he Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), now in its 11th year, has had more misses than hits as the world’s largest connectivity initiative. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature transnational connectivity and infrastructure development bid has faced wide-ranging criticism and scepticism within the international community. Yet, the BRI’s global

Reports suggest Kabila met with AFC leader Corneille Nangaa and recently visited rebel-held Goma. While unconfirmed, such speculation highlights how the rebellion has become currency for national-level political bargaining. Yet, despite Tshisekedi’s failures, opposition figures like Kabila and Nangaa are not credible alternatives given their own

Effective governance frameworks are essential to manage the environmental and social externalities of metal extraction. The European Union’s proposal for a Critical Raw Materials Act (2023) aims to ensure that resource sourcing aligns with human rights and environmental standards. However, critics argue that without enforceable international regu

Systema has obtained documents indicating that the contracts signed by prisoners carry a special classification of secrecy and are stored in a special GRU archive. Information about deceased prisoners is sent by the leadership of the aforementioned 8th Army via secure mail to the intelligence office — the Main Directorate of the General Staff (GU

The planned Friendship Bridge between Bahrain and Qatar remains at pre-construction stages. Oman is yet to break ground on its 2,135 km national railway network. Most cross-border segments—including Saudi-Qatar, Saudi-Kuwait, Qatar-Bahrain, and Bahrain-Saudi—remain either in early planning or stalled, undermining the GCC Railway’s goal of sea