There’s a larger issue that the Afghanistan scuttle may foreshadow: the collapse of liberalism as an appealing solution to humanity’s political and social dilemmas.
Author: Edmund O'Sullivan
I am a writer, author, economist and business person. I've reported on and done business in the Middle East since 1979 and travelled throughout the region. I specialist in reporting and writing, economic and media industry consultancy, business development and conference moderation.
Biden has failed his first major foreign policy test
Joe Biden is an old man with big ideas who’s in a hurry. It’s a potentially dangerous combination. But there’s reason for the world to give Biden the benefit of the doubt. He plans to use America’s material and moral…
Can Biden launch a second Madrid conference?
The Madrid Middle East peace conference launched 30 years ago is a model that should inspire President Biden as he searches for a post-Trump policy for the region On 30 October 1991, President George H Bush delivered the first substantive…
How Barack Obama inspired and killed the Arab Spring
In 1910, Europe was mainly a family business. Today, the EU rules nearly everywhere but Britain
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UAE-Israel deal makes waves
In August 1990, though he didn’t know it, Iraq’s President Saddam Hussain created the conditions by invading Kuwait for the launch in Madrid 14 months later of what remains the most credible attempt to end the Arab-Israel conflict. His actions…
Cesare Borgia, Machiavelli and a prince who would be king
In March 1507, Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, found himself isolated and surrounded by enemies near the town of Vianna 80 miles south of Bilbao. He was 31 but had already enjoyed a glittering career. A bishop at…
History no guide as Riyadh pounds the oil price
Commentators are turning to the past to help forecast the effect of Saudi Arabia’s decision to slash oil prices and the arrest last week of senior members of the Al-Saud family But history is being echoed in these events, not…
Jerusalem in 1917, the end of the British Empire and Brexit
A memorial in Allenby Square in west Jerusalem marks the spot where British General John Shea accepted the surrender of the Holy City on the morning of 9 December 1917. On 12 December 2019, British voters elected a Conservative government…
Saudi Aramco CEO says the right things in London but investors remain cautious
Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser delivered a robustly comprehensive defence of his company’s claim to foreign investment and capacity to maintain production despite the September oil asset attacks at the Oil & Money conference in London this morning. But investors…