The killing of a prominent Islamic State financier in Somalia sheds light on the group’s transnational financial networks and shifting centre of gravity. On 25 January 2023, US special forces killed well-known extremist Bilal Al-Sudani, together with nine associates, in northern Somalia. This has drawn media and expert attention to …

The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations, facilitated by China and signed in Beijing on 11 March, was a jolt to the geopolitics of the Middle East. While much attention is rightly focused on what the agreement – and China’s role in it, in particular – …

The Russian government has launched a video campaign drawing on a number of themes in an attempt to persuade its citizens to enlist. But has it achieved the desired effect? In September 2022, the Russian government announced the beginning of so-called ‘partial military conscription’, which reflected the failure of President …