The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey
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Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title as well as Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, co-authored with Dr. Teresita Cruz-Del Rosario and Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa.

  1. Casting Shadows

    13h ago

    Casting Shadows

    With an unprecedented eight teams competing, the Middle East casts its long shadow over this year’s World Cup; not always for the right reasons. The shadow may not always cloud the pitch, even though several teams could spring a surprise. Think of Tunisia in 2022 beating France, Saudi Arabia defeating Argentina, and Morocco reaching the semi-finals in the Qatar World Cup, the first African team to make it to the final four. In this year’s tournament, imagine the United States, the first World Cup organiser to host a team from a country with which it is at war, playing Iran at some point during the tournament, or Iran encountering Qatar or Saudi Arabia, countries it has bombed during the Iran war and continues to threaten.

    11 min
  2. Spinning out of control

    1d ago

    Spinning out of control

    James discusses the Iranian-Israeli tit-for-tat, the Lebanon war, and US-Iranian negotiations to end the Iran war on CNA938.

    16 min
  3. Reshaping the Islamic Republic

    2d ago

    Reshaping the Islamic Republic

    Like the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and last June’s 12-day Israel-Iran war, this year’s Iran war has reshaped the Islamic Republic. The Iran-Iraq war fuelled the Islamic Republic’s initial embrace of nationalism at the expense of the revolutionary zeal that drove the 1979 toppling of the Shah and the Republic’s first 18 months. This and last year’s war cemented the transition and emboldened a new generation of confident leaders who were formed in the war of the 1980s and have since proven themselves in their ability to prepare for and stand their ground against overwhelming US military power. Their newly found confidence frames the Islamic Republic’s strategy and goals in negotiations to end the war, including their insistence that Iran will retain control of the Strait of Hormuz, even if that primarily means the ability to disrupt and deny free passage through the waterway rather than absolute control.

    13 min
  4. Middle East Report

    4d ago

    Middle East Report

    James discusses this week’s Iran war developments, Gulf splits on post-war relations with Iran, and the Middle East’s shadow hanging over the 2026 World Cup.

    7 min
  5. Living by the sword

    5d ago

    Living by the sword

    Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stands accused of waging war in his personal rather than Israel’s national interest. Mr. Netanyahu’s critics argue that had the prime minister focussed on Israel’s national interest rather than his personal concerns, Israel would have long sought to end hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon and, perhaps, lobbied US President Donald Trump less hard for military action against Iran. Focusing on Israel’s national interests would also have spared Israel the reputational, diplomatic, and economic damage it has suffered that will take years to repair and require significant political and policy changes. Analysts define Mr. Netanyahu’s personal interests as wanting to escape conviction in a corruption trial, betting on war boosting his lagging chances in elections scheduled for October, and ensuring that his legacy is one of military victory and enhanced Israeli security rather than responsibility for failures that led to Hamas’s devastating October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and presiding over the worst reputational crisis in Israel’s history. Polls suggest that most Israelis distrust Mr. Netanyahu, even if they empathise with his security and military policies. To be fair, Mr. Netanyahu’s policies are as much informed by his personal interests as they are by his political and ideological beliefs. Even so, Mr. Netanyahu’s ability to prioritise his personal ambitions raises multiple questions that are not simply answered by the fact that Messrs. Trump, his predecessor, Joe Biden, and other Western leaders have given the prime minister a long leash. Some of these questions go to the heart of problems with democracy that are accentuated by the rise of a critical mass of illiberal and autocratic world leaders, who have hollowed out democratic institutions or reinforced existing autocratic structures. Others have more to do with Israel’s almost 60-year occupation of Palestinian and Arab lands, the country’s education system, including the prepping of youth for military service, refusal to acknowledge that nations and people have equal rights, and the ability to flout international law and moral and ethical norms in the name of national security.

    12 min
  6. A game of chicken

    6d ago

    A game of chicken

    A US-Iranian tit-for-tat in the Strait of Hormuz amounts to a game of chicken that risks spinning out of control. US President Donald Trump’s impatience with the grinding process of indirect negotiations to reopen the strategic Strait and end the Iran war, and the president’s insistence, amplified by senior administration officials, that the United States could revert to military action, enhances the risk. “It’s time, one way or another, for you to make a Deal. You’ve been doing this for 47 years, and it cannot be allowed to go on any longer!” Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social platform, addressing Iran. The tit-for-tat is as much a calibrated effort by both the United States and Iran to frame the exchanges as not rising to the level of a breach of the fragile ceasefire as they are a window on what a revival of hostilities might look like.

    9 min
  7. Lebanon ceasefire is about more than Hezbollah

    Jun 2

    Lebanon ceasefire is about more than Hezbollah

    James argues on TRT World that for Iran and the US a Lebanon ceasefire is not just about Hezbollah. It’s also about leverage in US-Iranian negotiations to end the Iran war.

    4 min
  8. Gulf states prepare for long-term Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz

    May 31

    Gulf states prepare for long-term Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz

    Disregard the US, European, Iraqi, and Gulf states’ rejection of Iran’s insistence that it will control the Strait of Hormuz no matter what. The fact of the matter is that Middle Eastern states are factoring in permanent Iranian control into their longer-term thinking about shaping the region’s post-war balance of power and security architecture, even though they may not admit as much publicly. Already, the public US, European, and Gulf state consensus rejecting Iran’s imposition of fees on ships transiting the Strait appears to be fracturing.

    13 min
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Ratings & Reviews

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About

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title as well as Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, co-authored with Dr. Teresita Cruz-Del Rosario and Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa.

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