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Can Trump Defend the West While Weakening Its Strategic Cohesion?
The defence of the West occupies a central place in the political and strategic discourse of Donald Trump’s second administration. As China rises, Russia challenges European security and competition for global influence intensifies, the international position long enjoyed by Western powers is increasingly contested. Europe also faces economic and demographic…
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How Will the Mecca Defence Alliance Change Middle Eastern Security?
On August 7, 2026, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, creating a defensive alliance between the three countries. The agreement contains a collective security clause, meaning an armed attack on any party country will compel a collective response from all three. It…
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How Is Modi Positioning India Between the G7 and BRICS?
As eleven BRICS economies adopted the New Delhi Declaration this week, India’s chairship offered a test case for a diplomatic model built less on picking sides than on refusing to be reduced to one. Xi Jinping shook Narendra Modi’s hand outside Bharat Mandapam on September 12, his first visit to…
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How is Technological Dependence Reshaping Global Power?
For years the digital divide was characterized by a single question: who has access to the Internet and who doesn’t? That gap is still there. However, the distinction is growing more significant as the economy and society are being transformed by artificial intelligence, advanced computing and digital infrastructure, and the…
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How Are India and New Zealand Turning a Trade Deal Into a Strategic Partnership?
India and New Zealand’s free trade agreement is set to come into force next month. The two countries signed it on 27 April 2026. The deal is the latest sign that the relationship has grown well beyond just trade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to New Zealand on 10–11 July was the…
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Could China’s Consumption Trap Destabilise the Global Economy?
In 2025, China recorded a merchandise trade surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion—the largest ever registered by any nation. Yet, behind this extraordinary export performance lies a deep macroeconomic paradox. While the world’s second-largest economy produces more than any other industrial power, dominates global manufacturing in clean energy sectors, and remains…
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Can Specialised Infrastructure Become a Geopolitical Vulnerability?
As strategic commodities have become central to contemporary geopolitical competition, governments are racing to secure the supply resilience of strategic resources such as rare earths and speciality gases. However, industrial strategies concentrate on mining and processing, with less attention given to the important nub that production alone does not ensure…
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The West’s Strategic Blind Spot: Why Has Democratic Cohesion Become a Geopolitical Asset?
For much of modern history, geopolitics was mainly understood through the language of power. The relative strength of states rested on military capability, industrial capacity and technological innovation, as well as economic performance and diplomatic influence. While that logic remains an indispensable analytical framework, it is no longer sufficient on its own. Today, a…
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Was Khamenei’s Funeral Iran’s New Instrument of Strategic Diplomacy?
On 28 February 2026, an opening strike in the joint US-Israeli campaign that came to be called Operation Epic Fury killed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s second Supreme Leader, along with his wife, mother, daughter, son-in-law and infant granddaughter, at the Office of the Supreme Leader in Tehran. The war that followed…