With Xi casting himself as a 21st-century Mao, China risks ‘arbitrary rule’. Vastness is a defining feature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It has more than 96 million members, and the party’s official list of heroes and martyrs counts two million names of those remembered for their storied lives …

With Russia’s reputation as a great military power in tatters, could President Vladimir Putin resort to nuclear weapons? Since February’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have suffered setback after setback on the battlefield, leaving President Vladimir Putin fewer choices if Russia wants to extract itself from what increasingly looks like …

President Xi Jinping kicked off the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) National Congress, which charts its policy trajectory for the next five years and finalises its future leadership, with an address to the Party faithful for nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes. This year, the CCP’s leadership conclave comes amidst a …