Articles

The year 2025 was distinctly Moroccan. It marked Morocco’s victory in the war it had endured for half a century, ever since it peacefully recovered its Saharan provinces from the former Spanish colonizer. Why did that war occur? And why did it continue for half a century? Why was the Algerian regime never able to acknowledge that the war of attrition it waged against Morocco, using an instrument called the Polisario, was nothing more than an overt war that would sooner or later turn against it? A series of questions reveals, among other things, Morocco’s resilience in the face of the challenges it confronted, as well as the fact that the Sahara issue has always been a national cause, one that touches every citizen of the Kingdom at the core.

Who can believe that the Shiite community—especially that of South Lebanon—will withstand this perfidious war of attrition? Day after day, Israeli strikes taunt it, challenge it to retaliate, and impose a hellish pace. If, at the outset, Hezbollah’s restraint was synonymous with self-control, that is no longer the case. And the Party of God can no longer claim to be exercising self-discipline after a year of provocation. Hence the question of whether it will finally choose the path of confrontation or yield to the demands of disarmament ? Will the perseverance of the israeli army ultimately overcome the legendary patience of civilians? For discontent is rising among an exasperated Twelver population. Worked up to a fever pitch, it sees no way out of this conflict, nor any benefit in it. And who could still deceive it when the evidence is so clear: the day after October 7, it was sacrificed on the altar of Palestine, and now, a year later, it is immolated on the altar of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

No single force shaped the trajectory of financial markets in 2025 more decisively than artificial intelligence. AI became the dominant narrative through which investors justified elevated valuations, extreme concentration, and rising risk-taking. It offered a forward-looking story powerful enough to neutralise concerns about slowing growth, mounting debt, and geopolitical fragmentation. At its core, AI is a genuine technological revolution — a productivity leap comparable to electrification or the internet — and it is already reshaping entire industries. But financial markets do not price long-term societal benefits; they price microeconomic realities: corporate cash flows, capital intensity, and sustainability. It is at this level that a growing disconnect emerged.

The survival of the National Museum of Lebanon is a miracle. Located on the demarcation line that divided the capital between the warring parties, the building was the target of gunfire and shells. But the country's main archaeological museum, which houses exceptional collections ranging from prehistory to the Mamluk period, was able to be reborn just after the war. The museum’s construction The idea for the museum emerged in the early 20th century, when plans were made to bring together in one place the collection of Raymond Weill, a French officer stationed in Lebanon. The building was constructed between 1930 and 1937 during the French Mandate, thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the Museum Committee led by Bechara El Khoury, then Prime Minister and Minister of Education. It was officially inaugurated on May 27 1942, following the designs of architects Antoine Nahas and Pierre Leprince Ringuet, in a monumental ochre-stone style inspired by antiquity.

Contrary to popular belief, the Palestinian question is not trapped in a stalemate by historical inevitability, nor by an irreconcilable, atavistic hatred. It is methodically neutralized by a convergence of interests between extremes who, while clashing in bloodshed, share a common obsession: preventing the emergence of a political solution based on mutual recognition and equal rights. On one side, an Israeli power captive to an absolute security logic, transformed over the years into a governing ideology. On the other, Islamist movements that thrive on the collapse of politics, the sacralization of violence, and the hijacking of the Palestinian cause for the benefit of regional agendas. Caught in the middle, a population held hostage, and a prospect of peace deliberately sabotaged.

It is said that one night, when the sands once crossed by the Magi seemed weary of having witnessed so many footsteps passing without ever meeting, a new star began to shine brighter than all the others. Those who were most attentive lifted their heads and sighed as they searched the sky, sensing that something new and mysterious, born of the Great Unknown, was making itself known. The star did not appear over an untouched land. It shone above a Middle East scarred by walls, checkpoints, ruins, conflicting prayers, and thousands of dead, widows, and orphans. At the same moment, in a narrow street of Bethlehem, a family was setting up a small nativity scene in front of their home. Nothing elaborate: burlap salvaged from a rice sack, a few battered plastic figurines, a baby Jesus wrapped in yellowed cloth, sheep without shepherds, and a Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph with faded colors. A boy asked his father: