Shahmahmood Miakhel

Within the next 25 years, the Middle East and North Africa will be a global leader in renewable energy production and a hub for international renewable energy supply chains. Morocco, the UAE, and Jordan are spearheading the regional trend to develop green energy ecosystems in which renewable energy is used, in part or entirely, to power the manufacture of intermediate and finished goods for export.

On Dec. 8, President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, bringing an end to nearly 54 years of his family’s rule and sending millions of Syrians at home and abroad into a state of euphoria and relief. Over a dramatic 12 days, an armed opposition offensive that had begun west of Aleppo on Nov. 27 triggered the precipitous crumbling of regime front lines, one after the other. As rebels began to advance south, Syrians across the country began to rise up. By the night of Dec. 7, Assad’s defeat had been sealed.

Europe must look beyond its borders to strengthen its position in space. Emerging spacefaring nations, especially in Asia, offer an opportunity for Europe to build “space power”.

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has provided several strategic opportunities for Iran to increase its foothold in the Greater Black Sea Region. A closer analysis of Iran’s deepening footprint there is necessary to inform how the next administration in Washington and the new European Commission can strengthen and better coordinate their policy responses.

يوجد حالياً تباين بين الأهداف الاستراتيجية والظروف المواتية للطاقة الشمسية في الخليج ومستوى النشر الفعلي. على الرغم من الإمكانات الكبيرة للمنطقة كرائدة عالمية محتملة في مجال الطاقة الشمسية، بما في ذلك أحد أعلى مستويات الإشعاع الشمسي في العالم وظروف تشغيل داعمة قوية، لم تمثل الطاقة المتجددة سوى 2٪ من طاقة التوليد في عام 2022.

تقع دول الخليج الغنية بالهيدروكربونات في قلب الحزام الشمسي العالمي، مما يمنحها بعضًا من أكبر موارد الطاقة الشمسية في العالم. كما تتوافق ساعات الذروة في هذه البلدان بشكل جيد مع مستويات الإشعاع الشمسي اليومية والموسمية. ومع ذلك، فإن الاستخدام الفعلي للطاقة المتجددة، بما في ذلك الطاقة الشمسية، هو من بين الأدنى في العالم، على الرغم من زيادة الإنتاج بشكل كبير خلال السنوات الخمس الماضية. تحلل هذه الورقة الأسباب التي أدت إلى نجاح الطاقة الشمسية في بعض الدول، في حين لم تحقق سوى زخم ضئيل في دول أخرى.

Last month, the US electorate voted President-Elect Donald Trump back into the White House. His victory was seen by some experts as part of a global trend and a move towards anti-incumbency attitudes and populism. How will Trump’s rhetoric impact the United States domestically and internationally? Will he govern as a strongman during his second term? What can we expect to be different from his first term?

Over the past week, the future of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has been placed squarely into question.

A coalition of armed opposition factions has gone on the offensive in northern Syria, capturing some 250 cities, towns, and villages and more than doubling the territory under its control. Syria’s second-largest city of Aleppo was captured in 24 hours, as Syrian regime front lines collapsed one after the other. After nearly five years of territorial lines of control being frozen across the country, these are dramatic, game-changing developments.

The Middle East and North Africa is typically viewed from afar as a region of major energy exporters rather than consumers. Consumption patterns vary significantly within the region itself, but a variety of factors warrant giving its energy demand much closer attention than it generally receives on an international level. The range of factors that will determine the changes in demand from every country in the region, each with their respective intricacies, are far too numerous to examine in the space of this study. However, many of the key drivers that are expected to have a broad impact on shaping the evolution of regional demand to the end of the current decade deserve critical review.

The MENA region is set to experience substantial growth in demand for energy during the remaining years of the present decade. Factors driving this growth vary enormously by sub-region and individual country, but there are broad similarities in the forms of both primary and final energy demand growth that are expected to materialize by 2030.

In only six days, a broad coalition of advancing opposition forces coordinated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has captured all of Idlib province, almost all of Aleppo province, and a sizeable stretch of northern Hama — a humiliating defeat for Bashar al-Assad and illustrative of the fragility of regime rule in Syria.

Putting Lebanon back on the path of statehood and economic recovery is not only an urgent necessity for the Lebanese but also a step toward building a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East