After a year of political turmoil, Dutch voters have returned to the pragmatic center. D66’s win under Rob Jetten offers Europe a respite, a test of whether coalition-style politics can still deliver capable governance in an age of populism. Europe’s weather vane has swung again, and this time it points back toward the pragmatic center.
Dubbed the continent of the future, Africa represents boundless opportunities and growth potential that could largely reshape the global future. This potential could also endow Africa with a major role on the geopolitical stage. However, while continuing to reinforce its resolve to rise to the occasion, Africa needs to acknowledge that much work is left …
The recently signed Pakistani-Saudi Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement marks a major evolution in both countries’ security policies. Among other considerations, the accord formalizes, with a binding treaty, their military partnership. The agreement marks the first time Pakistan has, even implicitly, extended its nuclear shield to another country.
In further extending its hold over critical technologies, China deepened its control over the rare earth sector earlier this month, broadening restrictions from raw materials to critical processing and manufacturing technologies. Beijing imposed a stringent export licensing regime on technologies related to the entire rare earth value chain.
The United States is undergoing a metamorphosis. A generational change is taking place behind the scenes in American society. The shift is percolating through the culture, ideals, values, as well as the economy. It is gradually beginning to set the deeper political tone that will determine America’s future as a nation.
China’s September 3 military parade was more than a show of strength. It signaled the arrival of a new nuclear era that could upend global security calculations. The parade highlighted how the PRC’s growing nuclear arsenal directly challenges US strategic deterrence, escalates regional proliferation dangers, and threatens the demise of global arms control.
China’s military parade on September 3, 2025, underscored Beijing’s ambition to become the central pillar of those opposing the United States’ global hegemony. Several moments highlighted this Chinese aspiration during the parade. The People’s Liberation Army showcased China’s nuclear triad for the first time, comprising land-based, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and nuclear-capable bombers.
Long defined by its division and non-alignment, the Republic of Cyprus is quietly but decisively recalibrating its strategic orientation. Nicosia has begun to assume a more confident, Western-anchored role, upgrading cooperation with the US, investing in EU–NATO coordination, and emerging as a humanitarian and diplomatic hub in times of crisis.
Paris has seen barricades and coups, the theater of revolutions and plebiscites. Yet the most consequential French crises rarely announce themselves with cannon fire. They arrive softly, disguised as cabinet reshuffles and procedural improvisations. This autumn’s sequence, the resignation and reappointment of Sébastien Lecornu, can look like a farce. It isn’t. It’s a clinical finding.
After a year of political turmoil, Dutch voters have returned to the pragmatic center. D66’s win under Rob Jetten offers Europe a respite, a test of whether coalition-style politics can still deliver capable governance in an age of populism.
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