US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has finally told the American people what they needed to hear about the malign regime in Tehran.  Americans now know a truth that we in the region have been trying so hard to communicate: Iran and Al-Qaeda are, and have been for a long time, best buddies.

We are less than a week into 2021, but if what has happened so far is an indicator of things to come (and I hope it is) we are in for a good year.

The scenes of awful terrorist attacks on people in the streets of Vienna, coming as they do so soon after the bloody attacks in Nice and in Paris, have once again horrified the people of the world and sent yet another reminder of the dangers of extremism.

With a few days to go until the US votes in its new president, the atmosphere is tense and the air — both in America and here in the Middle East — is so thick with expectation and desperation that you can almost cut it with a knife.