Owen Kirby The Middle East – for many Western observers – is something akin to Long Covid. One day you believe you are through the worst of it, turning a corner, and the next you are back reliving all the headaches, fatigue and brain fog, short of breath …
Read More »Why Can Neither Washington Nor Tehran Talk Without Pakistan in the Room?
Sanal Kan U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner walk with Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar after arriving for peace talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, …
Read More »Is China Filling America’s Vacuum?
Sachin Yadav America’s retreat from the developing world happened fast, and the numbers back that up. Foreign aid from OECD countries dropped by about 23 percent between 2024 and 2025, and most of that fall came from the United States, whose foreign aid shrank by nearly 57 percent …
Read More »Old Dogs, New Alliances: NATO’s Realignment Begins in Ankara
Hadi Elis “Who cares about the NATO agenda? I’m here to see my good friend—an authoritarian, sure, but a loyal friend to the US—President Erdogan. I stopped him from attacking Israel. And just in case anyone disagrees too much, I gave everyone a handgun to shoot each other …
Read More »Kazakhstan Tightens Control Over Petroleum Products
Key Takeaways Kazakhstan Cracks Down on Gasoline Smuggling — Amid severe fuel shortages in Russia caused by Ukrainian drone attacks, Kazakhstan has set up police checkpoints on nearly 60 border roads and introduced daily crossing limits to stop “gasoline tourism” and illegal exports. Kazakhstan Extends Ban on Petroleum Exports — …
Read More »Beyond The Trophy: Is The FIFA World Cup Losing Its Political Neutrality?
Altaf Moti Key Takeaways Trump’s Intervention Turned a Sporting Decision into a Political Issue — The US President publicly confirmed calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request a review of Folarin Balogun’s red card, leading to the suspension being overturned and sparking widespread debate about political influence in football. …
Read More »What’s Behind Serbia’s Economic Rise? – Analysis
Key Takeaways Serbia’s Economic Rise is Multifaceted — The country’s strong growth over the past decade is the result of political stability, proactive development policies, strategic infrastructure investment, successful attraction of foreign direct investment, and fiscal discipline. Tangible Improvements in Living Standards — Average net salaries have nearly tripled (from …
Read More »The Bear With The Bomb: How Russian Nuclear Coercion Is Reshaping European Deterrence – Analysis
Rafael Loss with Katrine Westgaard Key Takeaways Russia is building up its arsenal of nuclear-capable long-range weapons and planning for victory in a confrontation with Europe. The Russian goal is to fracture NATO and disrupt the West’s deterrence strategy while extracting political concessions from Europe. Europe has not …
Read More »Balochistan is not Pakistan
Hadi Elis For nearly eight decades, the conflict in Balochistan has been portrayed by Islamabad as a separatist insurgency threatening Pakistan’s territorial integrity. Yet for many Baloch nationalists, the struggle is not about separation from Pakistan—it is about liberation from what they regard as a historical occupation. Their …
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