The COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, which led to shortages and rising prices throughout the oil, gas, and power sectors in a sizable portion of the world, served as the catalyst for the start of the 2021–2023 global energy crisis. The quick post-pandemic economic recovery that outpaced the energy supply was …

The world watched in shock when thousands of Wagner Group mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin marched on Moscow in June 2023. Less than 300 kilometres from the Russian capital, the mercenaries suddenly decided to turn around and announced their disintegration. The events triggered speculation about the stability of Russian President …

The Islamic Republic has been asking to be admitted into the BRICS group [Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa] club since 2010 when the “Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced his intention to create a “New World Order” through a triple alliance of Iran, China and Russia. Tehran sources say …

U.S. policy toward China appears to be suffering from a belief in magic – that, for instance, withdrawing from Afghanistan would be a great idea; that Putin would be happy with a “minor incursion” into Ukraine; that the Chinese spy balloon was “silly;” that the mission of education and the …

Africa’s huge potential as a global power has yet to be realized largely because of ongoing colonialist legacies. The Russia-Africa summit this week could not have been held at a more timely juncture in international relations. The event symbolizes seminal global change, which ultimately heralds a better future for humanity, …

Yemen’s military officials said on Sunday that the Iran-backed Houthis had launched attacks on government troops outside the besieged city of Taiz and fired reconnaissance drones in the last 48 hours, the latest in a series of Houthi military efforts to make headway toward the city’s downtown. Abdul Basit Al-Baher, …

The fall of Kabul in August 2021 prompted discussions about the end of Western influence in the country and an opportunity for China and Russia to dig their heels in the ‘graveyard of empires’. In the immediate aftermath, in contrast with Afghanistan’s other neighbours, Russia didn’t close its embassy in …

U.S. and partners should unify their support for Moldovans’ aim to join the European Union. At a sensitive edge of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Moscow is sustaining a campaign to regain control in Moldova, the small, ex-Soviet republic landlocked between Ukraine and Romania. Russia has maneuvered for years to scuttle …

An eighth coup around the Sahel shows we need better responses to the world’s most unstable region. This morning’s coup d’etat in Niger only deepens the pattern of instability across Africa’s Sahel and damages what has been a rare process of fairly steady democracy building in the region. Niger’s democratically …

As the clock ticks down on the repatriation of Islamic State (IS) foreign fighters from Syria, a recent development has added a new sense of urgency to the situation. On June 11, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the de facto authority in northeast Syria, announced its …