Europe
Munich Security Conference Exposes a Transatlantic Alliance Being Rewritten
This year’s Munich Security Conference felt noticeably different from the confrontation that dominated the same meeting twelve months ago. In 2025, US Vice-President JD Vance shocked European leaders by arguing that Europe’s greatest threat came…
Trump Drops Greenland Tariff Threat After NATO Talks in Davos
Donald Trump has stepped back from one of the most extraordinary disputes of his second presidency. After repeatedly insisting that the United States needed to acquire Greenland, refusing initially to rule out coercive measures and…
US Forces Capture Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela Raid
The United States has crossed a threshold in Latin America that would have seemed almost unimaginable a year ago. On 3 January, American special forces entered Caracas in Operation Absolute Resolve, captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás…
Trump and Zelenskyy Say Ukraine Peace Deal Is Close but Territory Remains Unresolved
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have ended another round of talks at Mar-a-Lago saying that a framework for ending the Russia-Ukraine war is closer than at any previous point in Trump’s second presidency. Trump said…
EU Agrees €90 Billion Ukraine Loan but Stops Short of Seizing Russian Assets
European leaders have agreed to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion loan for 2026 and 2027, giving Kyiv a crucial financial lifeline as Russia’s war approaches its fifth year. The agreement reached at this week’s…
Romania Water Crisis Leaves More Than 100,000 Without Safe Tap Water
More than 100,000 people in Romania’s Prahova and Dâmbovița counties have spent much of the past week without normal access to drinking water after a serious failure around the Paltinu reservoir and Voila treatment plant.
Georgia’s Ruling Party Says It Won Every Municipality. The Opposition Tried to Force Its Way Into the Presidential Palace. A Country That Once Seemed Almost Certain to Join Europe Is Now Fighting Over What “Europe” Even Means.
Georgia’s political crisis has entered a substantially more dangerous phase. In yesterday’s local elections, the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in every municipality across the country after the two largest opposition blocs boycotted the…
Moldova Is Voting Between Europe and Russia. Can a Small Democracy Remain Politically Sovereign When Much Larger Powers Can Influence Its Politics Without Crossing Its Border.
Moldovans are voting today in one of the most consequential parliamentary elections in the country’s recent history. President Maia Sandu’s pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) is attempting to retain enough parliamentary power to…
Britain, Canada, Australia and Others Are Preparing to Recognise Palestine. Recognition Matters, but a State Cannot Survive on Diplomatic Recognition Alone.
The international diplomatic balance around Palestinian statehood is undergoing one of its largest changes in decades. Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, several Western governments have moved towards formally recognising the…
Xi, Putin and Modi Just Stood Together in China. The Image Matters Because the World Is No Longer Dividing Neatly Into an American Bloc and an Anti-American One.
China has spent the past week making a very deliberate argument about the international system it wants to build. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, Xi Jinping hosted leaders including Vladimir Putin and…
Trump Says America Will Help Guarantee Ukraine’s Security. That May Be More Important Than the Territory Ukraine Eventually Loses or Keeps.
The diplomatic atmosphere around Ukraine has changed considerably in only one week. After Donald Trump’s Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Washington on 18 August accompanied by an unusually powerful…
Trump Gave Putin a Red-Carpet Welcome in Alaska. There Is Still No Ceasefire. The Summit Has Changed Who Is Being Pressured to Compromise.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Friday for nearly three hours in the first US-Russia presidential summit since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The symbolism was extraordinary.
