Whilst the current crisis in Iran has demonstrated that geography is a strategic asset in times of conflict – with the Strait of Hormuz bringing global energy trade to a standstill when it was closed – this strategic chokepoint is, unfortunately, not the only one threatening what little stability appears to remain in the region. Another strategic point could be held hostage, but this time extending the conflict zone beyond the Gulf States to include the countries of the Horn of Africa; this...

Eyes on South Korean Cinema IMDb, still from Lady Vengeance by Park Chan-wook. (2005). 여자가   한을   품으면   서리가   내린다 If a woman harbors han, frost will fall “The concept of han (한) has been invoked as crucial to understanding the Korean character. A supposedly untranslatable term, it denotes a uniquely Korean sense of profound sorrow, regret, resentment, rage and other negative emotions that are all bound up inside an individual as well as the people as a whole. It has been claimed that modern...

Sculpture by Jean-Baptiste Goy, late 17th century, marble. Cleopatra, dying yet standing. December 2025 found me at the Arab World Institute  in Paris, beholding  the Mystery of Cleopatra , running from June 2025 to January 2026.   The exhibition was quite lengthy, beginning with a series of artifacts related to Egyptian mythology and historical foundations, an enumeration that appeared endless to me. Nonetheless, with the world of Cleopatra  open to me, I encountered numerous fragments of...