Articles in ‘Geopolitics’

Susan Kokinda opens with the European Union's largest expansion of its Russia sanctions list since the war began, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling Europe's objections to the U.S.–Russia diesel deal "completely hypocritical", since Europe is still Moscow's biggest gas customer. Susan Kokinda · The episode follows the reactions to President Trump's diesel deal, from Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and Boris Johnson to the EU's…

Susan contrasts Trump’s Iowa mega mill and first U.S. iron ore mine in 50 years—tariffs, EXIM credit, mine-to-mill—with Carney’s summit: airport concessions, raw exports, and only 8 non-military factories Susan Kokinda · This midweek update contrasts two investment stories. On Monday, President Trump announced a $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel mill in Iowa, supplied by the first new iron ore mine in the United States in 50 years, and…

Barbara on Trump’s UN day: nation-state vision vs Lula’s globalism, Shield of America vs narco-terror, and peace moves on Ukraine and Iran while Europe talks war. Media obsesses over desk bans; he closes on AI as industrial renaissance, not apocalypse. Barbara Boyd · This Wednesday update argues President Trump used his UN General Assembly speech to indict globalization and mass migration, contrasting his “nation state” vision with Brazil’s…

Forget the campaign ads. Susan traces two coordinated fronts against Trump’s midterms: a pain machine of diesel prices, Iran, Canada’s tariffs and bond attacks and an AI-apocalypse panic whose paper trail runs straight to London. By Susan Kokinda · This midweek update argues that the midterm elections are being shaped less by campaign ads than by coordinated economic and political pressure: rising diesel prices tied to Ukrainian strikes on…

AfD’s 43.8% win in Saxony-Anhalt rattled British and EU elites—pledging to end open borders and halt Ukraine funding. Barbara ties the revolt to Germany’s Mittelstand under China pressure, green/nuclear/energy shocks, Carney’s EU dream, and Trump-era peace moves. Barbara Boyd · A Saxony-Anhalt provincial election saw Germany’s nationalist AfD win 43.8% to the next party’s 17.2%, prompting alarm in the British press and among EU-linked elites…

Britain, France and Canada are moving to restrict imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as international pressure over settlement expansion and violence intensifies. New Zealand has joined calls for Israel to change course but is stopping short of the trade measures being pursued by several of its traditional partners. eLocal Report: Based on reporting by Lillian Hanly and Peter Hutchison for RNZ, with AFP reporting HERE ·…

Rare Kremlin video: Putin with Witkoff and Kushner, then their first Kyiv trip this term and Zelenskyy's restrained reply. Moscow cites trust and economic projects; Bessent chokes offshore funding. Argentina presses Malvinas as Trump rethinks automatic U.S. backing of Britain. The Kremlin released rare footage of a high-level meeting between Vladimir Putin and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, followed by their first trip to Kyiv…

Bessent explains Wall Street, the financial press, and Democrats keep being proved wrong—contrasting Canada’s job losses with a blowout U.S. jobs report, calling out FT/WSJ panic, and framing a Red Queen economy that must outrun debt, China, and skills gaps. By Barbara Boyd · Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells Steve Bannon that critics in Wall Street, the financial press, and Democrats keep being proved wrong, contrasting Canada’s job…

More than four years into the Russia-Ukraine war, the central question is increasingly not who can gain another town or stretch of territory, but whether either side can achieve its underlying political objectives. Political scientist Dr Nicolai Petro argues that Russia, Ukraine and Europe's leaders remain locked into fundamentally incompatible visions of European security leaving military escalation easier to imagine than a durable settlement.

Susan on Bessent naming IRGC accounts in the British Virgin Islands — the real target is the offshore money machine, not just Iran. Syria sanctions lifted, the Mecca Pact, Russia at the G20, and China on Iran. Susan Kokinda argues that Scott Bessent’s warning about IRGC accounts in the British Virgin Islands and his “cut the snake’s head off” image were aimed at London’s offshore money machine, not just Iran. She maps the BVI and Hong Kong as…