While the drums of war are beating in many regions of the world, the peace that deserted the Middle East for so long has just burgeoned. The new agreement on their maritime border signed by Lebanon and Israel is an extraordinary step that cannot be overlooked.

Paris is still buzzing from the visit of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and now eagerly awaits Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is heading to the French capital close on the heels of his meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Many of us, myself included, did not imagine that the crisis in Ukraine would come to this.

Much has already been written about this summer’s scandalous international defeat in Afghanistan, which suddenly left the Afghan people, especially women, in the hands of illiterate and obsessive butchers.

Since Aug. 4, 2020 — the day of the tragedy at the port of Beirut — many have looked on at Lebanon’s pain, a slow agony so deeply inscribed in its contemporary history that many are unaware that Lebanon was once the peaceful and prosperous Switzerland of the Middle East.