After the UAE and Bahrain had signed peace deals with Israel, Arab countries stressed they support peace initiatives based on Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian lands and the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East (...)
With the advance of successive US presidential election campaigns, debate on American foreign policy also intensified, maybe with the exception of the 1968 elections, where foreign policy was not the major issue of that campaign season. Normally, (...)
The expected visit of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to China, the second within a year, invites historians and scholars to recall the two countries' relations and how they developed.
They will conclude that the two countries developed their (...)
Between the 1950s and 1960s, Egypt and the United States went through a period of tension and estrangement. This ended when Anwar Al-Sadat, during and after the 6 October War, invited American diplomacy to play a principal role in ending the war. (...)
The historic visit of Richard Nixon to Beijing in May 1972 brought to an end 25 years of American hostility towards the People's Republic of China. During the Carter era, full diplomatic relations were established. Since then the two countries' (...)
Throughout his six years as president, Barack Obama in his major statements was keen to disengage America from major military action or interventions. That was the reaction to his predecessor, George W Bush, using American military power mainly as a (...)
With the end of the transitional period in which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) ran Egypt, and the start of the post-revolutionary phase that saw the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, many assumed that America was lending its (...)
“We've deprived you of the enemy,” a Soviet expert told the Americans right after the end of the Cold War. His point was that the US needs an enemy to survive, to keep its war machine lubricated, to justify its global quest for domination. And the (...)
Will the honeymoon between Washington and Egypt's new Islamist leaders end in bitter recrimination, as did US-Egypt relations following the 1952 Revolution, asks El-Sayed Amin Shalabi
The US has apparently shifted its position on political Islam and (...)
Egypt's erstwhile regional influence was based on its culture: soft power that in the 21st century may be as important as military strength, writes El-Sayed Amin El-Shalabi
Joseph Nye is a prominent strategic thinker whose expertise rests on both (...)
What Arab Spring countries really need is financial support. But European pledges have not been met with action, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi
Much of the attention of European officialdom and academia has been focussed on how to handle the uprisings (...)
By way of building a stable democratic order, Egypt would be well placed to regain prevailing influence in the Arab region, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
One of the most salient signs of Egypt's relationship with -- and place in -- the region is the (...)
Despite recent tensions regarding the trial of US civil society personnel in Cairo, US-Egyptian strategic relations will survive intact, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
There was a time, following the 1952 Revolution, when Egypt's young leaders placed (...)
Despite growing protests, Putin may well return as Russia's president. But what kind of president will he be, asks El-Sayed Amin Shalabi
On 8 December 1991, an unusual announcement came from the relatively unknown city of Brest in Belarus. The (...)
Since 1952, Egyptian foreign policy has been in the hands of lone individuals. This can no longer be the case, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
In the last 60 years, Egypt changed its foreign policy three times, reflecting not just the change in the (...)
Events in Libya opened the way to an expansion of NATO's global role, but for some its intervention was more self-serving than altruistic, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi
When NATO's original 15 members formed their alliance in 1949, their primary (...)
In the 50 years since Hammarskjold led the UN, there has never been another like him, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
It's been 50 years since UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold's plane crashed in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in mysterious (...)
Hopes have faded that Egyptian foreign policy is different now than before the revolution, while the ruling military council insists such questions be left for an elected government, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi
After 25 January, political experts (...)
The Egyptian revolution has changed US-Egyptian relations forever, as surely Washington knows, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi
Egyptian-US relations turned a corner after the 1973 October War, when Anwar El-Sadat restructured foreign policy in favour (...)
At the end of the day, interests determined US policy on Egypt, not loyalty to ally Hosni Mubarak, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
For years now, the US and the West have been calling on Arab regimes to introduce reforms concerning democracy and human (...)
The challenge to multi-culturalism in Europe, for some, is just Islamophobia by another name, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
Last fall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pronounced the death of multi-culturalism in Germany. A group of former German (...)
The popular revolutions sweeping the region disprove all the lies previously told about the Arabs and their values, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
The 9/11 attacks on the US, and subsequent attacks on London and Madrid, created a feeling of unease in (...)
Despite growing protests, Putin may well return as Russia's president. But what kind of president will he be, asks El-Sayed Amin Shalabi
On 8 December 1991, an unusual announcement came from the relatively unknown city of Brest in Belarus. The (...)
Though he has picked up the mantra of his predecessor, Obama appears keen to feed the roots of democracy, rather than imposing it and balking at the results, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
An undeniable supporter of freedom, the US hasn't taken an (...)
Obama should listen and Egypt must act to enhance bilateral US-Egypt relations, writes El-Sayed Amin Shalabi*
Since Obama took office, hopes for better times spread over the Middle East. Egypt, which often had trouble communicating with the (...)