As the war in Ukraine drags through its fifth year, Russia’s fortunes are beginning to sour. In recent months, the Ukrainian military has made its most significant gains since the summer of 2023. Kyiv’s weapons meanwhile are expanding their range, striking energy facilities deep into the heart of Russia while also pummeling the oil infrastructure in Moscow with strikes that subjected…
Leaders of the G7 are meeting this week in Évian-les-Bains, France, for their 52nd official summit. When the forum was created in 1975, amid the collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system and oil shocks of the 1970s, it brought together the world’s industrial democracies to manage global crises. Over the following decades, it helped coordinate responses to challenges like the end of the…
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has outlasted what many thought would be the “war to end all wars.” For a conflict Vladimir Putin believed would end in Russian victory within weeks, the Ukraine war has stretched well past four years, and with no clear end in sight. The fight has been, at times, so grinding that Ukraine and Russian advances have lagged behind even the most stagnant…
It’s a fascinating moment for world politics and global markets. Geopolitically, the world is in turmoil, primarily because the United States, still the superpower, has become a fundamentally unreliable actor. President Donald Trump is actively pulling apart the international order that Washington built and led over the past 80 years. Yet, financial markets are riding high – in the US, East…
In the early hours of May 17, more than 500 Ukrainian drones punched through three of Moscow’s four air-defense rings. They hit oil infrastructure, military-industrial plants, and apartment buildings in and around the capital, killing at least four and wounding a dozen. Coming three days after a deadly Russian barrage that Ukrainian officials described as the largest combined air attack of…
More than four years into its war with Ukraine, the Russian military appears to be stuck in the mud. With the loss of access to Starlink satellites, which were previously used to help guide their drones, the Russians have turned to deploying small teams of soldiers in attempts to break through the front lines, with little success. This sluggish progress may be weighing on Putin — the Russian…
The US Navy isn’t just intercepting Iranian-linked ships outside the Strait of Hormuz. In recent days, it redirected a trio of ships that were passing in Asian waters, per Reuters. One of the ships was reportedly carrying 2 million barrels of Iranian oil, and had been scheduled to discharge the crude in India. The US’s aim is to further strangle…
President Donald Trump announced on social media on Tuesday that he was extending the ceasefire with Iran until their leaders “can come up with a unified proposal.” He did not provide a deadline, though, and it remains unclear how and when this impasse over ending the war will end. The US leader added that the US blockade of the Strait of…
The 10-day ceasefire negotiated between Israel and Lebanon took effect last night – one that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah acknowledged but hasn’t said whether they’d abide by – has added some momentum to the US-Iran ceasefire talks. US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the war “should be ending pretty soon.” He added that Tehran…
Russia continues to bombard Ukraine, killing 17 people in a wave of drone and missile attacks overnight. But the Parliament also signed a law on Tuesday that would allow the military to attack any country that holds Russians captive. Europe fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use this as a pretext to attack other former Soviet states…
One day after US President Donald Trump announced that he had started a blockade of ships coming in and out of Iranian ports via the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is already testing those US commitments. A sanctioned tanker called Elpis that took on cargo in an Iranian port has reportedly crossed the Strait of Hormuz. It’s not the only one: three more ships…
For the first three weeks of the Iran conflict, Europe made its position clear: this isn’t our war. Many countries on the continent joined the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, a move that wrought casualties and sweeping political backlash at home. They want to avoid a repeat – especially when the European public largely opposes this war, too.
Then, in the early hours of Friday morning, Iran…
What is Vladimir Putin thinking? It’s certainly not the first time we’ve asked the question: for 25 years, the wily ex-spy has shown a penchant for testing geopolitical limits, wrongfooting his opponents, and craftily antagonizing his adversaries. The latest episode is taking place on the high seas, where a tanker laden with some 730,000 barrels of Russian oil appears to be steaming…
Air defense batteries moved out of Asia. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Growing domestic frustration with the Trump administration. Formula 1 races in the Gulf canceled.
The secondary effects of the US-Israel war with Iran have been expansive. But no specific issue has perhaps been more pressing for governments than the fuel shortages prompted by the de facto closure of the Strait of…
The Islamic Republic will continue its efforts to block the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement this morning attributed to new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. The statement highlights Tehran’s strategy: identify easier targets (the Strait is narrow) that have maximum impact. Speaking of which, Iraq suspended its oil operations after two…
The Trump administration has been rapidly expanding US forces in the Middle East, and is reportedly considering strikes in the region that could escalate into a full-fledged war.
Yet it took 90 minutes for US President Donald Trump to mention Iran during his one-hour-and-48-minute State of the Union address last night. With the midterm campaign effectively kicking off with the…
Russia’s revenues from its fossil fuel exports, which _account_ for huge chunks of the Kremlin’s incomings, have dropped significantly during the course of the war. They are down 27% from the year before the invasion, and dropped 19% over the last year, according to a _report_ from the Centre of Research on Energy and Clean Air. The main reason for this isn’t lower export volumes, though:…
20: The number of fallen Ukrainian athletes and coaches depicted on a Ukrainian skeleton racer’s helmet at the Winter Olympics, which prompted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to disqualify him on Thursday. The IOC said the helmet violated Olympic rules, which prohibit political messaging during games. Critics of the disqualification said it highlighted the IOC’s _shifting…
Brazilian skiers, American ICE agents, Israeli bobsledders – this is just a smattering of the fascinating characters that will be present at this year’s Winter Olympics, which formally kick off today in Northern Italy.
Yet it will be the omission of one particular country, one that has traditionally dominated the medals table, that once again garners more attention. That country is…
Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen announced Wednesday that he will not run for a third term as leader of the liberal, pro-business party, after months of internal pressure over a host of controversies – including allegations, since cleared, that he used the party credit card for Uber Eats. Steenhuisen,…