After leaving the European Union, it was important for the United Kingdom to prove that it could be self-sufficient outside its borders, including due to the loss of the ability to directly influence political decisions in Brussels. Events in recent years have demonstrated one interesting trend: London is increasingly becoming...
What does Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz mean for the UK
In late February 2026, the global energy market found itself on the brink of a new crisis. Following US and Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets, Tehran responded asymmetrically, effectively restricting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the key maritime corridors of the global economy. Already in the...
How Hungary’s banking sector became a tool for Orbán’s abuses
Today’s Hungary is in what more and more people are calling a “captured state” as the country’s financial system has ceased to serve its primary function of driving the economy, instead becoming an instrument of Viktor Orbán’s political survival. The basis of the Fidesz party’s political strategy has become the...
Emigration as a cover: how the FSB turns Russian refugees into its agents
Over the course of more than a quarter century of Putin’s rule, political emigration from Russia has transformed from isolated cases of the expulsion of individual “inconvenient” oligarchs from the country to the outflow of the intellectual and cultural elite who dared to express public disagreement with the Kremlin’s policies....
Growing hybrid threats to the UK from Russia
After the start of the Russian Federation’s full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, Britain became a priority target for hybrid operations by Russian intelligence services for a number of reasons. Firstly, because of its military leadership in NATO and its active position in supporting Ukraine. It was the first to...
Britain sets course for its own payment system
London, February 2026. The heads of the UK's largest banks are preparing for a historic step in financial policy: the first coordinated meeting to discuss the creation of a national payments system, an alternative to the international payment networks Visa and Mastercard. The meeting, chaired by Barclays UK CEO Wim...
The pre-election confrontation between Viktor Orbán and Peter Magyar for the future of Hungary
The Hungarian parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2026 could be a fateful moment not only for Hungary, which V. Orban has been leading for over fifteen years, but also for him personally. His power, authority and the system that he had built for himself for so long have faltered and...
How Fico is contributing to the corrupt degradation of the Slovak establishment
After joining the EU in 2004, the Slovak government began to make great efforts to build democratic institutions and a transparent law enforcement and judicial system. In fact, this was one of the key requirements for Slovakia when joining the European Union. Slovakia, as a country that was part of...
The Hamburg case and the security of the EU’s defence infrastructure
In early February 2026, German law enforcement agencies in Hamburg, together with their European partners, carried out a series of arrests on suspicion of sabotage of German military ships. This incident revealed not only the vulnerability of the modern defence industry, but also profound socio-political issues: who has access to...
From bilateral control to global instability after START III
With the expiration of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) on 5 February 2026, the world is entering a new and potentially extremely dangerous phase of nuclear policy. The latest and most significant agreement on nuclear arms control, in force between the United States and Russia since 2011, has...