Trump thinks that lifting sanctions and reintegrating Russia will weaken Moscow's alliance with Beijing. That is short-sighted. The world Henry Kissinger exploited in 1970 is no longer.
When a start-up using 2,000 old Nvidia chips produced a ChatGPT rival for $6mn, investors took around $1tn out of the big US tech firms. Donald Trump called it 'a wake-up call'. Never a truer word.
From kidnapping Venezuela's president to proposing the annexation of Greenland, Trump appears to be the most 'imperialist' leader the US has had in decades
From Yemen and Syria to Sudan and Libya, there is a concerted effort to reassert state authority and thwart moves toward the proliferation of quasi-states and fragmentation
A decisive Syrian military campaign, coupled with diplomatic pressure from Türkiye, the US, and Israel, has forced the SDF into a far-reaching integration deal with Damascus
This could be a decisive year for Beijing as long-running strategies collide with harsher geopolitical realities. The outcomes will shape global power balances well beyond 2026.