Saleem Ayoub Quna, Author at CrossFireArarbia

The Little Ball Unites The Big Globe!

Saleem Ayoub Quna
June 17, 2026

(Caption: Huge Jordanian crowds assemble at the Roman Theater in downtown Amman on Wednesday at 7 am to watch the first Jordan-Austria football match for the World Cup that was being broadcast live from San Francisco, USA. (Courtesy photo Dr Zeidan Al Kafafi, directly taken from the Amman Citadel.)

Two prominent universal endeavors help bring people closer to each other: Music and sports. Both can be performed without the need for language. One goes to the ear and the other catches the eye!

Today, the world is watching football matches played in three countries of North America by the best 48 national teams including Jordan for the first time, in this 32nd edition of the World Cup organized by FIFA.

It is important to notice that the power and impact of the little colorful ball being kicked by 22 players for 90 minutes, split into two halves, before an enthusiastic two huge crowds, each representing one team, surpass the effects of any other activity, theory, ideology or doctrine endorsed or practiced by the human race!

All participating nations in the ongoing tournament, big or small, rich or poor, old or new, would be chanting their national anthem and waiving their own flags in a joyful atmosphere that lasts for a whole month.

Also football and “foreign threat or aggression” to the nation have equal weight and role in uniting the people of any nation under one banner; one creates harmony between community members and the other feeds on the fear of the unknown!

Within the boundaries of each participant nation, a kind of a state of emergency prevails, where some days off are observed, city centers and businesses are closed and daily life takes a different beat. Crowds also gather before titanic screens in public places to watch their national team playing.

But some cynics have a different view. They call the soccer game a total nonsense, a sheer waste of energy and a preference of foot over the brain!

Whatever our attitude towards this sports event might be, many tears of joy or regret would be shed, many hearts would be broken and many dreams would be either, fulfilled or shattered.

By the end of the month, our bigger globe will take a break for four long years, then new hopes for a win will arise again and bless humanity with precious moments of joy and celebration.

Opinion

World Cup: Trump, Political Footballing and Iran – A View From Amman

Saleem Ayoub Quna
June 9, 2026

This summer promises to be unlike any previous or future summers in the history of mankind. It will witness an unprecedented convergence of two big, unrelated in substance, events that will be the focus of attention of all nations around the globe. One of those events might and indeed, should tip the balance!

On the battle grounds of these two big events, tears will be shed, hearts will be broken and plans flopped! On both occasions, the crucial component of vanity in the human brain would develop into a dubious concept that in each game you play or a confrontation you get involved in, you must be the winner, no matter what!

What would the other side be saying?

As the clock ticks forward, the hostilities in the Middle East or more precisely the off-and-on-rounds of ‘war of choice’ by the US and Israel against Iran’s plans for itself and the region, bounce up and down in a blurred fashion; making it difficult, to see whether those hostilities will continue, as the Israeli Prime Minister wants them to, or whether they will be ordered by Donald Trump to stop, even temporarily, but for completely different reasons.

President Trump’s interest and role in this affair is central and crucial, not only because his country, along with Mexico and Canada, will host the football tournaments matches and because his army is stuck in the quagmire he helped to create in the Middle East since June 2025.

Now and in these final hours before the big sports event kicks off next week, the political ball is also being played, openly bouncing back and forth by Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump and Iran, each according to a specific domestic political agenda and in a dramatic fashion. Indeed, it could threaten the destiny of FIFA’s well-planned agenda, at the expense of letting Israel continue its quasi-impossible crusade against Iran!

Trump on the other hand, and besides the other signs he gave, might opt for a peaceful outcome to his quarrel with Iran. He has few other concerns at home such as the 250th anniversary of his country’s independence, his own birthday party to celebrate, rising prices of gas and inflation to curb, local partisan elections and opinion polls to worry about; lastly off course, he has to guarantee the smooth running of the world cup matches in his country for a whole month.

Now let’s dig deeper in this business of political footballing.

The US and Iran according to the FIFA program belong to two different groups: Fourth and seventh. To qualify for the second level of the tournament, each has to play three matches and win. The US against Paraguay, Australia and Turkey. Iran against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt.

Both teams have reasonable chances to pass through this first stage.

Let’s imagine that after a month-long matches between the 48-competing nations, Iran and the US end up facing each other in the final match for the world trophy.

In such a case, heads of states whose teams were playing, are supposed to be present watching and cheering their teams from the premium seating area. Whoever the winner might be, the players, coaches and political leaders would be approaching each other and shaking hands. One saying: “Congratulation” and the other: “Hard luck”!

One more time, picture Donald Trump and Mojtaba Khamenei shaking hands and exchanging these words live, while the whole world is watching!

At such a moment, the real war back on the grounds of the Middle East, would not be more than a fading ripple on the surface of a remote lake!

Opinion

For South Lebanon, All You Need is Few Miracles!

Saleem Ayoub Quna
June 3, 2026

The fourth round of negotiations between representatives of the Lebanese Government, in the person of the Lebanese Ambassador to Washington, and representatives of the Israeli government, under the cuddling attitude of the State Department, to reach some kind of agreement between the two odd neighbors in the Middle East, look like a friendly, yet an absurd endeavor of witch-hunting, that can only render the caterers and planners of the event, happy! For each team are supposed to ask their counterparts to agree to things that are beyond their jurisdiction or authority, to say yes or no, under the current circumstances!

Israel wants the government of Lebanon to agree to a peace accord with it like the ones concluded, long time ago, with Egypt, PLO and Jordan, just to give a finger to Iran and its Shia active and militarily strong allies in Lebanon. For their part, the Lebanese delegation would be shyly telling the Israeli negotiators that before any other item is considered, Israeli forces have to be out of Lebanese territories first.

Official Israel and Lebanon are fully aware that such meetings will lead to nowhere, as long as back home and on the ground, where the real cooking is taking place, ‘chefs’ are having good time doing their best to burn the food further!

But as hopeful amateurs, certain individuals in Washington DC who are probably not educated enough or familiar with Middle Eastern zig-zags, or just pretending to be up to something, seem to be rehearsing for
future similar events!

A special tailored ceasefire in Lebanon now will be absolutely not useful for the Israelis. But it could be arranged with American urging and blessing, just to give the impression that something can be done. It will be a message to the Iranians and the world that, yes we can have a ceasefire in Lebanon now, it is your turn to be flexible on the Hormuz entanglement! While the original story was a complete reverse, meaning we can have a ceasefire around Hormuz, only if we had one in south Lebanon! But here is the real picture on the ground.

Israel is holding the whole area of south Lebanon and its nearly 400 villages as a hostage, thanks to its ability to hit any spot in Lebanon and in Beirut in particular. It is a bargaining chip to pressure the Lebanese government to submit to an official deal that would by-pass Hezbollah and the Shia component in the Lebanese Parliament. While Hezbollah and their local allies refuse to concede their arms to the central government in Beirut, claiming that such a move would be interpreted as a concession to Israel.

So, if I were to advice the Israelis on how to outsmart their opponents in Lebanon, I would tell them, you can stop your absurd war in Lebanon immediately, and start withdrawing your soldiers from areas they entered after the last ceasefire announced between Iran and the US and Israel, and wait for their reaction to that!

And if I were to advice Hezbollah, I would tell them do not target villages or civilians within Israel international borders and make clear that you only target Israeli military presence within Lebanese international borders, and wait for a reaction!

And finally, if I were to advice the Americans on this particular issue, which looks actually like a replicate of their other similar moves and initiatives in the region, since June 2025, when President Trump, willingly swallowed the pill prescribed to him by Dr. Netanyahu, to end the Iranian headache, I would say this: Might, like cash, is not the answer to all problems! It is only a temporary remedy, like the cash that cannot buy you happiness, but the delusion that you are experiencing
it!

The entanglement in south Lebanon will not be solved by apprentices in history and geography meeting in air-conditioned elegant rooms in Washington DC, but there on the grounds of south Lebanon, where valleys, trees, rivers, mountains, villages and people have long time ago, concluded among themselves, without external interference, an eternal verbal memorandum of understanding, that they were doomed to live or perish there in rotation, exactly like the four seasons of the
year!

It all worked out smoothly there since, without miracles!

Opinion

The Chinese Fortune Cookie and The “Thucydides Trap”! A View From Amman

Saleem Ayoub Quna
May 15, 2026

By Saleem Ayoub Quna

Nearly 2000 years ago, there lived a prosperous Empire in ‘Athens’ which dominated the whole region of ancient Greece, along the hundreds of islands in the Aegean Sea. It was situated approximately 200 kilometers away from another military strong city, an empire called ‘Sparta’.

The advisors of the Emperor of Athens started warning their leadership of the growing power of this relatively distant neighbor, which could pose an imminent threat to its supremacy, and even to the existence of their empire in Athens as well.

In one of the ancient Greek ‘think-tanks’ in Athens also, lived a general and philosopher, who was monitoring the evolution of relations between the two city states. His name was ‘Thucydides’. He foresaw disaster and advised his fellow Athenians to resist the temptation to go after the Spartans, in order to quell the possibility that their power might expand and grow bigger in the region, and threaten and challenge the actual supremacy of Athens.

He begged them not to fall to such an illusionary trap. Sparta seemingly was minding its own business and was not fully aware of Athens’ fears and phobia of the unknown.

‘Thucydides’ kept warning his own people about such eventuality, but to no avail. The war finally broke out and it was called the “Peloponnesian war” that lasted for nearly three decades. Its endgame was a humiliating defeat for Athens, and a decisive victory for Sparta.

In the first decade of this century, a certain Graham Allison, a professor of political science at Harvard School for International Studies, was studying and analyzing this pattern of hostile relations between nations, built on suspicion and mistrust.

Out of 16 wars in the world, big and small, he found out, 12 wars erupted between nations, precisely because of, not similar, but identical circumstances, where a certain nation would fear the rising power and influence of another nation, and decides to go to war to eliminate this imaginary threat, so the former would keep its clout and domination.

While studying and tracking back cases of war from modern times such as WWI and WWII and other older conflicts, and when he reached the “Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BC” in Greece, he came up with a simple conclusion that causes such wars between nations, which is the fear of a nation of another nation’s power and ill-intentions! And he brilliantly dubs it the “Thucydides Trap” thus emulating the first experienced and documented war of this kind in ancient Greece, nearly 2000 years ago!

Now we come back to our present day and astonishingly hear Chinese President Xi Jinping warning his powerful visitor, US President Trump, and himself not to submit to the “Thucydides Trap” which many nations in the past did!

What is also amazing in this regard, is first, that the Chinese leader alluded to that ancient lesson which happened in Greece that lies thousands of miles away from China, and second, is how the smart and knowledgeable Xi Jinping’s speech writers, were as they inserted Graham Allison’s most famous political coinage in connection with today’s issues of war and peace!

In conclusion, I would like to list two questions and one footnote:

Does not the name “Thucydides” phonetically rhyme with the word “suicide”, especially if you could listen to its pronunciation in Greek!

Does not the “War of choice” launched against Iran on the pretext that it is posing a threat to Israel, squarely fall under the category of “Thucydides Trap” wars?

When Sparta won the war against Athens, it was significantly due to Persian support against Athens, bearing in mind that the Persians were the forefathers of present-day Iranians!

Opinion

Trump: Tunes, Ceasefire and Hormuz

Saleem Ayoub Quna
April 23, 2026

Saleem Ayoub Quna

The latest ceasefire by Trump reminded me of an aspiring young violinist, who every time she started playing her own written piece, the tunes of her instrument would go havoc!

Last move, the declaration of a ceasefire with no deadline, by President Donald Trump on the Hormuz virtual chessboard with Iran, did not lack the usual element of surprise. Still, it was a relief for some, annoying for others and revealing for a third group!

While at it in the White House, the Pakistani host intermediaries in the other side of the hemisphere, were stood up for the arrival of the negotiation teams, who seemingly were hindered by other conflicting schedules, while pilots of the jet fighters, in the air bases and on board destroyers, and the launchers of missiles, drones and anti–missile batteries, were all getting itchy over the delay of orders from their commanders, which left TV anchors and other commentators, boringly speculating and redundant!

After the two rounds of exchanging intensive missile and rocket attacks, between Iran and the US-Israeli axis, in less than a year, using the open skies over the Middle East from the Mediterranean to the Gulf area, as a last resort to make each party’s views clearer to the other, President Trump, the man who happens to hold most of the important cards in his hands, seems today, to have come to the conclusion, that neither his message, nor his tools, or even his sheer luck have helped making his message loud and clear enough to his opponents and to the rest of world!

Luck in this context can be associated with the totality of internal, regional and world unanticipated reactions to this complicated conflict, in terms of rising oil and gas prices for the average consumer, whether in Europe, North America or in Eastern Asia. It is highly suspected that these instruments in the hands of Trump, started producing tunes that were not written or desired by Trump himself, and if they did, it was just a kind of dissonance!

It is also very probable that Trump’s tactics as a deal maker, continuously changing his tone and vocabulary, made his listeners lose track of his true original storyline, if there was one! But more seriously, weighing and counting the odds that have befell Trump in the aftermath of the breakout of the war, some of which were

of his own making, and other developments that came out as natural by-products of the original move!

Following is a rundown of those unexpected unpleasant by-products, or side-effects, some of which might turn into chronicle headaches*, of the whole initiative which Trump had closely coordinated with his persistent ally, Netanyahu, the first in June 2025, when the two of them orchestrated the “Midnight Hammer” surprise operation against sensitive Iranian targets, and the second round “Epic Fury” on Feb28 this year, while negotiators were in session:

1. Rise of oil and gas price in world markets

2. Drop of share prices in stock markets

3. Fracture with NATO*

4. Decline in Republican Party ratings ahead of the midterms congressional elections in November

5. Resurgence of Trump’s friendship with Epstein’s scandals.

6. Firing key US generals in the midst of crisis, culminated by ousting Navy Secretary, John Phelan.

7. Emulating Jesus Christ in a replica image!

8. Personal row with Pope Leo who stands as the most respectful living figure in the Western civilization.*

9. Lebanon and Hezbollah’s connection.*

10. The Strait of Hormuz new strategic entanglement*

None of the above problems or symptoms of problems, except for point 5 and 9, existed before Trump made up his mind to go into war against Iran last year. Even back in 2018 during his first term, Trump shocked the world by tearing up the Iran-nuclear deal approved by Obama’s Administration after being endorsed by the rest of the Western powers. No one expected that Trump would go this far in his second term, except the Prime Minister of Israel!

All things considered, the whole world, minus Israel, was shocked by the magnitude of the bombings to finish Iran’s potentials to own its own nuclear knowhow and capabilities. All of which leaves me wondering if this latest ambiguous ceasefire, and the way it was presented and its timing, will prove to be a real turning point in the ongoing strife in the Middle East, or just another boring maneuvering tactic by Trump!

As for the fate of young aspiring violinist, it was said that after she had discovered that her violin was not authentic but a replica, she decided to become a soprano!