REGIONS

Greg Priddy Sanctions targeting oil are often ineffective at changing governmental policy and often impose additional costs on companies and consumers. Amid the current media firestorm around L’Affaire Epstein, few people other than Chevron shareholders noticed the headline last Friday about the Trump administration loosening sanctions on Venezuela …

Lithuania may remove Russian as a second foreign language in schools by 2026, citing changing student preferences and rising geopolitical concerns, a minister said. Vice Education, Science and Sport Minister Jonas Petkevicius said Wednesday that consultations will begin with the Seimas Education and Science Committee, as well as …

Staikou Dimitra  India’s recent refusal to sign the draft declaration at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting marks more than just a diplomatic rebuke—it is a strategic warning. It calls out the growing hypocrisy surrounding terrorism within the SCO, and, more specifically, exposes China’s increasingly blatant manipulation of …

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday called on UN member states to adopt concrete measures, including targeted sanctions and an arms embargo, to hold Israel accountable for grave violations against Palestinians during a high-level UN conference on Palestine set for July 28–29. The ministerial-level meeting, co-hosted by France …

The European Central Bank (ECB) is most likely to cut rates in September or December, while it’s expected to pause its rate cut cycle in July. Uncertainties in the eurozone because of US tariffs are expected to prompt the ECB to pause cutting rates for now and adopt …

Peter Suciu China’s stealth J-35 fighter is nearing deployment on carriers like the Fujian, signaling rapid PLA Navy modernization and raising questions about espionage, propaganda, and parity with the US F-35. Photos have been circulating on China’s social media platforms of the Shenyang J-35 with People’s Liberation Army …

Josef Ernst The U.S. State Department has long been respected for its venerable tradition of thoughtful and sound policy analysis — an intellectual legacy that traces back to George F. Kennan’s famous “Long Telegram” from Moscow in 1946, later published anonymously under X in Foreign Affairs in 1947. …

Carolina Martinez In 1967, Latin America and the Caribbean made history. With the Treaty of Tlatelolco, it became the world’s first nuclear-weapon-free zone, positioning itself as a moral compass in a world on the brink of annihilation. For decades, the region led by example in disarmament affairs — …

Ryan O’Connell Donald Trump is not afraid of bankruptcy. During his checkered business career, he often took on too much debt, and six of his companies went bankrupt. Now, with the enormous tax cuts for the ultra-rich in his One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), Trump is laying the …