Cross-strait tensions, the One-China policy and regional security around Taiwan and China.
Global development
External
Congolese photographer Pamela Tulizo uses costume and vivid scenery to celebrate women’s strength and give a new perspective on slavery Pamela Tulizo’s latest series of photographs started with a question. “I asked…
Africa
A reflection on kinship, memory, and what the Earth has always been trying to tell us. By James Alix Michel VICTORIA, Seychelles, Oct 6 2026 (IPS) One night, many years ago now, on a remote beach in the outer islands of…
Global development
External
Civilians try to flee as men and boys rounded up on streets by new alliance as Ethiopia conflict erupts again As renewed fighting has threatened a fresh humanitarian crisis in the northern region of Ethiopia, reports are…
Europe
External
The Greenland crisis appears to have ended with signatures rather than confrontation. On September 22, 2026, the United States, Denmark and Greenland signed a new defence agreement after months of tension over the…
Larry C. Johnson
Benjamin Netanyahu likes to translate Israel’s grief into American. At the United Nations last month, he took the dead of October 7 and multiplied them by the ratio of America’s population to Israel’s. The 1,200 Israelis…
World
External
With the Brazilian presidential election headed to a runoff, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is down 47% to 45% and faces a massive fight ahead. I wanted to give a quick analysis of what happened and where things are going…
Opinion
External
Originally published by Pacific Forum, this article is republished with permission. While operational planners in the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan have made historic strides institutionalizing…
External
By: Emil Avdaliani Diesel locomotive CKD9C with freight train in China before the Kazakhstan border. Wikimedia image For decades, the idea of an overland connection between China and Iran existed more on paper than in…
External
"Rank-and-file committees are probably the best way to outflank the unions, to be completely independent of all the vested interests,” John said. "The fight against the current—we're not going to speed up, that's it…
Uncategorized
External
Reprinted with permission from Trita Parsi‘s Substack: Michelle Brohard, head of policy and geopolitical risk at Kpler, speculated in a recent interview with energy analyst Rory Johnston (@commoditycontext) that the…
Uncategorized
External
Reprinted from John’s Substack: The Trump administration and its supporters – including the Wall Street Journal editorial page – are working overtime these days to spin the news around the Iran war to make it appear that…
External
Oil flows through the Middle East have staged an impressive rebound, with export volumes recovering to near pre-war levels even as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below normal. Standard Chartered…
External
The European Union’s so-called methane rule is scheduled to enter into effect in January. The rule is massively unpopular among large energy exporters, and these exporters have a lot more options in terms of buyers than…
External
Crude oil prices and middle distillate cracks slumped at the end of last week as the G7 group of nations announced the release of 100 million barrels of oil stocks over four months, including a front-loaded substantial…
This monthly report is prepared for Sinocism by the excellent Sinification , an invaluable resource for understanding how domestic and international affairs are debated within the Chinese establishment. Thomas des Garets…
External
Singapore is in an energy pickle. The island nation is still reeling from high oil and gas prices driven by the war in Iran, and is scrambling to build up alternative and indigenous energy sources. The problem is that…
Labor
Indonesia’s strategic autonomy is often described as a diplomatic effort to avoid choosing sides. Increasingly, it is something more practical: an effort to avoid having too few choices. From Washington’s point of view…
Africa
Ethiopia has opened a new parliamentary term with a leadership appointment of considerable political and historical significance. Ahmed Shide, one of the country’s longest-serving senior economic policymakers and among…
External
Electric aviation is advancing faster than many critics expected. Batteries will not remain confined to tiny experimental aircraft, and short regional routes are a credible early market. But electric aircraft will not…
World
External
The United States is set to provide Uruguay with $6.5 million to combat organized crime. While seemingly a modest sum against the backdrop of billions in trade, this agreement is significant for its core provision: the…
Members
External
Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum only for War on the Rocks members. Each week, we bring you a curated selection of articles from…
External
Southeast Asia's upstream merger and acquisition (M&A) conversation has moved from which international oil companies (IOCs) are leaving to who is buying their way in. Research from Rystad Energy shows a competitive cycle…
National Politics
Bolsonaro Jr. won the first round, and there is not many reasons to believe he won’t win the second round on 25 October as well. Mike Elk is the senior labor reporter at Payday Report and member of the…
Energy
The US agreement with Denmark gives the super-power enormous control over Greenland’s critical mineral resources. Joshua Frank is co-editor of CounterPunch and co-host of CounterPunch Radio . He is the author of Atomic…
External
Freeport LNG was ramping natural gas intake back toward normal levels on Monday after maintenance shut one of its three liquefaction trains on Friday, putting a major source of U.S. natural gas demand on track to return…
Lever Daily
This is a web version of The Lever ’s daily email newsletter. 🔥 New in The Lever : Corporate Dems want you to forget 2024 . 👇 Further down in this newsletter: - The Epstein-y past of the new artificial intelligence…
World
External
France Gripped by Widespread Student Protests France is facing a new wave of mass protests, this time originating from its high schools. What began as localized school blockades in Parisian suburbs in mid-September has…
External
Southeast Asia's upstream merger and acquisition (M&A) conversation has moved from which international oil companies (IOCs) are leaving to who is buying their way in. Research from Rystad Energy shows a competitive cycle…
External
Iran’s oil minister has resigned as the U.S. blockade pushes the country’s crude exports and oil revenues toward zero, handing control of Iran’s most important industry to the head of the National Iranian Oil Company…
Analysis
Last month, during a panel discussion at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) Annual Legislative Conference , Angie Nixon started in on a critique of capitalism. For a moment, it sounded like she was going…
External
The signing of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by President Trump on 18 September gives him a huge economic lever to effect massive political change in what is effectively a turbocharged…
Science
External
The Enduring Human Appetite for Myth The human impulse to reshape history is as old as civilization itself, predating the internet by millennia. From the chronicles of ancient scribes to the pronouncements of rulers and…
Development & Aid
OECD PISA education performance: change in scores between 2009 to 2025, and 2025 scores. By Isabel Ortiz and Antonia Wulff BRUSSELS / GENEVA, Oct 5 2026 (IPS) The results of the OECD PISA 2025 report point to the marked…
External
Indian state-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) prepares to issue a $3-billion bond to finance its share of a major offshore oil development in Brazil, as Indian companies move to expand in…
Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash When people questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, they were automatically labeled conspiracy theorists, and we were told that there was no way anyone could steal an election…
External
Reports of a possible attack on Saudi Arabia's Petro Rabigh refining and petrochemical complex north of Jeddah emerged on Monday, although Saudi authorities have so far not confirmed that an attack took place. Iran's…
External
Record-high fuel prices and a record number of newly available affordable models have pushed electric vehicle sales in the European Union to an all-time high this year, Transport & Environment, a European advocacy group…
Activism
Behind this election’s dominant issue of affordability lies the record concentration of wealth at the top of America. The richest 0.001% of Americans — a handful of extraordinarily wealthy men — now controls more of the…
World
External
The United States is contemplating a significant shift in its military posture, potentially redeploying forces from Europe to the Western Hemisphere to intensify the fight against Latin American drug cartels. Defense…
External
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether a lawsuit filed in state court in Colorado seeking damages from two major oil companies for the climate-change related damage inflicted on Boulder County…
Science
External
The Earth and Mars emerged from nearly the same cosmic "cradle," but they were assembled in fundamentally different ways. This is the conclusion reached by authors of a new study published in Nature Astronomy, who have…
External
Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warned Monday that the world has lost nearly 3 billion barrels of gross oil supply since the Iran war began, equivalent to roughly half the crude and products that normally would have moved…
External
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is heading to Iceland, Greece, and Portugal on October 5-8 for talks on security, defense, energy, economic cooperation, and technology as NATO allies face growing security concerns over…
External
Despite reports of surging oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz, tensions in the Middle East remain high as the fresh Saudi-Houthi escalation threatens to unravel recent success in restoring oil exports. This weekend…
AI
External
Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert is quoted in an article in the Guardian about Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s increasing influence on AI dominance. “For the last 20 years, democracy has been in decline,” says…
Opinion
Reflecting on the UK’s long, hot summer, Clayton Goodwin finds a welcome new era of racial harmony mixed with right-wing bile. Which will prevail? London and, indeed, the whole of the United Kingdom has been hot this…
Opinion
External
I have watched Pakistan-Afghanistan relations long enough to distrust easy headlines, and last week’s news produced a few of them. At the Center-2026 (Tsentr-2026) war games in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region, Taliban…
Human Rights
In recent weeks, media coverage has amplified warnings from corporate CEOs and whistleblowers claiming that artificial intelligence (AI) poses an existential threat to humanity . The central argument emerging from the…