Opinion | Columnists

Patrick Seale

Patrick Seale is a commentator and author of several books on Middle East affairs, including Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East and Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire.

Recent Articles

Thursday May 2

How Israel manipulates US policy

Tel Aviv’s aim seems to be to persuade Washington to destroy both the Al Assad regime and its Hezbollah ally
Thursday Apr 25

Syria: Working out a compromise formula

After more than two years of an often savage war, it is surely time to find a way out of the conflict
Thursday Apr 18

Syria: Embattled President Bashar Al Assad enjoys stroke of luck

The prospect of an Al Qaida victory arouses fears among many in Syria that their lives will be in danger
Thursday Apr 11

Can Washington strike a deal with Tehran?

It is not clear whether the US truly wants to arrive at an agreement or its covert aim is to bring down the Islamic Republic
Thursday Apr 4

Middle East major powers must control situation

If the major powers fail to control the current situation, with generous financial help from the Gulf states to rebuild Syria, many more innocents will be massacred
Thursday Mar 28

Israel-Turkey alliance a bitter blow to Arabs

Obama-brokered reconciliation between US, Israel and Turkey is clearly intended to dictate terms to Arabs
Thursday Mar 21

Forgotten victims of the ‘war on terror’

An inescapable fact is that a great many victims of these retaliatory wars were innocent Muslims, who had nothing to do with Al Qaida
Thursday Mar 14

Syria edges towards disastrous partition

An arms embargo is critical in getting Al Assad and the opposition to compromise and address the real issues
Thursday Mar 7

Europe can engineer peace in Middle East

As Israel’s major trading partner, the EU could apply considerable pressure to bring about a two-state solution, if it were able to summon up the courage and the political will to do so
Thursday Feb 28

Development will stop extremist tide

Islamists in North Africa and the Sahel take advantage of unemployment, poverty, banditry, availability of weapons and the incapacity of governments to ensure their countries’ development and security