Geopolitics

Israel has expanded its military footprint across Gaza, southern Lebanon, and southern Syria to roughly 1,000 square kilometers, according to a new Al Jazeera investigation published June 14. The same day, Israeli forces issued forced displacement orders for 29 towns in southern Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of violating the November 2024 ceasefire. Together, the developments reveal […]

London and Tokyo lock in a record £18 billion ($24 billion) package anchoring Japan deeper into Britain’s post-Brexit economic architecture and reinforcing a shared bet on the Indo-Pacific as the world’s defining strategic theater. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in London on June 13-14 for a summit that produced […]

TIRANA — Protests across Albania have entered their third week as demonstrators demand the cancellation of a mega-resort development near the southwestern city of Vlora, on a stretch of Adriatic coastline that environmentalists say is critical nesting habitat for flamingos and endangered sea turtles. The movement, which locals have dubbed the ‘Flamingo Revolution,’ escalated sharply […]

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived at the G7 summit in Evian this weekend with a message that would have been unthinkable five years ago. Speaking before the meeting, he declared a “global rupture” and called for a united Canada-European Union front against the forces pulling the Western alliance apart. The forces in question are […]

Two events on opposite ends of the European continent this weekend tell the same story: Europe is finally getting serious about crippling the Russian war economy, and it is doing so in direct coordination with Ukraine. On Saturday, British armed forces intercepted and seized a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the English Channel — […]

Sweden Scrambles Gripens to Intercept Russian Jets Over Baltic Sweden scrambled JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets on Friday to intercept two Russian military aircraft approaching its airspace over the Baltic Sea, the kind of incident that makes headlines in Stockholm and is met with shrugs in the cockpits. Two separate incidents occurred on June 12, […]

Switzerland Votes on 10 Million Population Cap in EU Migration Test Swiss voters went to the polls on Sunday to decide whether to cap the country’s permanent population at 10 million by 2050. The referendum, backed by the far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and dubbed the “No to 10 million” initiative, is the most consequential […]

Happy Birthday, Mr. President Donald Trump turns 80 today. The White House is hosting a UFC fight on the South Lawn to celebrate. A federal lawsuit is trying to stop it. That lawsuit is the least of his problems. Eighty is an age that demands a reckoning with mortality, whether a man wants one or […]

US, Iran Set for Electronic Signing Sunday, But Tehran Signals Caution This is a follow-up to yesterday’s article on the US-Iran peace deal. What follows is the next chapter in that story. The stage is set for an electronic signing between the United States and Iran on Sunday. Or perhaps it is not. That depends […]

Ukraine Civilian Deaths Hit Highest Monthly Toll Since April 2022, UN Reports The war in Ukraine killed more civilians in May 2026 than in any month since the first months of the full-scale invasion, the United Nations has reported. The figures are stark: at least 274 dead, 1,763 injured, and a total casualty count exceeding […]