Author: Alex Varga

The agreements signal a new chapter of post-Brexit Anglo-French cooperation. Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at France and Britain’s migration and nuclear weapons deals, U.S. tariff threats against Brazil, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Asia. Anglo-French Deals British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and...

China’s underground financiers have specialized in international money laundering. Three separate police investigations in Italy recently uncovered around 1 billion euros in proceeds from drug trafficking of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Colombian drug cartels, and Albanian organized criminal groups. The more important finding may have been who it was determined had laundered the...

Groupthink and short-termism are clouding judgments about these waters. As a heavily laden, Danish-owned container ship leaves Singapore’s port and enters international waters, it pings China’s Zheng He vessel identification system, providing an update on its cargo and intended route through the South China Sea to Shanghai. Despite long-standing fears...

The Starmer government’s hopes of restoring relations with Europe have mostly remained just that. Forget the pageantry, the open-top carriage, and the royal welcome in the Windsor sunshine. The state visit to the United Kingdom of French President Emmanuel Macron will be remembered as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “surrender...

A changeable president seems to be turning against Putin. It’s no secret that the U.S. president is frustrated with Vladimir Putin. Despite previous friendliness, Trump has lashed out at his Russian counterpart multiple times in recent weeks, most notably after Putin offered to help the U.S. with the situation in...

Recognizing Afghanistan’s extremist leaders will fuel radicalism Nearly four years after the Taliban’s reconquest of Afghanistan, Moscow has formally recognized the Taliban regime as the legitimate government of Afghanistan—a move that has been welcomed by China. Moscow’s decision is an invitation for other states in the region, from China to...

Zagreb’s push for segregation puts the future of democratic Bosnia at risk. You would be hard-pressed to find a country where a random midsized city in the American Midwest is mentioned more often than New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago combined—unless you’re in Bosnia. Ever since November 1995, when the...

How the gas lobby is ensuring that European countries remain dependent on natural gas, even if it means slowing down the energy transition.

An investigation by Shadowgroup. To set up their investment funds, asset-management companies such as Eurizon (a subsidiary of Intesa SanPaolo), are using indexes that regularly include fossil-fuel companies. Exploiting loopholes in European regulations, they can thus sell "green" funds that in reality are anything but. The solution? Tougher rules. When...

The coastal waters of Öland, an island located off the Swedish coast, are periodically covered by algal bloom. The problem is not only aesthetic: they can be poisonous. This is a problem that affects the entire Baltic Sea and calls into question European agricultural policies and what it prioritises. land...