Why Tiny Jordan Is a Microcosm for Understanding the Entire Middle East

However accidental its historical genesis, Jordan has become a crucible of knowledge about how power and geopolitics operate in the region.

Dec 17

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'I Wish I Had a Leg': A New Poem on Gaza

I want to return to our home and have my mom, my dad and my leg with me.

Dec 9

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November 2025

MBS’s Vanity Projects Are Bleeding Saudi Arabia Dry

My latest column in World Politics Review

Nov 29 • Frederick Deknatel

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‘Come Rescue Your Brother.’ Life and Loss in Gaza

Ibrahim tried to reassure me, saying everything would be okay, but my gut told me otherwise.

Nov 23

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The Ancient, Enduring Wisdom of Egyptian Aphorisms

A Lineage of Brief Counsel From Ptahhotep to Ibn ʿAṭā’ Allāh

Nov 13 • Yahia Lababidi

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‘We Are Still Here’: A New Poem on Gaza

Is your home still a home / when your house has been demolished?

Nov 7 • Frederick Deknatel

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October 2025

Saying Goodbye to Gaza

Gaza grew smaller behind the window as the bus pulled away—a blur of dust, tents, and broken walls.

Oct 30

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Playing Chess in Damascus

What the fall of Baghdad, the occupation, sectarianism, and callous American adventurism could not erase: a sense of humor, of food, of hospitality and…

Oct 25 • Frederick Deknatel

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Omar El Akkad: 'One Day There Will Be No More Looking Away.'

It is a disorienting thing, to keep a ledger of atrocity, to write the ugliness of each day as it happens.

Oct 10

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Gaza, Genocide and the Limitations of International Law

I have a new monthly column in World Politics Review. This is the first piece.

Oct 7 • Frederick Deknatel

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August 2025

This Is Hidden Cities

Part travelogue, part global news brief, Hidden Cities is a new magazine that illuminates the world.

Aug 27 • Frederick Deknatel

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