi, th

  Iranian politician and prosecutor Mostafa Pourmohammadi stares down Donal J. Trump in an Iranian election poster By James M. Dorsey If you value independent, fact-based analysis, please consider subscribing to my column and podcast. Paid subscribers help ensure the survival of The Turbulent World’s unvarnished journalism that lets the chips fall where they fall. You can contribute by clicking on the subscription button at https://jamesmdorsey.substack,com and choosing one of the subscription options.    To watch a video version of this story   or  listen to a n audio podcast click   here .  Thank you for your support and loyalty.  Next week’s US election rather than a US-led push for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon , is likely to determine the course of Israel’s wars, no more so than with Iran. A post-election escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran would overshadow, if not render obsolete whatever progress CIA Director Bill Burns may make on Gaza in talks in Cairo this wee