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As Israel steps up its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, attention is turning thousands of miles away to the Triple Border, the point where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. Long a hub for smugglers and money launderers, the area has served as a shelter for Hezbollah’s money and operatives dating back to the early 1990s. With the terrorist group under intense pressure at home, overseas funding has become critical.   Why The Triple...

Satellite images show China is gearing up to build what could become a new military outpost at Antelope Reef in the South China Sea. Antelope Reef is a small coral feature in the Paracel Islands, which are about 400 kilometers east of Hue, Vietnam, and about 280 kilometers from the Sanya Naval Base on China’s Hainan Island.#   A Quiet Reef That May Soon Host Chinese Warships and Aircraft Tracking groups say China began dredging arou...

Myanmar’s military junta has declared victory in an election whose outcome was widely seen as predetermined. Finalized on January 25, the vote handed an overwhelming win to the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, reinforcing the junta’s grip on power more than four years after the 2021 coup.   Why Myanmar’s Military Is Chasing Legitimacy This was not a real, fair election. It was a tightly controlled ...

After the Cold War, peacekeeping expanded beyond ceasefires. Western governments, led by the United States, added elections, state-building, economic reforms, and human rights to peace plans. These ideas reflected Western political values and were treated as universal solutions. For decades, Washington shaped what peacebuilding looked like. It had the money, military power, and diplomatic reach. Many peace missions followed a formula: bring in o...

The Philippines ended 2025 with its slowest economic growth in over a decade. Official data shows the economy expanded just 3% in the fourth quarter of last year, marking the weakest performance since 2009 outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Analysts say the slump was triggered by the massive flood control corruption scandal that hurt trust in the government and public projects, with businesses slowing down and consumers spending less. The...