Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

THE RISE OF A CULTURE OF VIOLENCE AND ASSASSINATION On the night of Saturday, 25 April 2026, the Washington, DC Hilton Hotel ballroom was the ‘place to be.’ The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) was held that night. Approximately 2,500 people were in attendance, a who’s who of journalists, politicians, and famous people, all in one place. The 2026 WHCD was extra special because US President Donald Trump would be there for the first time in his presidency. Known for his usual rocky relationship with what the President calls the ‘fake news media,’ his presence was like an olive branch to try to reset the interaction on a more civil and conciliatory tone. Along with the President were First Lady Melania, Vice President JD Vance, and his cabinet were there, too. If anyone wanted to be under the same roof as Donald Trump and the top leaders in his administration, the 2026 WHCD was the ‘place to be.’ ‘ Friendly Federal Assassin’ There was someone who was very eager to be in th...

It was the Sabbath morning in Israel when the air raid sirens were activated, beckoning the population to their closest bomb shelter. War had broken ou between Israel and its archenemy, Iran. Operation Epic Fury (US name) had begun. And for the first time, Israel was not fighting alone but alongside itsgreat ally, the United States. Comparisons have been frequently made between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sir Winston Churchill with US Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Donald J. Trump. If the current leadership wins its war as World War II leaders won theirs, the comparison will hold. Operation Epic Fury was meticulously designed and flawlessly executed, using multi-domain warfare (cyber, outer space, and AI). With the failure of negotiations, Israel and the US sincerely believed that Iran was a growing threat, so they swung into action. Israel sent out two hundred flights, and each plane had two targets each. In amazingly swift speed, the allies sank Iran’s navy a...

In Part 01, we learned about Donald Trump, his political comeback and how he practised his legendary dealmaking in the Middle East. We concluded by briefly assessing his interactions with regional players, particularly the Houthis of Yemen and HTS, who are currently governing war-torn Syria. We continue the regional assessment. Iran: Its nuclear program is a real worry, and while negotiation has been the understandably chosen method of dealing with it, Iran appears to be running down the clock until Trump is out of office. The Islamic Republic insists that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But why does a nation that has ten per cent of the world’s oil reserves need a nuclear energy program? And if it is only for peaceful purposes, why do they insist on enriching uranium themselves rather than accepting enriched uranium from a second country?   So, Trump, the master negotiator, chose to negotiate with Iran directly. It did not work. So after many years of military ...

After years of debate, negotiations, threats and risks, the inevitable finally came: military action. Israel pre-emptively attacked Iran’s nuclear program while neutralising its nuclear scientists and top military men. There was the Six-Day War of June 1967; now we have the Twelve-Day War of June 2025. The combatants: Israel, Iran, and briefly, the United States. Despite all this, have we turned a corner? The state of war started in 1979 after the successful installation of a theocratic, fundamentalist, puritanical regime called the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Islamic Republic overthrew the Shah of Iran, the last sovereign of a monarchy which lasted 2,500 years since the days of Cyrus the Persian, who is prominently mentioned in the Bible. The Shah was replaced by a Shia Muslim cleric, called the Supreme Leader, who possesses broad executive powers, more than the elected Iranian President. The Supreme Leader is the most powerful person in the country. From Day One, Iran announced its...

  April 2, 2025, another day, another flurry of activity coming from the Oval Office. Yet, it wasn’t like any other day. After signing yet another Executive Order, US President Donald Trump declared it ‘Liberation Day.’ On paper, he had ordered ten per cent tariffs across the board on countries worldwide, friend and foe alike. In reality, he is shaking up the world's economic and political order, deliberately. Initially, there was great consternation around the world. The stock market and, more worryingly, the bond market dived. Dozens of nations queued up to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with the American administration. Then, Trump announced a 90-day freeze on tariffs for those countries that had reached out to the Americans. Both stock and bond markets recovered; a correction came to what was overvalued, and life calmed down for the moment. While critics derisively called the ‘tariff freeze’ a ‘backflip,’ it was actually part of the plan all along. Liberation Day spawned...