Europe
Trump Delays Russia Sanctions as Energy Crisis Exposes Limits of Economic Coercion
Donald Trump has postponed the implementation of major sanctions against Russia, reopening a difficult debate about whether economic pressure can remain credible when the country imposing it becomes increasingly vulnerable to the consequences. On 16…
Georgia’s Parliamentary Dispute Deepens as Opposition Challenges Democratic Legitimacy
Georgia’s political crisis has become a test of whether a country can retain the formal institutions of democracy while gradually weakening the conditions that make those institutions meaningful. The governing Georgian Dream party has continued…
Sweden Election Gives Centre-Left Narrow Lead as Europe’s Rightward Shift Meets Resistance
Sweden’s election has produced a narrow advantage for the centre-left opposition led by former prime minister Magdalena Andersson, potentially ending four years of conservative government supported by the right-wing Sweden Democrats. The result is particularly…
BRICS Summit in New Delhi Shows Both the Promise and Limits of a Multipolar World
The BRICS summit in New Delhi has produced exactly the kind of image India wanted: Narendra Modi hosting Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Masoud Pezeshkian and leaders from across the Global South, with Xi visiting India…
France Faces Another Political Crisis as Government Struggles to Control Debt
France is entering another difficult political autumn as its government struggles to reconcile two realities that increasingly seem incompatible: voters want the welfare and public services associated with the French social model, while the state…
Trump and Putin Meet in Budapest as Ukraine Peace Deal Faces First Major Test
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have met in Budapest only weeks after the July framework that halted most large-scale fighting in Ukraine, with the negotiations now shifting from stopping the war towards deciding what the…
Trump Signs Russia-Ukraine Peace Framework as Territorial Dispute Is Frozen
After more than four years of full-scale war, the United States, Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a framework intended to bring sustained large-scale fighting to an end. The settlement does not resolve the conflict…
NATO Pledges €70 Billion for Ukraine as Europe Takes Larger Security Role
The NATO summit in Ankara has ended with one of the alliance’s largest commitments to Ukraine since the war began. NATO members pledged €70 billion in military equipment, assistance and training for Ukraine during 2026,…
Trump Pushes for Ukraine Peace as Russia’s War Enters a New Diplomatic Phase
Donald Trump has held separate calls with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, again presenting the United States as the central mediator capable of bringing the Ukraine war towards…
NATO Summit Shifts More of Europe’s Defence Burden Away From Washington
This week’s NATO summit has made something increasingly clear about the transatlantic alliance: Europe is no longer debating whether it needs to assume substantially greater responsibility for its own defence, but how quickly it can…
Pashinyan Wins Armenia Election Despite Russian Pressure
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party has won today’s parliamentary election, preserving his government at one of the most consequential moments in Armenia’s post-Soviet history. The campaign was shaped by much more than…
India and EU Sign Historic Trade Deal After Nearly Two Decades of Negotiations
India and the European Union have signed a long-awaited free trade agreement after negotiations stretching, with interruptions, across almost two decades. The agreement links an Indian economy of more than 1.4 billion people with the…
