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Why America Cannot End Wars

The problem with American peacemaking is no longer simply that Washington cannot stop today’s wars; it is that the power expected to end them is increasingly a participant in them. From Mediator to Participant Donald Trump arrived at the UN General Assembly with two unresolved wars dominating his agenda. He is meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr […]
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US Cannibalizes Its Proxies and Itself as War on Multipolarism Expands

As its war on multipolarism expands, Washington is converting the Western economy to arms production, draining its client states, and eroding its own social foundations — repeating the terminal trajectory of the British Empire. For decades, the US has leveraged its many client states as extensions of its own military, economic, financial, and political power, […]
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Trump and Xi: Managing Rivalry Before It Becomes Conflict

The Trump-Xi summit did not mark a US-China rapprochement, but it demonstrates that sustained diplomacy and strategic guardrails are essential to prevent intensifying competition from becoming direct conflict. The recent summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in Washington has demonstrated a significant paradox in contemporary international politics: the two superpowers […]
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Lula Delivers a Powerful Message at the Opening of the UN General Assembly

As Trump chose the path of barbarism, threatening to annihilate the Islamic Republic and dismantling international institutions, Lula took the UN pulpit to defend another path: diplomacy, dialogue and civilisation, and questioned a foundational idea of International Relations. The main international politics and geopolitical messages in Lula’s UN General Assembly speech can be summarised as […]
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Ankara’s Chessboard: Why Turkey in a “Friendly” Wrapper Rubs Russia’s Nerve Endings Raw

Relations between Turkey and Russia have always been one of the most intriguing scenarios in the Great Game. The leaders of the two countries maintain frequent contacts and “hotlines,” foreign ministries regularly consult on the situation in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and bilateral trade and energy cooperation continue to develop. However, under this wrapper […]
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A Candid Diagnosis of BRICS’s New Delhi Declaration: Rhetoric, Indicators & Stats

This article is not designed to skip the facts, just because its author is simply pro-BRICS. It’s an honest, realistic, friendly, and necessary analysis, that readers interested in a summarized diagnosis of the current state of geopolitical affairs need to know. Each summit requires a theme, and this year’s BRICS leaders chose an honest one […]
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Changing the Rules of the Game: Britain and Israel at a Crossroads

Britain’s relationship with Israel is entering a new phase as the E1 settlement dispute collides with wider struggles over the Red Sea, Gaza’s energy resources, IMEC, intelligence technology and post-Brexit influence. As London pressures Israel while maintaining strategic cooperation, the question is whether Britain is changing the rules of the relationship-or preparing for a deeper […]
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South Korea’s Hormuz Dilemma: A Test of Strategic Decision-Making

South Korea faces a difficult choice over whether and how to support maritime security efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. With pressure from the United States, risks from Iran, and the continuing threat from North Korea, Seoul must balance alliance commitments with its own security priorities. The Hormuz crisis has placed South Korea in a […]
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Trump Wants to RENAME Everything: How about “The Trump Quagmire”?

As American troops face renewed danger in the Middle East, with Iran striking U.S. positions across the region, President Donald Trump is busy contemplating something rather more personal: renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait.” Perhaps “The Trump Quagmire” would be more appropriate—not as a name for a body of water, but for a […]
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BRICS in New Delhi: From Global South Platform to Emerging Alternative

Along with India’s rapprochement with China, the New Delhi BRICS Summit showed that the group is no longer content to remain a platform for the Global South’s protest; it is beginning to build institutions, economic networks, and diplomatic alternatives of its own. A summit held during a period of international turmoil The 18th BRICS Summit, […]
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The US “Burden Sharing Network” Takes Shape

In 2025, the US National Security Strategy paper would be broadly misinterpreted as a US plan to break with its historical pursuit of global primacy and instead retreat to the Western Hemisphere while somehow reconciling or coexisting with traditional targets of US aggression. Many analysts even claimed there was an absence of any direct mention […]
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Why BRICS Matters for the Emerging Multipolar World

BRICS has yet again demonstrated its paramount importance as an institution by gathering the significant economies of the world and strengthening the multipolar world. Introduction The 18th BRICS Summit took place in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026. BRICS has 11 members, including Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, […]
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The Pentagon Crisis: Trump Wants Regime Loyalty

The Pentagon’s extraordinary use of polygraph tests on senior military personnel is not merely a hunt for leakers; it is a warning that loyalty to the president may increasingly matter more than loyalty to the institution, accelerating the ultimate American downfall. When Loyalty Becomes the Test There is nothing inherently unusual about a US administration […]
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India’s BRICS Dilemma: Multi-Alignment Without a Clear Global South Vision. Part 1

As India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, its policy of multi-alignment is under crucial scrutiny: whether New Delhi can achieve a balance between strategic autonomy and a real commitment to the Global South, or whether BRICS is simply another instrument of transactional, multi-alignment diplomacy? India is presenting its term as president of […]
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Outlook For the 2026 BRICS Leaders’ Meeting: Summing Up India’s Presidency & Overcoming India–China Controversy

On September 12, New Delhi will host one of the year’s most long-awaited events, namely, the 18th BRICS Summit. How has India’s presidency unfolded, what can we expect from the meeting, and why have experts started discussing the seemingly impossible intersection of Indian and Chinese interests? Principles in Action “Humanity first” and a “new format […]
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Emergency Room: The AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt

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This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Jana Puglierin, senior policy fellow and head of ECFR’s Berlin office, in a World in 30 Minutes Emergency Room episode to discuss the latest in German politics.

The AfD’s win in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt was widely expected, but the scale of the result and the collapse of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) have still shocked Berlin. For the first time since the second world war, a far-right party is within reach of governing a German Bundesland. Jana unpacks the AfD’s possible paths to power, the pressure on Merz and his grand coalition, and what the result says about the far right’s continued rise in Europe.

Why does an election in a state of two million people matter so much for a country of 84 million? Can the AfD govern without a formal coalition partner, and would CDU lawmakers break the historic “firewall” to make that possible? Why is the party still treated as beyond the pale, even as it leads national polls? And should Europe prepare for a Germany too absorbed in its own crisis to lead?

This episode was recorded on September 7th 2026.

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BRICS on the Threshold of its 20th Anniversary: Results and Prospects of India’s Chairmanship

Despite serious geopolitical challenges, the intensification of confrontational trends globally, and the overall deterioration of the international situation, India is successfully and worthily conducting an active chairmanship of this major and authoritative association of Global South states. On September 12–13, 2026, the next BRICS summit will take place in New Delhi. It is expected to […]
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Putin–Pashinyan: A Dialogue on Charting the Path on the SCO Sidelines

On the margins of the 2026 SCO Summit in Bishkek, Armenia’s government once again demonstrated its foreign-policy indecisiveness and propensity to evade responsibility for making up its mind in favour of either the EU or the EAEU, whilst forgoing a nationwide referendum on the matter. From August 31 to September 1, 2026, the anniversary Summit […]
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The Iran War and the Erosion of US Global Primacy

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 President Donald Trump termed the US-Israeli war on Iran a mere “short-term excursion”. However, even […]
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From Cairo to Beijing: Why Xi’s Egypt Visit Could Reshape the Middle East

Xi’s Cairo visit marks a strategic shift in the geopolitics of the Middle East. By strengthening its partnership with Cairo and promoting the concept of “regional autonomy,” China seeks to replace Western influence with a new architecture of security and economic cooperation. A Meeting That Means More Than Diplomacy It’s often said that the devil […]
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