Business
China pushes space tourism, deep space plans amid U.S. rivalry
China is accelerating its ambitions in commercial spaceflight and deep space exploration as competition with the United States intensifies over technological, economic and strategic...
Invisible Backbone of Global Trade: Why Seaborne Labour Deserves Strategic Attention
Authors: Amina Munir and Amna Hashmi
When policymakers discuss the issue of maritime security, the concept of supply-chain resilience, or the future of global trade,...
BRICS Payment Settlement: The Quest and Implications
Amid escalating tariff threats, economic sanctions, disorderly payment settlements, currency and liquidity stress, and compliance-driven de-risking in an intensifying geopolitical churn, the RBI’s call...
Middle Powers Hedge Against U.S. Under Trump, Reboot Global Trade
Donald Trump’s aggressive trade tactics, exemplified by his Greenland tariff threat, appear to have catalyzed a shift among the world’s “middle powers.” Nations like...
German Investments in China Surge Amid US Trade War Concerns
German companies significantly increased their investments in China in 2025, hitting a four-year high of over €7 billion ($8 billion) from January to November,...
Financial Brief: A Weekly Roundup on the Geopolitics of Money | Jan 27
EXECUTIVE TAKEAWAYS
Markets this week revealed selective amnesia about risk. Asian equities hit records and investors rotated into duration despite Trump hiking South Korean tariffs...
Gold at $5,000: Why the World Is Rushing Into the Ultimate Safe Haven
Gold has surged to a historic high above $5,000 an ounce, capping one of the strongest rallies in modern market history. The metal gained...
Venezuela and the Petrodollar Question: What Currency Power reveals about Today’s Geopolitics
The US military operation in Venezuela on January 3, 2026, has been framed by the former as a narrow counter-narcotics and democratic enforcement measure....
The Tech Cold War: Remaking Power, Supply Chains, and Sovereignty
The U.S.-China tech war is no longer a trade dispute–it is a fundamental struggle for "innovation sovereignty" that is fragmenting global supply chains, weaponizing...
The Return of Economic Coercion: How Global Power Is Being Redefined
Introduction
Economic coercion in the form of sanctions, tariffs and trade restrictions became a deliberate peacetime tool for global security after World War 1. They...