Event
16 September 16:29
4 August 10:41
Analytics
Forty-Four Million Hectares of Silence
Russia has been fighting for 12 million hectares of someone else’s land for the fifth year, while abandoning nearly four times as much of its own. The arithmetic of this war explains the Kremlin’s logic more precisely than any of its declarations.
Armenia’s $13 Billion Illusion: The Russian Gold Behind the “Economic Miracle”
Exports quadrupled in three years and then plunged by a third in a single year. Yerevan calls it growth, Moscow sees it as a profitable deal, while customs statistics show something far more mundane: ordinary transit with an Armenian label.
The Kremlin’s War Budget: Russians Get the Bill
Moscow is allocating more than 16 trillion rubles to the military in each year of its new three-year budget cycle, paying for it with heating systems, hospitals, and consumers’ wallets. An economy growing at 0.6% is being asked to carry a burden designed for 3% growth.
Enemies at One Table: The Houthis Forced the Gulf to Turn to Israel
Nine months ago, Saudi aircraft were striking Emirati cargo in Mukalla. Now Riyadh is asking the Emirates to return to the war, while at the same table in Abu Dhabi, the Israeli prime minister is sitting alongside representatives of states that do not officially recognize Israel.
Peace in a Holster: Why Baku Stopped Believing in Pashinyan’s Peacemaking
Yerevan has learned to speak the language of peace. Its constitution, army, maps, and television broadcasts still speak another language, and in Baku that second voice is heard more loudly than the first.
Tomato Tribunal: Yerevan Will Test Whether EAEU Law Can Stand Up to Moscow
In October, the Eurasian Economic Commission will decide a dispute in which the defendant controls the market and, apparently, holds the veto as well.
Applause Without a Mandate: Where Turkey’s Ceiling in the Arab World Lies
Ankara is winning applause on the Arab street. Yet when the real roles in Gaza were being assigned, Turkey’s chair proved unnecessary, and that episode explains the limits of Turkish ambitions better than any theory.
Thirty Trillion by the Caspian: Why Global Capital Came to Baku Right Now
While the Strait of Hormuz is paralyzed and Brussels urges Europeans to conserve gas, Azerbaijan is offering investors the rarest commodity of 2026: predictability. Yet the central question raised by the forum that has just concluded is different: can the country use its oil wealth to build an economy that will one day no longer need oil?
Cambridge’s Icarus: The Professor Who Rose Too Fast — and Fell Too Hard
Jason Arday’s death was turned into a weapon in the culture war by both the left and the right. Yet almost no one is asking the central question: who put him in a chair from which he was doomed to fall, and why?
Economy
Russia Has the Nukes. NATO Has the Money. Who Wins?
The alliance has eight times more money. Moscow has more warheads and a greater willingness to take risks. The most terrifying war could begin with someone else's miscalculation, without any order to launch an offensive at all.
Dubai’s Billion-Dollar Illusion: War Tests the Limits of the Miracle
The artificial archipelago off Dubai’s coast has once again become a mirror of the emirate. Twenty years ago, it reflected ambition; in 2009, a debt collapse. Today it reveals something else: which of two thousand developers will survive the war, and who will end up paying for promises made by others.
A Border Without a Line: The Turkic World Tries On Its Own Schengen
In Astana, the interior ministers of the Organization of Turkic States have begun discussing common airport corridors and their own Turkpol. Behind the dry protocol lies a much sharper question: are five countries ready to open their police databases to one another?
Fifteen Million Shells of Freedom
The war in Ukraine has done for North Korea what neither Singapore nor Hanoi could achieve: Pyongyang has broken out of isolation without surrendering a single nuclear warhead. Trump is eager to return to the negotiating table, while Kim Jong Un, for the first time in three decades, can afford not to hurry.
Will AI soon be able to get by without humans? Is the machine uprising near?
The history of artificial intelligence has entered a phase in which the old metaphors no longer work. This is no longer a “smart chatbot,” a digital reference book, or a toy for generating images and texts.
An Empire That Cannot Pay for Its Own Army
Washington is asking for $1.5 trillion for defense while carrying $40 trillion in debt and fighting a war now in its seventh month. The arithmetic stopped adding up before the fighting ended.
The Gulf’s Old Security Order Is Breaking — and the Mecca Pact Is Taking Its Place
Critics are counting combat sorties. They should be counting something else: in thirty-four days, the new alliance managed to establish a secretariat, attract a line of countries seeking membership, and, most importantly, obtain public proof that the American security guarantee for the Gulf no longer works.
Zuckerberg’s Payoff: How Meta Paid $18 Billion to Save Its Algorithm
The largest settlement in the history of social media worldwide imposes a two-hour limit on American teenagers, leaves the core mechanism of addiction untouched, and sends the bill to TikTok and YouTube.
Alat’s Rise: How Azerbaijan Is Turning Geography Into Power
Events of recent months are making one thing increasingly clear: global trade has entered an era in which the reliability of a route matters no less than its cost.
