When Western policymakers warn Africa about Chinese lending, a reasonable question arises: are they concerned about Africa’s debt, or about who Africa owes? The distinction matters. A genuine concern for African development should produce consistent scrutiny of every lender. It should ask whether borrowing is affordable, whether contracts are transparent, whether projects justify their cost…
Dialogue can reduce the risk of miscalculation, but Washington and Beijing are building rival AI ecosystems that will increasingly force other countries to make practical choices. President Donald Trump recently distilled the strategic pressure shaping the artificial-intelligence contest into four words: “Whoever wins AI, wins.” His dismissal of warnings about potentially catastrophic AI risks exposes…
In last Sunday’s mass, I heard a Christian priest declare during Mass that “this planet is useless, transitory” and that we should therefore focus on the heavens and the “next life.” Believer or not, the implications of this statement in everyday practical terms are troubling. They resonate, almost surreptitiously, with the rhetoric of Elon Musk…
Greenland has long been perceived as a remote and tranquil part of the world, a place where geopolitical storms rarely reach. Yet recent years have shown that even the Arctic’s icy expanses are not insulated from the ambitions of powerful states. The public assertions by President Trump that to the US should acquire Greenland, even…
The United Nations Security Council was designed to stop the world’s worst fires. Too often, it has become the arsonist’s best friend. From Rwanda to Syria to Ukraine, the Council’s five permanent members, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, have used or threatened the veto to stall action while civilians burned….
In recent days, a long-simmering dispute between US President Donald Trump and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has exploded, with Mr. Trump threatening to sue the BBC for 1 to 5 billion dollars for libel. The proximate cause of this is a BBC Panorama documentary about the events of 6 January 2021 in the US…
When 414 of Europe’s most experienced former diplomats, ministers and senior officials speak with one voice, the world ought to listen, and more than the world the EU institutions themselves. The joint statement of the 414, dated 16 October 2025 and titled “From Ceasefire to Peace and Beyond – the EU’s Vital Role”, is more…
Even without having been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, US President Donald Trump was impressively upbeat in his whirlwind trip to Israel and Egypt on 13 October 2025. He spoke extensively at the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, mostly extolling Israel for its achievements and declaring it the victor of the war in Gaza. He…
As customary, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA) is opening its new regular session in the second half of September. World leaders are converging on New York for their High-level Week’s multitude of events starting today, 22 September. Expect a series of grandiose monologues of Presidents, Kings, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers or other…
The United Nations turns 80 at a moment when its relevance is under sharper question than at any point since its founding. Conceived in the ashes of global war, the UN was meant to embody collective security and the promise of universal cooperation. Today, it stumbles under financial arrears of more than USD 5 billion,…