by Yvonne Ridley

The Western media spewed forth barrel loads of pompous invective recently about why Qatar should never have been chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Bewildered Qataris found themselves being demonised by TV commentators and journalists alike in a tirade of what one news source described as "white outrage, colonialism and a game of capitalist greed."

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

Once more, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to offer a legal opinion on the consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestine.

A historic UN vote on 31 December called on the ICJ to look at the occupation in terms of legal consequences, the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the responsibility of all UN member states to bring the protracted Israeli occupation to an end.

A special emphasis will be placed on the "demographic composition, character and status" of occupied Jerusalem.

by Yvonne Ridley

During his recent visit to the White House, US President Joe Biden promised Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the Ukrainian leader would "never stand alone". The grinning Zelenskyy reminded me of a football manager who gets the full public endorsement of his club chairman days before being sacked.

by Omar Ahmed

Despite facing an unprecedented scale of criticism and calls for boycotts, months before a ball had been kicked, the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has been a success.

by Dr Amira Abo el-Fetouh

On 14 February, 1945, while US President Franklin D Roosevelt was returning from the Yalta Conference where he met Britain's Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin of the USSR, King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was summoned to meet him privately.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

The problem with most Western media's political analyses is that they generally tend to be short-sighted and focused mostly on variables that are of direct interest to Western governments.

These types of analyses are now being applied to understanding official Arab attitudes towards Russia, China, global politics and conflicts.

by Dr Adnan Abu Amer

Azerbaijan's announcement that it's going to open an embassy in Israel came as no surprise. It reflects the strong ties between the two countries for nearly three decades in the political, security and military fields. While there is an Israeli Embassy in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, the latter only had commercial and tourist offices in Tel Aviv. This in part reveals the nature of the diplomatic strategy Azerbaijan has begun to follow in recent years, which has reached the point of normalisation agreements.

by Rashad Abu Dawood

I am not a football fan, but I have been watching the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with extreme joy, unmatched by anything else in this sad time for the Arab world. While others watched skilful players and teams, I watched history happening before our eyes at the first such global tournament to be held in an Arab and Muslim country.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

Though brief, the exchange between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on 16 November has become a social media sensation. Xi, assertive if not domineering, lectured the visibly apprehensive Trudeau about the etiquette of diplomacy. This exchange can be considered another watershed moment in China's relationship with the West.

by Thomson Reuters Foundation

Every morning at sunrise, Iraqi fisherman, Ahmad Hassan Lelo, emerges from his shack on the banks of the Tigris River in the heart of Baghdad, and every morning his heart breaks at the sight before him.

The once mighty river that meandered past his home is a shadow of its former self. Its flowing waters – depleted by a devastating drought and dams, and polluted by sewage and industrial waste – have become muddy and listless.

by Anadolu Agency

In November 2017, at the dawn of his first term, French President Emmanuel Macron made a commitment, in front of 800 students in the West African country of Burkina Faso.

Macron's promise still carries very particular importance today, since it aimed to return works looted from Africa during the colonial period.

"African heritage must be exhibited in Africa," said Macron, adding: "I cannot accept that a large part of the cultural heritage of several African countries remains in France."

by Ibrahim Nawar

The Ukraine war has cast a shadow over the arms race in the Middle East and ignited it. The Iranian weapons supplies to Russia, the Turkish and Israeli weapons to Ukraine, and Germany's request from Israel to provide it with a system of Arrow-3 strategic missiles, show the beginning of a shift in the balance of military industries and the arms trade market in favour of non-Arab countries in the Middle East.