Global Rivalries

South America is rich again.   Oil is flowing from the Atlantic coast. Copper and lithium are attracting billions in investment across the Andes. Governments are collecting more revenue, exports are rising, and investors are returning to markets that looked increasingly fragile only a few years ago.   From Guyana's offshore oil fields to Argentina's lithium reserves and Peru's copper mines, the continent has become a key supplier fo...

For decades, migration debates focused heavily on borders, security, and political tensions. But across many advanced economies, immigration is increasingly becoming an economic survival strategy.   Countries such as Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan are facing the same pressures: aging populations, low birth rates, worker shortages, and rising welfare costs.   Although migrants are often wrongly portrayed as a burden, ...

Pope Leo XIV has used his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (meaning “Magnificent Humanity”), to warn that artificial intelligence could move from serving humanity to controlling it, with a handful of powerful companies shaping how people work, think, fight, and live.   The warning was even sharper because Chris Olah, the cofounder of Anthropic, took part in the Vatican presentation. Anthropic is one of the two biggest AI c...

The battle over the next Dalai Lama has already begun, and it is not just a religious question. It is a power struggle over Tibet’s future, China’s authority, India’s role, and the survival of one of the world’s most visible spiritual institutions.   As the 14th Dalai Lama approaches his 91st birthday in July, the question of succession is moving from distant concern to immediate geopolitical crisis. Beijing says it...

Armenia is trying to rewrite its future before Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and its own angry voters close the door.   The South Caucasus state is pushing toward Europe, courting the United States, and signaling to its hostile neighbors that it is ready to move beyond decades of war, blockade, and nationalist symbolism. But every step Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan takes toward the West risks angering Russia, hardening Azerbaijan&r...