For Nato, the past three years have been consumed by its focus on responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although the war has been a priority for the alliance, this week’s Nato summit in The Hague has already been largely overwhelmed by the repercussions of Israel’s unilateral attack on Iran. And with the Saturday follow-up bombing of Iran by the Americans, the largest Nato member state has only deepened this diversion in focus.
However, this shift in Nato’s strategic focus is prompting a long-overdue consideration of how the bloc should address security challenges in the Middle East.
Although any discussion of a role for Nato in the Middle East would challenge perceptions of the alliance’s geographical and operational limits as a defensive force, Nato has emerged as much more than a North Atlantic bloc. For several years now, it has embarked on a more ambitious – but much-needed – campaign of “out-of-area operations”. These have included elements of crisis response, peacekeeping and counterterrorism, each of which was more about meeting the needs of a changing security environment than simply seeking a wider mission or mandate for Nato.
Such out-of-area operations have also reflected a broader and more sophisticated Nato focus on the Mediterranean as well as the Middle East and North Africa, and a deepening of Nato’s Partnership for Peace engagement with countries across the former Soviet space. In this context, Nato is no longer limited to the North Atlantic.
Looking to today’s daunting security landscape in the Middle East, currently driven by the Israel-Iran conflict but also defined by the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the imperative for Nato is to respond to security challenges and reject the strict constraints of geography.
Nato engagement in the Middle East should not – and most likely cannot – take the form of a new military alliance. Rather, Nato should emphasise local self-sufficiency and capability in addition to forging and fostering regional co-operation among the Middle Eastern states themselves. Although the Israeli and American military strikes against Iran would seemingly challenge this opening for Nato, the need for de-escalation and the necessity to climb down from the focus on military responses to Iran’s nuclear programme do offer an opportunity.
Even for Iran, such Nato engagement would broaden the context away from co-ordinated Israeli-American pressure to possible multilateral diplomacy by bringing in European Nato members. And even for the US, such Nato involvement would help to address the security concerns about a future restart of a nuclear programme by an emboldened Iran by beefing-up compliance and enforcement of subsequent proliferation safeguards.
For the future of security and stability in the Middle East, it is the largely European Nato member states (with a pronounced Turkish role) that will be key to driving Nato engagement
The most obvious and natural pool of candidate nations for such Nato engagement comprises those countries with long-standing partnerships with the US, which Washington would be more inclined to support.
A key partner in this project of Nato engagement would be Jordan, given the already-robust support for the alliance from King Abdullah II. In fact, the most recent sign of an opportunity for Nato in the Middle East came from Amman, when Jordan agreed earlier this month to establish and host a Nato liaison office in its capital. That decision, which followed a preliminary agreement between Jordan and Nato in July last year, marks the first Nato diplomatic presence in the Middle East.
More broadly, Nato engagement would seek to counter sources of regional instability in the Middle East, with a focus on de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict and a smarter approach in finding a lasting resolution to the Palestine-Israel conflict. However, the current situation regarding Iran offers more peril than promise.
As The National’s US affairs columnist Hussein Ibish recently warned in these pages, “if [US President Donald] Trump joins Israel in striking Iran, the US will enter another forever war”, adding that Mr Trump’s “alarming trajectory for his administration’s policies” towards Iran, as well as Israel, does nothing to inspire confidence in Washington’s management of this crisis. In fact, the US has been moving closer to the Israeli position in recent days, with Mr Trump’s rhetoric more aligned with the Israeli leadership’s hardline narrative.
As much as Israel’s attack on Iran was calculated to undermine Washington’s diplomatic negotiations with Tehran, it was also designed to force the hand of Mr Trump into supporting the Israeli offensive. And given Mr Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, it is now clear that this Israeli gambit was successful. Thus, for the future of security and stability in the Middle East, it is the largely European Nato member states (with a pronounced Turkish role) that will be key to driving Nato engagement.
The timing of Nato’s entry into the Middle East would be critical, in three distinct ways.
First, it would follow a significant decline in power and influence of Iran’s proxy forces, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. This further bolsters the chance for empowering these inherently fragile states after the demise and decline of local Iranian proxies.
Second, it would come amid the strategic shifts in the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape that began in December last year with the fall of Bashar Al Assad’s government in Syria and which continues with the possibility of abrupt change within Iran. It is this context that reveals the game-changing nature of the current Middle East, although the volatility and unpredictability of such geopolitical changes present as many threats as opportunities.
The third consideration of timing is rooted in the uncertainty regarding the US. With new questions hanging over America’s commitment to its own security obligations, both to individual Nato allies and the alliance itself, Nato engagement in the Middle East would also be a response to a dangerous security vacuum. And the unilateral, “go it alone” nature of the recent American military attack on Iran only demonstrates the danger of blind reliance on the US’s commitment to Nato.
As already demonstrated by the Trump administration’s erratic “America first” approach to Ukraine, Nato leadership has increasingly become more of an exercise in European strategic thinking, not because of the Americans but despite them. More broadly, Nato now faces a daunting vacuum, whereby geopolitics, like nature, abhors and resists any vacuum in power.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20Shipsy%3Cbr%3EYear%20of%20inception%3A%202015%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Soham%20Chokshi%2C%20Dhruv%20Agrawal%2C%20Harsh%20Kumar%20and%20Himanshu%20Gupta%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20India%2C%20UAE%20and%20Indonesia%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20logistics%3Cbr%3ESize%3A%20more%20than%20350%20employees%3Cbr%3EFunding%20received%20so%20far%3A%20%2431%20million%20in%20series%20A%20and%20B%20rounds%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Info%20Edge%2C%20Sequoia%20Capital%E2%80%99s%20Surge%2C%20A91%20Partners%20and%20Z3%20Partners%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
SPECS
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Company%20profile
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Teri%20Baaton%20Mein%20Aisa%20Uljha%20Jiya
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Amit%20Joshi%20and%20Aradhana%20Sah%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECast%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shahid%20Kapoor%2C%20Kriti%20Sanon%2C%20Dharmendra%2C%20Dimple%20Kapadia%2C%20Rakesh%20Bedi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
ASSASSIN'S%20CREED%20MIRAGE
%3Cp%3E%0DDeveloper%3A%20Ubisoft%20Bordeaux%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Ubisoft%0D%3Cbr%3EConsoles%3A%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20Series%20S%26amp%3BX%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
