Pipe bombs and IEDs have finally ripped apart the West from its African allies. For over a decade, the United States and France have built strategic relationships across the Sahel, pairing counterterror efforts with democratic reform. However, the sheer force of insurgent violence has exposed these partnerships as a failure. Starting in 2020, the conditions […]
Tag: Russia
Ideologies on Ice
Is it possible for ideas to freeze, to chip, to settle in a snowbank, to blow away in a winter storm? Can ideas be ice? Today, the Arctic is a battleground of competing philosophies; ways to live, to govern, and to relate to others, all struggling to find their footing amongst the shifting tundra. As […]
MAXimizing Surveillance
When users experienced a “metallic buzzing” on WhatsApp and Telegram calls starting in Aug. 2025, Russia’s state internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, claimed it was because the platforms acted as aids in alleged fraud and terrorism. Just a week after the initial interference, the Kremlin announced a mandate that the VK messaging app Max would come preinstalled […]
Playing for Politics
When Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was ousted over a helmet featuring athletes killed in Russia’s invasion forty-five minutes before his competition and just about one week into the Games, it was not the only reminder in Milano Cortina that the Olympics do not unfold in a political vacuum. Anti-ICE protests, Russian athletes again competing […]
Estonia’s Iron Lady Takes Center Stage in European Politics
At just 1.4 million people, Estonia’s entire population is smaller than the city of Paris. As a quiet, reserved country, Estonia may be unassuming, but its people are formidable. For leaders like Kaja Kallas, it is that calm, fierce, and profoundly underestimated spirit that drives her courageous leadership. Numbers are never a deciding factor when […]
Russia’s Human Assembly Line
Russia has never been busier — or more exhausted. After three years of war, the Kremlin boasts record-low unemployment and record-high labor shortages. Factories can’t find welders, farms can’t find drivers, and the defense industry is devouring what’s left of the civilian workforce. The result is an economy that runs without advancing — its motion […]
Geopolitical Tug-of-War: Moldova Decides Between an EU or Russian Future
Between Romania and Ukraine, a tiny country in Eastern Europe is choosing its path for the future in historic parliamentary elections. The neighboring war in Ukraine and the country’s own ongoing challenges mark this collective choice as especially important. The Republic of Moldova held critical parliamentary elections on Sep. 28 for all 101 seats in […]
Diplomacy as Performance in Trump’s Saudi Strategy
Unlike most U.S. presidents who traditionally make their first foreign trip to Canada or Mexico, Donald Trump broke precedent in 2017 by choosing Saudi Arabia and returning again in 2019. These visits signaled a dramatic recentering of U.S. foreign policy around Riyadh, reflecting Trump’s fascination with Saudi wealth, spectacle, and geopolitical leverage. Yet, as Saudi […]
Where is Trump leading NASA?
When the world watched Neil Armstrong take mankind’s first steps on the moon in 1969, the United States solidified its place in leading the push into the great unknown of space. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in turn, not only elevated humanity’s collective knowledge but also America’s international reputation for scientific innovation. However, […]
Dismantling U.S. Economic Dominance, BRIC by BRIC
The greatest threat to the U.S. dollar isn’t a rival currency–it’s a financial system that doesn’t need one. And that’s exactly what the BRICS alliance–originally Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa–is trying to build. What started as a loose economic partnership has evolved into a strategic alliance bent on dismantling U.S. economic dominance. But […]