Date: 13/05/2026 The leaders of the G7 bloc, meeting in the Alpine spa town of Evian-les-Bains, on 17/06, tried to show a common front against China's dominance of the global critical minerals supply chain. They only partially succeeded. The discussions ended with a joint statement wherein the leaders committed to cooperation, but actual concrete measures were strikingly absent. All members agreed that China’s dominance over the critical minerals industry is a matter of nati

Date: 14/04/2026 Key Takeaways 1. Ireland’s fuel protests have caused nationwide road closures, fuel depot blockades, and airport access disruption. They are the first European case study of how the Strait of Hormuz crisis translates into domestic civil disorder and transport paralysis. 2. The Irish experience will be replicated elsewhere. Several EU countries with high fuel taxation, limited refining capacity, and transport-dependent rural economies are exposed to the same d

Date: 08/04/2026 Executive Summary The Trump administration's pressure campaign against Cuba is entering a crucial phase as the White House views Havana as its next priority to bring Latin America into line with its policies. An oil blockade engineered through Venezuela's forced realignment with Washington has effectively collapsed the island's energy infrastructure. The situation is critical: hospitals have shut down, schools are suspended, and normal business has grounded

Date: 24/03/2026 Throughout March 2026, Russia has capitalised on a global energy supply shock to generate substantial emergency revenue. In the first fifteen days of March, the Kremlin extracted €7.7 billion from fossil fuel exports, averaging €513 million per day, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. This was up from a €472 million daily average in February. The financial surge was made possible due to a confluence of events: the near-complete clo

Date: 12/03/2026 Executive Summary On 7 March 2026, twelve Latin American leaders gathered at Trump National Doral, a golf course in Miami, and signed a document. This document, named the Doral Charter, creates a new US-led regional security framework called the Shield of the Americas. And within this is the Counter-Cartel Coalition, a seventeen-nation military alliance chaired by President Trump and committed to using lethal force against transnational criminal organisations

Date: 04/02/2026 Who’s involved : United States, Iran What happened? On 04/02/2026, an F-35C launched from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian sea shot down an Iranian Shahed-129 drone . The drone "aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” according to US Central Command. The shootdown took place just hours before Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces attempted to board the US flagged merchant vessel Stena Imperative , but w

Date: 05/12/2025 Executive Summary During 2025, reports have been made indicating the presence of uniformed, armed personnel (likely Russian-associated) aboard civilian vessels thought to be part of the vast Russian ‘shadow fleet’ comprising ageing, uninsured oil tankers and cargo vessels registered under flags of convenience and with deliberately confusing ownership structures. These uniformed personnel serve intelligence, surveillance, and command-and-control functions abo