Recent Posts

5 Traps for Trump and Xi

At Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi Jinping put a question to Donald Trump, the answer to which has profound consequences not only for China and the U.S., but the whole world. “Can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm of major …

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Iran-Backed Houthis Assist Resurgent Somali Pirates

The western section of the Indian Ocean, with its key trade routes and its maritime chokepoints, has faced no shortage of crises between disruptions caused by the Houthis in Yemen and their backers in the Islamic Republic of Iran. That situation has now been compounded by a returning Somali pirate …

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Why Putin will have been watching the Trump‑Xi summit nervously

The opening headlines from the summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing signal an openness on the Chinese side towards stabilising relations with the US. In his opening remarks, the Chinese president noted that China and the US “should be partners not rivals”. But he warned Trump that …

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