Global Voices

Analogies for artificial intelligence abound. In recent years, analysts have likened the development of AI to the advent of electricity, the Industrial Revolution, contact with extraterrestrials, and at least fifty other things. One analogy, however, appears to have won out...

Recent disclosures about China’s purported in-orbit servicing operations have intensified a quiet revolution in space, where the mechanics of satellite sustainment are swiftly becoming the frontline of great-power counterspace rivalry. This month, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that...

A peace plan can be negotiated in conference rooms. Securing it requires someone willing to stand on the ground. Gaza’s post-war framework has increasingly confronted that distinction. The UN Security Council-backed plan established the Board of Peace to oversee a...

The euro’s strong run against the dollar is facing a new test as higher energy prices, political uncertainty and renewed pressure on European bond markets threaten to undermine a currency that had appeared increasingly resilient. The euro had been heading...

US President Donald Trump has denied reports that Washington is prepared to offer Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for concessions on its nuclear program, adding fresh uncertainty to diplomatic efforts to end the seven month...

Last December, the EU seemed to have found a way around one of its biggest disagreements over Ukraine. European leaders approved a €90 billion loan for 2026 and 2027, while the much more controversial idea of using frozen Russian assets...

Most indicators suggest that the Republicans in the House and Senate are going to face a brutal backlash from the American people in November. Polling with generic ballots suggest a big win for the Democrats and likely the loss of...

Over the past seven months, shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled to a trickle, with Iran effectively closing the critical maritime chokepoint ever since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks against it. Consequently, major global shipping companies...

The British Police say that the five men arrested in connection with a suspected bomb plot targeting RAF Fairford are all British nationals. Nothing has yet been said officially about who was behind the plot. The risk to US assets...

At the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed that China take the lead in establishing a BRICS AI open-source community. His proposal envisaged cooperation in developing and applying large language models, conducting AI training and...

My previous suggestion to both the American and Chinese sides—as an internationally renowned Egyptian expert on Chinese politics and the policies of the ruling Communist Party of China—was the necessity of establishing a coordinator position for Sino-American relations. This is...

A note before we start. What follows works through the innovation loops of the semiconductor world, sub-sector by sub-sector, with eight diagrams along the way. They are complicated, despite a fair amount of effort to make them otherwise. Anyone who...

The 2026 TSMC Open Innovation Platform (OIP) Ecosystem Forum was held on September 23, 2026, in Santa Clara, CA. This is the event where TSMC showcases the substantial progress made with its massive semiconductor ecosystem. As one would expect, AI...

The fuel trading market is expanding from an established group of specialized desks at oil majors, commodity trading houses, and refiners to AI-assisted trades. AI could either make the sometimes opaque fuel trading a level playing field for many new...

On the sidelines of the 81st UNGA, Sergey Lavrov and Belarus’s Maxim Ryzhenkov launched work on a “Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century,” with an open expert group and a first in-person round in Minsk by...

The U.S.–Iran and Russia–Ukraine wars are more than regional or military conflicts. They are exposing weaknesses in the global energy and economic system and demonstrating that energy security can no longer be seen as independent of financial security, transportation, military...

Beijing may let its technology giants buy more Nvidia high-end chips, giving the US chip designer a fresh foothold in China and keeping Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) developers tied to its software after months of stalled trade. China’s Ministry of...

A financial magnate just admitted something incredible: If artificial intelligence helps consumers find the best bank interest rates, it may undermine the entire financial system. That suggests the stability of U.S. banks depends on ripping off depositors. New data highlighted by Torsten...

Serbia's president has decided to leave office in order to participate in the upcoming parliamentary election. His call to Moscow before resigning points to particular expectations Vučić's Kremlin call set the price of gas for Serbia Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has resigned...

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 Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how...

Energy models have an unusual talent. However chaotic the present may be, the future almost always becomes remarkably calm. Wars end. Shipping lanes reopen. LNG terminals work as planned. Winters remain manageable. Producers deliver. Markets rebalance. And natural gas prices...

Crude stocks in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stood at 284.6 million barrels for the week ending September 18, according to the Energy Information Administration, down from 285.0 million the week before and 406.0 million a year earlier. Department of...

A Scenario With a Script Most intelligence assessments warn about capabilities. The one Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Service published last week describes a script. It warns of a “low but growing risk” that Russia will carry out a limited attack on...

Colombia’s economically vital petroleum industry is in a death spiral. Oil and natural gas production is falling despite efforts to boost output and grow efficiencies. New President Abelardo de la Espriella, a former criminal defense attorney, has put energy security...

This is a web version of The Lever ’s daily email newsletter. 🔥 New in The Lever : Artificial intelligence rules were coming. Then the White House stepped in . 🎧 Listen : What’s hiding in the Paramount merger? 👇 Further down in...

As David Sacks, President Donald Trump’s “ AI whisperer ,” urged the White House to take a light-touch approach to AI regulation, the tech tycoon’s venture capital firm launched a new round of investments in AI startups that stood to...

The Money That Runs Out Today At midnight tonight, $300 million that Congress appropriated as military financing for Taiwan expires unused. The State Department was supposed to notify Congress of how it would be spent by 15 September. It did...

Marie-Celestin Karondwa was attacked on Sunday after promoting measures to prevent spread of disease, his party says A senior member of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s ruling party was beaten to death on Sunday after appearing on a radio programme...

Europe is currently benefiting from the closed arbitrage between the U.S. Gulf Coast and Asia and is taking more LNG supplies in possible relief from concerns about winter gas supply. The Atlantic-Pacific arbitrage is closed for the rest of this...

The United States and China are taking another step back from a full-scale trade war. After a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the two sides agreed to reciprocal tariff reductions covering about $30 billion worth of goods in...

Donald Trump gave Xi Jinping the full state-visit treatment in Washington, but markets were more interested in what the two leaders did not deliver. After three days of ceremony, an unusually warm presidential welcome and repeated pledges to stabilize relations...

Qatari mediators are set to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in New York, along with separate discussions with the US, on Monday or Tuesday to address the ongoing war. These talks will focus on a revised seven-day proposal...