Economics

Georgi Asatrian No sooner had 2026 begun than dramatic events in world politics followed one after another. The problem is not even the speed of these events but the difficulty of systematizing them. Forecasting is a thankless task. And the issue is not only the high probability of …

The latest waves of protests in Iran expose the deep structural exhaustion of a political model built on theocratic authority, an entrenched security apparatus, and an economy constrained by sanctions and mismanagement. For decades, Tehran has relied on a combination of coercion and regional power projection to preserve …

In a landmark series of high-level talks in New Delhi, India and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to a sweeping upgrade of their strategic and economic relationship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed off on ambitious plans that could …

U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated his rhetoric over Greenland, declaring that Denmark has failed to address a supposed “Russian threat” to the Arctic territory and vowing decisive action. In a forceful post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed NATO had warned Denmark for two decades to …

Roger Kimball In the fog of prewar Iran, disinformation, inflated body counts, and diplomatic silence obscure a simple truth: the regime is murdering its people, and the world is running out of time. Everyone knows about “the fog of war.” What about the fog of prewar? There are …

Seven key factors will determine whether Venezuela ultimately transitions to democracy, remains captive to a Chavista dictatorship, or descends into chaos. For many years, national security experts have urged the United States to implement decisive measures to address the escalating national security threat posed by the dictatorship in …

On December 28, 2025, protests unexpectedly erupted across Iran in response to a severe economic downturn in the Middle Eastern country, caused largely by sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies. More notably, the protests have grown in scale and turned violent, with clashes between civilians …

Growing geopolitical tensions and repeated export controls by Beijing have pushed rare earths and other critical minerals to the centre of global economic and security debates. China’s dominance across the mining, refining, and processing stages of these minerals has long been a strategic vulnerability for advanced economies, but …

Japan has begun a rare and technologically ambitious effort to secure its own supply of rare earth minerals, as concerns mount over China’s tightening control of exports. A Japanese mining vessel set sail on Monday to explore rare-earth-rich seabed mud near Minamitori Island, a remote coral atoll about …