Crowds are surging through the streets of Chisinau, the capital city of tiny Moldova, as pro-Russian demonstrators complain about deteriorating living standards and creeping authoritarianism by officials. It’s just another way the war in neighboring Ukraine is destabilizing the post-Soviet region more broadly. But what makes Moldova’s situation especially dangerous …

Background Global economic growth and prosperity in the last two centuries was fuelled largely by fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). Oil in particular became fuel for defending national security, promoting economic activity and sustaining global trade after the first world war. Academic narratives such as ‘peak-oil’ and ‘energy …

(RFE/RL) — Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the owner of the mercenary group Wagner, has rejected a report saying he plans to scale back his military operations in Ukraine and instead concentrate on Africa, where Wagner was previously involved in local conflicts and businesses. …