United States

Ukraine

Russia

Economics

Military & Security

Politics

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for a five-hour meeting in Moscow to discuss a U.S.-proposed peace framework, Reuters reported on Dec. 2.

Russia, U.S.: Peace Talks With Putin Yield No Immediate Breakthrough

Sudan

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, seized the town of Babanusa in the central West Kordofan state from the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, following a two-year siege, Sudan War Monitor reported on Dec. 1. 

Sudan: RSF Captures Babanusa Town in West Kordofan Despite Unilateral Truce 

Israel

Syria

U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in support of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and said it was "very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria," Axios reported on Dec. 1.

Israel, Syria: U.S. Increasingly Worried by Israeli Actions in Syria

Guinea Bissau

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, strongly condemned the Nov. 26 coup in Guinea Bissau and demanded the return to constitutional order, including the resumption of the electoral process, RFI reported on Dec.1.

Guinea Bissau: ECOWAS Rejects Coup as Junta Unveils One-Year Transition Plan

Canada

Europe

European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius confirmed in a Dec. 1 post on X that all 19 participating EU member states had submitted national investment plans for the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) loan facility by the Nov. 30 deadline, adding that 15 of the plans included Ukraine.

EU: Defense Joint-Procurement Loan Scheme Progresses, Canada Joins

China

Taiwan

Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) decided not to move President William Lai's proposed $40 billion supplemental defense budget through committees for review, the South China Morning Post reported Dec. 2.

Taiwan: Legislature Rejects Lai's Defense Spending Plan

U.S.-China Relations

Israel's President Issac Herzog made his first statement on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request for a presidential pardon in his six-year corruption trial, saying that he would handle it "in the best possible way" without committing to what such an approach would mean, the BBC reported Dec. 1.

Israel: President Addresses Netanyahu Pardon Issue

Turkey

A senior official with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, said the group will not take any additional steps toward disarmament and disbandment so long as its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, remains imprisoned, France 24 reported Nov. 30. The PKK has also conditioned further progress in the peace process on constitutional recognition of Kurds in Turkey.

Turkey: PKK Conditions Peace Process Progress on Leader's Release, Kurdish Constitutional Recognition

The world is connected, but even the broadest topics deserve an individual look. Below are our latest and most relevant politics analyses.

Below are our latest and most relevant politics analyses.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Americas

Asia-Pacific

Eurasia

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

The Post-Apartheid Era Ends

Venezuela's Unraveling

The Saudi Survival Strategy

The Kurdish Struggle

Israel's Survival Strategy

Turkey's Resurgence

EU: Regional Blocs

Divided EU Foreign Policies

Brexit

Old Leaders in a New Africa

The U.S. and the Balance of Power

The Pulse of Political Islam

Broken Contracts in the Middle East

Russia's Internal Struggle

China in Transition

Southeast Asia: Burdened by Consensus

India's Own Worst Enemy

Pakistan: A Military With a Country

Assessments

Honduras

India

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their bilateral meeting during the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit.

Energy

Global Trade

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: Putin-Modi Meeting, Honduras General Election

Columns

A Ukrainian serviceman from the 24th mechanized brigade prepares a Magura night drone to flight toward the front line in the area of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region late on April 29, 2025.

Ukraine's success in using cheap drones against Russia reveals how smaller states can leverage accessible technologies to impose disproportionate and sustained costs on a materially superior adversary.

Drones Are Redefining Asymmetric Warfare

United Kingdom

Portugal

Spain

People visit the 1627 Pilgrim Village at "Plimoth Plantation," where role-players portray pilgrims seven years after the arrival of the Mayflower, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

On Thanksgiving, the United States celebrates the Plymouth Colony. However, few know that New England's colonization was a response to major geopolitical pressures -- particularly England's struggle against the Spanish both on the Continent and in the New World.

Thanksgiving and Puritan Geopolitics in the Americas

While efforts by China and others to de-dollarize their international trade will fragment the international trade financing regime to some extent, they will do little to undermine the dollar's dominance.

The Geopolitics of Trade: De-dollarization and International Trade

Employees work at a garment factory in Tiruppur, in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, on Sept. 23, 2025.

While the reforms will eventually create a more competitive, transparent and predictable labor market, the potential for uneven state-level adoption and protests will create challenges for companies in the near term. 

India's Labor Code Reforms: Opportunities and Implementation Challenges

Snapshots

Iran

Iraq

Iraqi riot police walk past a screen displaying a portrait of incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani during celebrations by his supporters following the announcement of preliminary election results in Baghdad on Nov. 12, 2025. 

The Nov. 11 elections produced another fragmented legislature where Iranian-backed parties still have significant influence, portending contentious government formation talks that could impede policymaking and trigger armed clashes.

Iraq Braces for Another Turbulent Government Formation Process

Lebanon

Palestinian Territories

Workers clean the rubble from the site of a Nov. 23 Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the southern Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut. Israel will likely opportunistically escalate airstrikes against Hezbollah and Hamas to further weaken the militant groups and push them toward disarmament without ending shaky ceasefires.

Israel-Hamas Conflict

Miscalculation or an opportunity for Israel to significantly set back Hezbollah would, however, increase the likelihood of a return to major fighting. 

Despite More Intense Israeli Strikes, Hezbollah and Hamas Ceasefires Will Likely Hold

Angola

South Africa

Japan

South Korea

Banners bearing portraits of leaders of the G20 on Nov. 20 in Johannesburg. The South African government has focused the G20 summit's agenda on issues key to African countries.

The Weekly Rundown: A High-Stakes British Budget, South Africa Hosts the G20

View of a Honduran national flag at La Laguna neighborhood, in the north of Tegucigalpa, on Nov. 11, 2025. 

Honduras' next government will face legislative gridlock, political instability and unrest, regardless of the victor.

The Challenges Facing Honduras' Upcoming General Election

Global Elections

Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa delivers a speech in Damascus on July 3, 2025, during the unveiling of the "New Visual Identity of the Syrian Arab Republic." 

The transitional government's decision will boost reconstruction and counter-terrorism efforts, but it will also risk alienating internal hard-liners and could eventually fuel an Islamic State resurgence if Syria's economic recovery stalls.

The Implications of Syria Joining the U.S.-Led Fight Against the Islamic State

Italy

Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on March 18 in the Italian Senate in Rome. Smaller fiscal deficits are unlikely to cut government debt in the medium term given Italy's modest economic growth outlook and significant social and defense spending pressures.

Smaller fiscal deficits are unlikely to cut government debt in the medium term given Italy's modest economic growth outlook and significant social and defense spending pressures.

Modest Growth and Spending Pressures Will Limit Italy's Debt Reduction Efforts

Media

Indonesia

Podcasts

What is the outlook for Indonesia-Israel normalization, and what would that process look like?

Essential Geopolitics: Indonesia's Interest in Israel-Gaza

Politics

SITUATION REPORTS

Russia, U.S.: Peace Talks With Putin Yield No Immediate Breakthrough

Sudan: RSF Captures Babanusa Town in West Kordofan Despite Unilateral Truce

Israel, Syria: U.S. Increasingly Worried by Israeli Actions in Syria

Guinea Bissau: ECOWAS Rejects Coup as Junta Unveils One-Year Transition Plan

EU: Defense Joint-Procurement Loan Scheme Progresses, Canada Joins

Taiwan: Legislature Rejects Lai's Defense Spending Plan

Israel: President Addresses Netanyahu Pardon Issue

Turkey: PKK Conditions Peace Process Progress on Leader's Release, Kurdish Constitutional Recognition

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