Philip Murphy, School of Advanced Study, University of London King Charles’s speech to the US Congress – only the second such address by a British monarch – demonstrates how much both the US and the UK have changed in the last three decades. The first speech was in May 1991 during his mother,
Ph. The guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. fires a Tomahawk missile during Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, 2026. U.S. Navy via AP Michael A. Allen, Boise State University The fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire announced on April 7, 2026, after 40 days of war came at an opportune time for the United
Claudio Bozzi, Deakin University As the closure of the Strait of Hormuz drags on, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization has sounded the alarm over a related humanitarian crisis: the plight of the crew stuck on ships at or near the strait. Up to 20,000 seafarers on 2,000 vessels remain stranded in and
Ph. In a span of a few years, China has outstripped the U.S. in scientific publications, spending and patents. AP Photo/Andy Wong Caroline Wagner, The Ohio State University China’s rapid rise in science has hit a milestone. The country’s investment in research and development has reached parity with – and by purchasing power
Bamo Nouri, City St George’s, University of London and Inderjeet Parmar, City St George’s, University of London Let’s begin with a simple question that rarely gets a straight answer: what would victory over Iran actually look like? In Washington and Jerusalem, the answers tend to sound definitive: eliminate Iran’s nuclear capability, break its
Ph. lavizzara//Shutterstock Renaud Foucart, Lancaster University Iran’s military might was never going to be a match for the US and Israel. So instead it turned to the highly effective weapon it has at its disposal – geography. Blocking off the Strait of Hormuz has shaken the global economy. It has doubled the price
Ph. One of scores of murals Diego Rivera painted in the interwar period that sits above the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico City, Mexico. Apolline Guillerot-Malick/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Tony Wood, University of Colorado Boulder In Latin America, as in other parts of the world, the second Trump administration has adopted
Theresa Reinold, EDHEC Business School One of the most striking aspects of the war with Iran is the extent to which it has highlighted the irrelevance of international organisations and multilateral approaches to resolving global conflicts. If we take war as an indicator of the viability of the rules-based international order established after
Jennifer Parker, The University of Western Australia; UNSW Sydney Wednesday’s ceasefire announcement by President Donald Trump, linked to Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz, prompted immediate optimism shipping would quickly resume. It didn’t. The following morning, traffic remained minimal. A handful of vessels, largely linked to Iran, made the transit. But most of
Ph. China and Russia view the U.S. grand strategy as increasingly out of focus. AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson Jeffrey Taliaferro, Tufts University “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Napoleon Bonaparte’s maxim may well have been in the minds of policymakers in Moscow and Beijing these past weeks, as the