Valdai Club

The Arab world has been unable until this moment to produce its own integrated intellectual, cultural and pragmatic project that can understand the language of the future and the rapidly increasing knowledge and bring people together. In case that happens, it will have the rug pulled out from under those who raise religious and nationalistic slogans, writes Ebtesam al-Ketbi, President of the Emirates Policy Centre.

Iran respects the "inclusive" approach toward the formation of a circle of participants in the future system of a new regional order, including the Russian initiative to create a regional security system in the Persian Gulf region, writes Andrey Baklanov, professor at the Higher School of Economics and Deputy Chairman of the Association of Russian Diplomats.

At first sight, Russia and Iran seem to have compatible – or even similar – approaches to the JCPOA and regional security. Moscow’s emphasis on the need for all parties to return to the nuclear deal in its original form and avoid raising new demands at this stage is in line with Tehran’s view that the JCPOA is “concluded and sealed” and cannot be renegotiated. However, the more Russian officials elaborate on their views on regional security, the less attractive they appear to become to the Iranian side, Valdai Club experts Hanna Notte and Hamidreza Azizi write.

President Biden’s priorities are to contain the COVID-19 epidemic, oversee a safe and effective distribution of the vaccine, and jump-start the economy. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has often said that foreign policy starts at home, and domestic strength is necessary for a successful foreign policy.

On March 30, the Valdai Discussion Club, in partnership with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, opened its 10th Middle East Conference. The discussions held during the first day of the conference conveyed several important messages.

It seems that in the Middle East, no “Caesar” will tolerate institutions next to him that can call into question his hegemony in the political sphere, such as a parliament or strong political parties. The experience of most of the Caesarist regimes in the Middle East and North Africa confirms that parliament is assigned only a secondary role as an institution that ensures the formal democratic legitimacy of the leader’s legislative initiatives, writes Valdai Club expert Nikolay Surkov.

Moscow’s active participation in regional affairs is an indispensable attribute of a great power capable of defending its idea of justice on a global scale. At the centre of these ideas is the moral imperative of preserving state sovereignty as the only factor guaranteeing stability and cooperation in international politics, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev.

While we may see further instances of popular contestation – the record since 2011 bears that out – a veritable Arab revival, in the broad sense of a fundamental transformation of how the region is governed, remains a distant hope.

It’s necessary for the Arabs to introduce changes which will allow them to cope with swift developments in the region and to alter their system of collective action, as it has proven to be a failure on several levels, and thus move beyond the current collective strategy of the Arab position, as it has been clearly undermined, writes Ahmed Majdalani, Member of the Executive Committee of The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Secretary General of The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front

The year 2020 was probably the strangest year of the 21st century so far. It also concluded one of its most eventful decades. For the Middle East, it began with the Arab Spring, which was the culmination of a long period of worsening political crises and increasing social tensions.