Diplomacy
Legitimacy Without Leverage: What the Moscow Format’s Collapse Reveals About Engaging the Taliban
On 5 October, the eighth round of the Moscow Format consultations on Afghanistan ended without a joint statement for the first time since the...
Trust Issues: What the UN’s 81st General Debate Left Behind
When the United Nations General Assembly chose a theme for its 81st session, it picked words that read like a balance sheet: “Restoring Trust,...
Custodian, Not Broker: Europe’s Quiet Rewrite of Its Middle East Policy
When the second EU–Gulf Cooperation Council summit was called off nine days before it was due to open in Riyadh on 24 October, Brussels...
View from Africa: Why the Muscat/Oman Process Matters
The current U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, as noted in Olga Algayerova’s and Ana Birchall’s recent texts, adds yet another layer of uncertainty to...
Why Is the US Secretly Reopening Talks With Myanmar’s Military Rulers?
The United States and Myanmar’s military-backed government have held a second round of talks in a month, signalling a potential shift in Washington’s approach...
China’s Role in the Russia-Ukraine Energy Ceasefire: Can Beijing Help Secure a Lasting Truce?
On Sunday, October 11, 2026, US President Donald Trump announced that a ceasefire in the energy sector between Russia and Ukraine had taken effect,...
Why the Road Back to US-Iran Talks Still Runs Through Islamabad?
The June framework has become the shared vocabulary of the US-Iran conflict. Turning a reference point back into a process is a harder task,...
Multi-Alignment Pays, but Washington and Beijing Set the Price
One Week, Three Prices
On 17 September the US State Department notified Congress of a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35s to Saudi Arabia. It...
Why Asia and Africa Are Moving Closer on Trade, Sovereignty and Multilateralism
The 81st UNGA, which is the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the United Nations, was held late September 2026 in New York....
Small-State Diplomacy in an Era of Geopolitical Fragmentation
At a time when international diplomacy is under extraordinary pressure, the proposed Muscat Process—advanced by a Group of Friends of the Process—deserves strong and...