Europe
BRICS Is Getting Bigger. The More Important Question Is Whether More Members Actually Means More Power.
The BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, concluded this week with leaders from an expanded group attempting to present something increasingly visible in international politics: the institutions created after the Second World War no longer reflect…
BRICS Is Getting Bigger. The More Important Question Is Whether More Members Actually Means More Power.
The BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, concluded this week with leaders from an expanded group attempting to present something increasingly visible in international politics: the institutions created after the Second World War no longer reflect…
Germany’s Far Right Has Won a State Election for the First Time Since the Nazi Era. The More Important Question Is Why Economic Improvement Has Not Produced Political Confidence.
Germany has crossed a political threshold that would have seemed almost unthinkable a decade ago. In today’s state election in Thuringia, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, is projected to finish first with roughly…
Modi Went to Moscow in July and Kyiv in August. That Is Not Neutrality. It Is India Trying to Maximise Diplomatic Freedom.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kyiv on 23 August, becoming the first Indian prime minister to visit Ukraine since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in 1992. The symbolism was unusually strong…
Ukraine Has Invaded Russia. The Immediate Military Gain Matters Less Than What It Reveals About Risk, Surprise and Bargaining Power.
Ukraine’s surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk region has now become the largest incursion into Russian territory since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, and one of the most politically significant battlefield developments of the…
France Has Blocked the Far Right From Power. That Does Not Mean the Political Problem Producing the Far Right Has Been Solved.
France’s snap parliamentary election has produced one of the strangest outcomes in recent European politics. After the National Rally finished first in the opening round and appeared capable of winning a parliamentary majority, the second…
Labour Has Won a Landslide. That Does Not Mean Britain Suddenly Became a Labour Country.
Britain has just produced one of the largest parliamentary reversals in its modern political history. Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won 411 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons in the 4 July general…
France’s Election Has Become a Test of Whether Blocking the Far Right Is Enough to Keep the Political Centre Alive.
France voted today in the first round of a snap parliamentary election that President Emmanuel Macron called after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) decisively defeated his coalition in the European Parliament elections earlier this…
Macron Lost One Election and Immediately Called Another. The Gamble Is Whether Giving Voters More Power Can Cost Him His Own.
France is heading towards an election almost nobody expected to be taking place this summer. After Marine Le Pen’s National Rally won roughly 32% of the French vote in the European Parliament election on 9…
The G7 Is Lending Ukraine $50 Billion Against Profits From Frozen Russian Assets. That Sounds Technical. It Is Actually a Major Change in How Economic Power Is Used in War.
The G7 agreed this week to provide Ukraine with roughly $50 billion in new financing, using the future profits generated by frozen Russian sovereign assets as the economic foundation for repayment. Most of Russia’s immobilised…
Georgia Says Its New Law Is About Transparency. Protesters Think It Is About Controlling Who Gets to Challenge the Government.
Georgia is experiencing one of the largest political confrontations in its recent history over a proposed “foreign influence” law that would require media organisations and non-commercial groups receiving more than 20% of their funding from…
Russia Held an Election. An Election Without a Real Possibility of Losing Is Something Different.
Russia voted in a presidential election this weekend, and there was never serious uncertainty about who would emerge as president. Vladimir Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for almost a quarter of a century, is…
