Russia
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
