Global Voices

The multipolar world has closely watched the importance of SCO’s 26th meeting of the Council of Heads of State, as it marked the “25 Years of the SCO: Together for Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity.” Introduction From 31 August to...

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It has not been much of a secret, but I am back in Russia with Judge Napolitano and a couple of other podcast luminaries, to participate in a series of academic seminars dedicated to finding a way for Russia and...

The Red Sea no longer separates the Middle East from Africa. It increasingly connects their security problems. Across the Horn of Africa, ports, trade routes, military partnerships and local conflicts are attracting greater attention from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt...

Voting in Saxony-Anhalt, eastern Germany, started on Sunday in a significant election where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party may become the first far-right party to gain state power since World War Two. The AfD, led by 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund,...

Authors: Ahmad Ibrahim and Amna Hashmi* In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the ruling commandment “all animals are equal” survives the revolution word for word. Only a footnote is added later: some are more equal than others. According to Orwell’s argument,...

For years, Washington hoped it could reach one big deal with Saudi Arabia. The United States would strengthen rits security relationship with Riyadh and help the kingdom build a civilian nuclear program. In return, Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel. If...

For decades, geography gave Russia an enormous advantage in Central Asia. Much of the region’s trade with Europe travelled north through Russian territory, while pipelines, railways and Soviet-era infrastructure kept the five former Soviet republics closely connected to Moscow. Today,...

Japan’s simultaneous pursuit of hard Taiwan deterrence and quiet parliamentary diplomacy with Beijing is not policy confusion — it is a deliberate, low-cost dual-track model, and it is already the template South Korea, Australia and the Philippines are using, ad...

Northeast Asia is experiencing a rapid nuclear energy revival as Japan and South Korea move to prioritize the baseload clean energy source into their energy security strategies. Not only are the two major economies ramping up nuclear energy expansion, they...

This is a meditation on my writing life and routine. It follows. It’s also a prayer. I don’t believe I belong to anything. To any man or woman or to my contemporaries. I dive into Hallmark movies that are so...

Governments worldwide are racing to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) as part of their plans for a nuclear power renaissance, with significant progress being seen in recent years. However, the United States appears to be leading the way in nuclear...

A new project is seeking to turn cattle manure into a source of sustainable natural gas for energy production and shipping fuel. The initiative just broke ground in Broken Bow, Nebraska, where eight anaerobic digesters will process waste from the...

Joining me for this week’s American Heirloom Project is Becky K. Blackburn, a friend of mine and an incredible potter. She’s made an amazing mug for me to give to my wife for Christmas, and while gift-giving isn’t a competition,...

Surviving a coup attempt is not a near-miss for Sahel juntas — it is the mechanism of entrenchment itself: each failed attempt hands the ruler grounds to purge rivals and deepen his personal dependence on Russia’s Africa Corps, a cycle...

Green bonds account for a tiny proportion of the global bond market but have significant growth potential as consumers become increasingly concerned about environmental issues, such as climate change. The issuance of green bonds could also support governments worldwide in...

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s historic visit to Egypt (in early September 2026) is closely linked to the modernization and expansion of the Egyptian Armed Forces’ arsenal. The visit represents the highest level of political and diplomatic cover for an unprecedented...

Good things are happening! A progressive insurgent enters the global chat, Flock blockers join forces, payday predators get punished, and a closed-door corporate deal goes up in smoke. You Love To See It is a benefit of a Lever paid subscription....

According to new data quietly added to the Pentagon's casualty base , there were 36 new injuries in the last two weeks , mostly Army, as fighting renewed between the United States and Iran in the Persian Gulf. This brings...

In December 2024, Australia passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, requiring age-restricted social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent children under 16 from having accounts. This policy quickly attracted wideinternational attention. In July...

RAMALLAH / PNN/ U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said his visit to the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the occupied West Bank aimed to “understand the situation on the ground,” noting that there are issues in the area that...

Data have long clearly shown that China’s current sluggish consumption has become a crucial issue facing the country. One commonly recognized cause is that heavy household debt burdens have eroded purchasing power and affected consumption. However, another potential reason may...

When António Guterres’s second term expires on 31 December 2026, the United Nations will not simply be changing its chief executive. It will be handing the keys of a battered institution to someone tasked with holding together a system that...

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) marked its 25th anniversary in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, with all the trappings a diplomatic milestone demands. There were 21 heads of state and government present for a ceremonial “family photo” and a two-page...

When the story of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump during the NATO summit in Turkey emerged in the second week of August, the debate it generated was predominantly centered around the credibility of the intelligence. Intelligence suggested...

The Iran War has exposed the limits of US military power and weakened its credibility as a global security provider, accelerating the erosion of US-led unipolarity while reinforcing the emergence of a more competitive and multipolar international order. The US...

Afghanistan is estimated to hold more than US$1 trillion in mineral resources. Rich stores of copper, lithium, gold, iron ore, rare earth elements, coal and precious stones lie beneath one of the world’s poorest and war-torn nations. Five years after...

Europe’s rearmament is being financed out of the welfare state, not economic growth, and different governments are settling that bill in different currencies: Germany is paying openly in domestic political capital, through legislated pension and health-insurance cuts that have helped...

Relations between London and Moscow reached another peak of tension in August over the UK’s support for Ukraine. The success of Ukraine’s long-range strikes against targets deep inside Russia, with the help of UK-made drones, and the UK’s commitment to...

Stripe Press was kind enough to send me several books it had published, and one of these was J. Storrs Hall’s “Where Is My Flying Car?”. I had been meaning to read this book for a while, especially after Tyler Cowen recommended...

The story of Gaza’s collapsing ceasefire is being told as a military story: strikes, violations, body counts. The more accurate story is a domestic political one. Netanyahu is not being held back from a deal by Hamas’s intransigence or battlefield...

The Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) has been described as a successful solid platform since its creation. It increasingly attracts guests from widely different countries, especially leaders of China, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, and Myanmar. The leaders of Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Laos, and...

The United States is the largest producer of nuclear power in the world, solely responsible for about one-third of global output. As of today, the U.S. has 96 operating commercial nuclear reactors in 57 power plants across 28 states. However,...

The world is undergoing a transformation driven by the exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI)—a pace of change unprecedented in human history. Consequently, many people fear massive unemployment, along with other implications that could affect their livelihoods and quality of...

In 2012, long before he began angling to return to Congress in this year’s New Hampshire Senate race, former Sen. John Sununu (R) was overseeing product safety and government relations for medical-device giant Boston Scientific — just as it found...