With conflicts raging across the Horn of Africa and tensions rising, the EU seems to have failed to achieve its goal to promote peace, stability, and inclusive, sustainable economic development in the region. Over the past years, the European Union (EU) has struggled to play a major role as a geopolitical actor in the Horn…

The Navy (PLA Navy) of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has expanded its presence near the Spratly Islands, an archipelago located in the South China Sea, at the centre of bitter territorial disputes. Although they fall within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, China claims sovereignty over these islands and this has caused the…

The G20 finance ministers will meet in Brazil on 16 and 17 August. The summit of the group’s presidents will take place in November. On these two occasions, Lula will present his ambitious plan to tax 3% of the income of the world’s 3,000 richest people. Approval for this project will not come easy, but…

The fate of the war in Myanmar is intertwined with that of the “Scam Cities”, lawless places that produce money continuously and whose control is linked to billions in earnings. For several months, a war has been underway in Myanmar for control of the border centre of Myawaddy on the Moei River, opposite the Thai…

African military spending rose by 22% between 2022 and 2023, according to a new report, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) seeing the biggest increase to its military budget globally at 105% as the central African country battles multiple security threats. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in a new report on world…

The threats from the Houthis in the Red Sea persist: the crisis continues to heavily impact global transport and trade, with significant repercussions on the world economy. Eight months, two naval missions and dozens of missiles later, the crisis in the Red Sea continues. The Houthis continue to threaten the world’s commercial fleet, so much…

Upcoming European elections: challenges and prospects for the European Commission. Analysis of the political landscape and industrial strategies in view of the new parliamentary cycle. Elections for the renewal of the European Parliament will be held on 8 and 9 June, followed by a new European Commission. Outgoing President Ursula Von der Leyen is the…

Given the elections for the European Parliament to be held on 6-9 June 2024, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has issued a statement inviting all citizens, especially Catholics, to prepare for the elections and vote responsibly “promoting Christian values and the European project”. Below is the statement. We, bishops…

About 53% of Africa’s population lives in rural areas. Six decades ago, it was 85.38 percent. The percentage varies greatly from country to country: 85.58% in Burundi, 83.11 in Niger, 82.28 in Rwanda, 9.27 in Gabon, 18.70 in Libya and 21.62 in Djibouti. These data show that more and more people are migrating to cities…

Democratic states are all alike; every autocratic state is autocratic in its own way.  Democracies are alike in featuring universal suffrage, striving for a body of robust accountable institutions and political practice, and sustaining a vibrant civil society.  Autocracies, however, have strikingly distinctive features. Take Iran and China.  Despite common features for example, Iran like…

By opening the Red Sea front, the Houthis have taken the lead of the Palestinian cause and of anti-Americanism in the region. They address now an Islamic audience broader than the axis led by Iran. Doing so, the Houthis are capitalizing on traditional anti-Israel and anti-US slogans and symbols of the Iranian galaxy but this…

On January 13, approximately twenty million Taiwanese went to the polls to elect the new President and the country’s unicameral Parliament (Legislative Yuan). The selected candidate, elected with 40.1% of the votes, was Lai Ching-te, known as William Lai, a leading exponent of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and former vice president alongside Tsai Ing-wen.…