North America
Iran Protests Spread as Currency Collapse Turns Into a Crisis of Political Legitimacy
Iran has entered 2026 facing another serious wave of anti-government protests, but this one began somewhere politically significant: Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. Shopkeepers began closing businesses and demonstrating in late December after the Iranian rial collapsed…
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…
José Antonio Kast Wins Chile Presidency in Sharp Rightward Shift
Chile has elected José Antonio Kast president, completing one of the sharpest political reversals in Latin America this year. Kast defeated Jeannette Jara, the Communist Party member and former labour minister representing the governing left,…
Trump Tightens Immigration Restrictions After Washington National Guard Shooting
Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has entered a new phase after the 26 November shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, D.C., which authorities are investigating as a targeted attack. One Guard member,…
G20 Summit in Johannesburg Exposes a Growing Split Over the Global Economic Order
The G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend was supposed to demonstrate the growing influence of the Global South in international economic governance. It was the first G20 leaders’ summit held on African soil, hosted by…
Chile Election Sends Jeannette Jara and José Antonio Kast to December Runoff
Chile has voted in the first round of a presidential election that looks almost completely different from the one that brought Gabriel Boric to power four years ago. With nearly all votes counted, Jeannette Jara,…
US Government Shutdown Nears an End After Record 40-Day Standoff
The longest federal government shutdown in American history appears finally to be approaching an end. After 40 days without normal government funding, a group of Senate Democrats has joined Republicans behind a compromise that would…
Trump and Xi Reach One-Year Trade Truce After South Korea Summit
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea, on 30 October, producing the most significant easing of the US-China trade confrontation since Trump’s return to office. The two governments have agreed to step…
Japan Has Chosen Sanae Takaichi to Lead Its Governing Party. If She Becomes Prime Minister, Japan Will Have Its First Female Leader and One of Its Most Conservative Governments in Years. Why a Country Defined for Decades by Pacifism Is Becoming Much More Comfortable With Power.
Japan is entering a potentially historic political transition. Sanae Takaichi has won the leadership of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, placing her in position to become Japan’s first female prime minister and giving the country…
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…
Four Years After the Taliban Returned to Power, Afghanistan Is More Stable and Less Free. That Combination Is Exactly Why the Regime Is Difficult to Understand.
Four years have now passed since the final American military forces left Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, completing a withdrawal that ended twenty years of US-led military involvement and allowed the Taliban to consolidate control…
