January 1, 2026

Russian Oligarchs, German, Alisher Usmanov, Russian billionaire, European Union, money laundering, Russian President Vladimir Putin, OCCRP,

German prosecutors to drop probe of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov after multimillion-euro settlement

German prosecutors are set to terminate an investigation into Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov after he agreed to make payments totaling approximately €10 million to the German public treasury and charitable read more

Munich Security Conference, Germany, AfD, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Christian, Social Democrats, Olaf Scholz, US politics, Vice President, Democratic,

Munich Security Conference reopens door to AfD, testing Germany’s political firewalls

The decision by the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to allow representatives of Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to participate in its 2026 gathering has reignited a contentious debate read more

Sudan, Sudanese, United Arab Emirates, Dubai, corruption

War-torn Sudan sees gold mining boom amid prolonged conflict

Despite being engulfed in one of the most devastating conflicts in its modern history, Sudan has recorded a remarkable surge in gold production, underscoring the paradoxical relationship between war, natural read more

Trade wars, Second World War, Cold War, human rights, Atlantic, Middle East, COVID-19, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa,

Multilateralism is not dead yet: Why cooperation still matters in an age of disorder

As the world approaches 2026, optimism is in short supply. Armed conflicts are raging across roughly 50 countries. Trade wars and tariff barriers, once viewed as policy aberrations, have become read more

Lebanon, Lebanese, COVID-19 pandemic, Beirut port, NGOs, Second World War,

Can Lebanon function better without a state? Rethinking governance after collapse

For more than six years, Lebanon has lived through what would normally be considered an impossible experiment: a society operating with a hollowed-out state. Public institutions barely function, banks are read more

Moscow, special military operation, Kiev regime, United Kingdom, NATO, Washington DC, Ukrainians, cruise missiles, Russian military,

2025 — year of numerous critical strategic successes for Russia

When Moscow launched the special military operation (SMO) to end the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, very few people thought it would last longer than a few months. And indeed, Russia didn’t read more