Global Voices

For years, the economic case for solar came with an awkward qualification. Yes, it had no fuel bill. Yes, its operating costs were low. And yes, over the life of a project it could already produce cheaper electricity than a...

After a delayed start under the previous government, Mexico is now well on its way to undergoing a green transition. President Claudia Sheinbaum has launched an energy reform that opens Mexico’s energy sector to greater private investment and focuses on...

The United States’ energy grid is under extreme duress as rapid electrification and energy demand place increasing and unprecedented demand on transmission infrastructure. The artificial intelligence boom is sending energy demand rates into the stratosphere as hyperscalers race to develop...

Mette-Marit was 25 years old and a single mother when she met Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon in 1999. They began their relationship secretly, but the news eventually came out. Mette-Marit pushed back against media portrayals of her as a Cinderella...

The US government is exploring an unusual legal route for dealing with Iranian oil and ships captured as part of its blockade: bringing back a wartime maritime system that has barely been used for generations, according to Bloomberg. The Justice Department,...

Italian opposition parties have criticized an attack on press freedom after RAI, the state broadcaster, removed veteran journalist Sigfrido Ranucci from hosting its main investigative show, “Report.” Government allies support the decision, reflecting a debate over RAI’s independence, as its...

Icelanders voted on Saturday on whether to reopen membership talks with the European Union. The public is divided on this issue, with a recent poll showing a slight majority against the government’s proposal for renewed negotiations, though previous surveys indicated...

The upcoming official visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Egypt, scheduled for August 30 to September 3, 2026, coincides with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The visit will address economic and technological cooperation, as well as regional and...

Azerbaijan is one of the world’s oldest oil producers and exporters, having pumped crude since the mid-19th century, and remains a major global oil producer. It has long relied on oil and gas to meet its energy needs and as...

Good things are happening! Meta gets a very expensive timeout, regulators kill a killer weedkiller, big money gets the cold shoulder, and Trump’s trans-care crackdown gets blocked. You Love To See It is a benefit of a Lever paid subscription. If...

On 11 February, NATO launched Arctic Sentry — Swedish Gripen jets patrolling Greenlandic airspace, German Eurofighters overhead, nine flags behind a single new command. Officially, it answers Russian submarines in the GIUK gap. Unofficially, it arrived three weeks after Donald...

US President Donald Trump’s abrupt directive on August 16, 2026, to drastically scale back the joint “Ulchi Freedom Shield” (UFS) military exercises sent shockwaves across the Asia-Pacific geostrategic landscape. The unilateral announcement, posted to social media mere hours before the...

Central Claim The diplomatic traffic through Tehran this week, Qatar, Pakistan and Oman all visiting in seven days, has generated the appearance of momentum toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The substance tells a different story. Iran is not negotiating...

“Theory is a net. Only those who cast, can catch.”- Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959) In assessing Israel’s nuclear deterrence and escalation doctrine, one element remains consistently overlooked. This element concerns US-Russian differences regarding “nuclear firebreak theory.”...

In the race to secure the Democratic ticket for Massachusetts’ upcoming Senate race, Rep. Seth Moulton has put out a not-so-subtle call for ads targeting “voters under 40” highlighting that he’s “one of Massachusetts’ rising progressive stars” and a “next...

Over the last two years, the EU and UK have emerged as leading actors in imposing sanctions on Russia. But people like Maria Demertzis, Professor at the European University Institute in Italy, have raised questions around the effectiveness of the...

Here’s a realistic scenario how the next serious crisis around digital sovereignty will play out. It will not be a conventional cyberattack. An AI agent, pursuing an assigned objective, will identify another AI system as an obstacle and attempt to...

The massive data center capacity scale-up underway has focused attention on the scale of water required for these facilities to operate. Rystad Energy estimates that without water-saving measures in place, global water consumption by data centers could rise to 644...

Venezuela helped create OPEC. More than six decades later, it is considering walking away, and Washington appears perfectly happy to hold open the door. Caracas is weighing whether to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Bloomberg reported Friday,...

Kazakhstan is trying to keep the Kremlin at arm’s length amid Russian efforts to lean on Central Asian states for help in bolstering Moscow’s staggering war economy. Ukraine’s ongoing drone campaign has inflicted severe damage on Russia’s energy infrastructure and...

Chinese media and intelligence are closely following the exodus of the American Central Intelligence Agency CIA personnel, particularly the months-long wait for new retirees to receive their financial entitlements. The agency is facing what it describes as an unprecedented number...

More Gulf oil is moving again. Getting it out now costs a fortune. Earnings on the benchmark Saudi Arabia-to-China supertanker route surged to a record $647,000 per day on Thursday, according to Baltic Exchange data cited by Bloomberg. That is...

Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to the Kyrgyz capital could become a turning point for the largest Eurasian association, which is preparing for a radical transformation of its role on the continent. SCO Is Not NATO — But It Could Become Something...

In the second quarter of 2026, the EU recorded a trade deficit of €21.8 billion, as goods imported from non-EU countries (€701.8 billion) exceeded exports (€680.0 billion). This is the first trade deficit registered since the second quarter of 2023,...

Why is meat so expensive? Who’s pouring herself a cup of ambition? And who is Hasan Piker anyway? The answers to these questions and many more can be found in LeverMind , our weekly news quiz testing your knowledge of the...

Chinese Huawei Technologies Company has submitted a formal bid to the Egyptian government to establish advanced artificial intelligence (AI) data centers for various government sectors, including the military, security, and surveillance sectors, as well as the creation of a national...

Oil holds near $90 despite sweeping Iran sanctions as uncertainty over Hormuz transits keeps markets on edge. Friday, August 28, 2026 The US announcement of ‘toughest sanctions in history’ against Iran did relatively little to push oil prices away from...