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The supposed right of the stronger has become a weakness. Great military powers such as the United States, Russia and Israel have increasingly relied on military force in recent years as a means of advancing their interests. In their capitals, the conviction prevailed that international law was useless or even an annoying obstacle.

Barring a last-minute entry into the race to replace Keir Starmer as Leader of the Labour Party, and Prime Minister of Great Britain, Andy Burnham looks set to become the next British PM. If no other candidates come forward and secure 20 per cent of the Parliamentary Labour Party by the time nominations close on 15 July, then this will be a fact. And what might an Andy Burnham-led government mean for the direction of the UK? Can he turn around Labour’s dire performance in the opinion polls?

The year 1776 is now remembered for three revolutions that, together, set the modern world in motion. First, with the publication of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith laid the foundation for a systematised discipline – economics – that would become the organising logic of modern society. Second, the Declaration of Independence led to the founding of the United States of America and elevated democracy as the political ideal of the modern age.

At the summit in Ankara on 7–8 July, NATO faces a threefold challenge. First, it must adapt to the changed geopolitical environment, namely the new great-power rivalry, for instance by prioritising collective defence and building capabilities for conventional and hybrid warfare. Second, the Alliance must ease transatlantic tensions and demonstrate political cohesion externally.

When you look at the European debate on China – and specifically the German debate – what is the biggest misconception preventing us from understanding China realistically today? I don’t think there is a single biggest misconception. The fundamental mistake we made with China – and, incidentally, with Russia as well – was that we simply did not believe them. Or, more fundamentally, we did not seriously engage with what they were actually saying and writing.

‘Checkmate in Iran’ — few have captured it as succinctly as Robert Kagan, an icon of American neoconservatism. And he has a point: the failed war against Iran marks a watershed for the Middle East.

The crisis in the Persian Gulf makes one thing clear: today, the real dividend of the energy transition is not only climate protection. It is geopolitical resilience. Countries that have switched their energy supply to renewable sources are significantly less vulnerable to wars, blockades, and price shocks than those that continue to depend on oil and gas imports. Currently, Australia is demonstrating how such an energy policy can become a geopolitical competitive advantage.

Across South Africa, political parties have arrived at the same conclusion: manufactured anger at the ‘African immigrant’ wins more votes than confronting the country’s deep structural failures. This is not a failure of political will; it is a deliberate political strategy — one with a long global history, a racial logic and a predictable democratic cost. Nowhere is this strategy more visible than in the rise of March and March.

A bonus of €300 000 — per employee, per year. That is the profit-sharing payment won by employees of the South Korean conglomerate Samsung at the end of May. The approximately 78 000 employees in the semiconductor division had threatened to strike unless the company distributed part of its exorbitant profits to the workforce. The background: Samsung manufactures so-called memory chips. Due to the AI boom in the United States, demand for these chips has exploded in recent times.

In your blog, you describe New Zealand as being caught between two giants: China, its largest trading partner, and the United States, its key security partner. How difficult has it become for Wellington to balance these relationships in today’s geopolitical environment? New Zealand has always felt protected by its isolation. We’re at the bottom of the world, small and very far away, so for a long time we assumed people were unlikely to bother with us.