Society

For years the Arctic was viewed as a geopolitical periphery which is remote, inaccessible and strategically and marginally strategic to regions such as the Persian Gulf or the Indo-Pacific. But in 2026, that perception is rapidly changing. As Europe grapples with another energy crisis, LNG markets remain volatile …

Yannis Bassias The global system no longer snaps back after crises, it drifts, it thickens, it carries its shocks forward. The world behaves less like a market and more like a material under pressure, a structure that remembers every hit. Elasticity fades, anelasticity takes over, recovery becomes partial, …

The ongoing conflict involving Iran and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz are placing growing strain on the global oil trading system, which has long been dominated by the United States dollar. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy corridors, with a significant …

In the Gulf, the most important signals are increasingly the ones no actor fully confirms. For decades, Gulf security rested on a relatively clear deterrence model: the United States would protect the flow of energy; Iran would threaten disruption but usually avoid full closure of the Strait of …

Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to China on May 19-20 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping after US President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing, the Kremlin announced Saturday. According to a Kremlin statement, Putin and Xi will discuss bilateral relations, ways …

Mucahithan Avcioglu US chip giant Nvidia and materials science company Corning announced a multiyear commercial and technology partnership on Wednesday to expand US manufacturing capacity for optical connectivity solutions used in next-generation artificial intelligence infrastructure. Under the agreement, Corning will increase its US optical connectivity manufacturing capacity tenfold …

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday called for stricter regulation of social media platforms, arguing they must not become spaces where fake videos and hate speech spread without consequences. “If the weekly newspaper Die Zeit were to publish a false claim, one could immediately demand a correction from …

The European Central Bank may be forced to raise interest rates if higher crude oil prices begin to feed into inflation expectations, Governing Council member Martins Kazaks said Thursday. “Oil prices are higher, we see that it’s gradually starting to push inflation up, and if inflation expectations start …

The UK economy grew 0.6% in the three months to March 2026, supported mainly by a strong expansion in services, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Thursday. Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.6% in the first quarter compared with the three months to December 2025, after …