The results of Brazil’s first-round presidential election were an unpleasant shock for the left, even if Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party, or PT, finished first and remains the frontrunner against Jair Bolsonaro on Oct. 30. The PT is now a diminished political force, due as much to its own mistakes as the rise of the far right.
Liz Truss resigned as British prime minister on Thursday just 44 days after assuming office. Though she tried valiantly to hold on, she ultimately failed to reassure the markets or her Conservative Party MPs of her ability to end the political and economic chaos unleashed by the release of her government’s fiscal plan last month.
Amid a looming global economic crunch driven in part by a slowdown in China, a recalibration of Beijing’s footprint in Africa and deepening tensions with the West, many African governments are asking questions about what direction the relationship between their countries and China will take in the next couple of years.
With U.S. President Joe Biden’s latest escalation of the U.S.-China trade war, it’s clear the world is a far cry from the “Golden Age” of economic globalization that marked the 1990s and early 2000s. So how did globalization’s “golden age” come to a halt? Three major factors contributed to the global economy’s fragility.
The focus on Peruvian President Pedro Castillo’s political travails are understandable, but they have overshadowed one of the more significant policy developments from his presidency so far: a recently introduced stimulus package designed to promote flagging economic growth that backtracks on Castillo’s hard-left economic agenda.
EU leaders are gathered in Brussels, where they are locked in a heated discussion about Europe’s energy crisis. But as they try to hammer out an agreement, they’re also keeping a nervous eye on the protests brewing in France over inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, which could tip over into widespread civil unrest.
Last week, the Mexican government filed the second of two lawsuits against the firearms business in the U.S., claiming that a handful of gun shops and distributors knowingly and deliberately violate U.S. law. Could Mexico, where arms trafficked from the U.S. are a major contributor to violence, succeed where U.S. gun control advocates have failed?
With the United Nations COP 27 Climate Change Conference set to take place in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh beginning on Nov. 6, many observers have raised concerns about the country’s human rights and environmental records and what this will mean for the conference as well as climate justice more broadly.
At the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a speech outlining his priorities heading into his almost certain third term, including his own concept of “national rejuvenation,” which goes hand in hand with a fight against internal and external enemies, both real and conceptual.
The rise and decline of the West’s strategic commitment to Indochina from the 1950s to the 1970s should be kept in mind when examining U.S. and European relations with the Gulf monarchies today. Though ties between the two sides are still extensive, U.S. and European policymakers are reassessing their commitment to the region.
The news that Russia has begun to employ Iranian military equipment, particularly kamikaze attack drones, in its war against Ukraine has led some observers to frame that conflict as a proving ground for Iran’s military technology. But the implications for military dynamics in the Middle East are far from clear.
Lebanon and Israel reached a historic agreement last week settling a years-long maritime border dispute involving major energy fields in the Mediterranean Sea. The agreement paves the way for the two countries to cooperate on gas extraction, but it stops short of a full Lebanese diplomatic recognition of Israel.
Across the world, there have been more than 8,200 protests and riots in response to the rising cost of living in the first seven months of this year alone. Although the actors involved represent broad, heterogeneous demographics, there are some clear patterns and takeaways that have already emerged.
Kenyan President William Ruto’s inauspicious first month in office has seen several false starts, unforced errors and warning signs, confirming for some observers that the widespread popular disillusionment that drove voter turnout in August’s presidential election to its lowest level in 15 years was prescient.
Until recently, many observers expected the war in Ukraine would end with a deal, once the equilibrium point between Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and Europe’s growing economic crisis was found. The events of the past month have called into question whether such an equilibrium can and will be reached.
Based on the results of the first-round voting in Brazil’s presidential election and current polling, Lula da Silva is expected to defeat Jair Bolsonaro in the second-round runoff on Oct. 30. But no matter who wins, the next president of Brazil will face a polarized political system and disillusioned electorate.
Five years after Catalonia’s leaders sought to break away from Spain through an illegal referendum, the independence movement has lost steam and the region’s separatist governing coalition has fallen apart. The story of how the Catalan government arrived at this moment can be told through three key dates over the past two months.