• The US government will take a majority stake in a new company that has the rights to develop 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude, or about one-fifth of the country’s total proven reserves. • Venezuela possesses approximately 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, making it the country with the world’s largest known oil reserves. Approximately 17% of the world’s proven oil reserves are estimated to be located in Venezuela. • Yet the country produces only about 1.2–1.

The United States and Canada are now officially engaged in a trade war. After Ottawa pulled out of negotiations last Friday, Washington imposed 50% tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian products, including wine, furniture, dairy, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment. Therefore, the newly targeted goods represent approximately 5.2% of Canada's goods exports to the US ($20bn ÷ $381.9bn). Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the country’s centr

This week, two very important international events took place that bring us closer to the conditions that could easily unleash a new world war: 1) Pakistan and Turkey signed a NATO-style mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia in Mecca on Friday, consolidating their longstanding security ties into a collective-defense alliance that stipulates that an attack against any of them “shall be regarded as an attack on them all.” Turkey has the second-largest military in NATO, behind o

This week, two very important international events took place that bring us closer to the conditions that could easily unleash a new world war: 1) Pakistan and Turkey signed a NATO-style mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia in Mecca on Friday, consolidating their longstanding security ties into a collective-defense alliance that stipulates that an attack against any of them “shall be regarded as an attack on them all.” Turkey has the second-largest military in NATO, behind o

1) Around 60,000 migrants, almost all of them Moroccan, crossed illegally into Ceuta, Spanish territory since 1580, within just 24 hours. Ceuta has a population of only 80,000 inhabitants. 2) Three weeks ago, Spain's Supreme Court ruled that migrants who enter Ceuta or Melilla by swimming cannot be summarily returned, and that expedited pushbacks only apply to those who attempt to enter by "overcoming the established border barriers, such as the fences." 3) Spain and Algeria,

On July 6, Hamas announced that it was dissolving the body that has governed Gaza for the past two decades. The Hamas administration says it is prepared to hand over the civilian administration of the war-torn territory to a non-political technocratic committee proposed by Donald Trump as part of his peace plan for Gaza. The announcement is part of the ceasefire agreement that Israel and Hamas signed last autumn. Mohammed al-Farra, head of Hamas and the government's crisis co

The United States and Saudi Arabia announced this week they have signed a Bilateral Safeguards Agreement that will allow the Gulf kingdom to develop a civilian nuclear program. The agreement will now be sent to the US Congress for review. Although some lawmakers from both Republican and Democrat parties are expected to oppose the deal, President Trump's Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress, making it unlikely that opponents will have enough votes to block it. T

This week, the Cuban government will approve the largest package of economic reforms since the 1959 Revolution: • Retired Raúl Castro, 94 years old, who still exercises political control over President Miguel Díaz-Canel, gave his approval last week to a package of 175 measures aimed at reforming the Cuban economy, which is 80% dependent on state-owned enterprises. • Since 2021, certain private businesses have been allowed to exist, but they have been limited to a maximum of 1

A trend has been confirmed since many years now: a majority of Britons regret Bexit. This despite the growing support for the extreme-right party (Reform UK). •Fifty-two percent of Britons think the UK should rejoin the EU, according to an Ipsos survey of 1,137 British adults conducted between May 14 and May 20. That’s the inverse of the mood in June 2016 when a comparable share of the electorate backed Brexit. •Almost half of Britons support a repeat of that referendum, with

For the first time since 2023, Ukraine appears to have gained a sustained tactical advantage in the war over the past several months. This despite the fact that the United States under President Trump has stopped direct military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Instead, European assistance has increased and filled much of the gap, in line with what Trump demanded. A key factor in Ukraine’s recent battlefield performance has been its growing advantage in drone warfare. Ukraini

Before the war, around 25% of the world's traded oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz, meaning that approximately 20 million barrels of oil per day were cut off from international markets once the last vessels carrying these supplies reached their destinations. However, there are several reasons why it is wrong to be overly alarmist about Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S. and Israeli attacks, or to claim that key sectors of the global economy are ab

The Iran War is almost impossible to solve: 1) The US and Israel will never allow Iran to keep its nuclear enrichment program that started a couple of years ago. 2) Because Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the world's economy is suffering and there is a serious risk that oil shortages will hit most countries in the following weeks. 3) The US cannot seize the Strait of Hormuz because Iran can always deploy small units to bomb vessels passing its coast. 4) The US has enforced

Many European explorers sighted the Falkland Islands in the 16th and 17th centuries, but English Captain John Strong was the first to explore the totality of the archipelago by sailing between the two principal islands in 1690. He called the passage "Falkland Channel" after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland, who, as Commissioner of the Admiralty, had financed the expedition and later became First Lord of the Admiralty. However, it was the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bo

Hello! This is my briefing regarding the current situation regarding US stategy for the Iran War! Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s right to enrich uranium was “indisputable” although the level of enrichment is “negotiable”, as it said that exchanges with the US had continued following failed negotiations over the weekend. Iran still has control of the Strait of Hormuz, and very few ships have been authorised by the Iranians to cross it. However, it is wrong to assum

1) Russia: Orbán managed to convince the EU to be allowed to continue the import oil gas from Russia. Hungary has systematically blocked aid packages to Ukraine, Orbán describes Zelensky as a dangerous warmonger, his government has leaked official documents from EU meetings to Russia, and has accused Kyiv of being a repressive state against the Hungarian minority living in west Ukraine. 2) China: While the EU has worked to limit Chinese influence, Hungary under Orbán became t

The full content the ceasefire that should last at least two weeks has not been disclosed, with each side claiming victory and giving contradictory statements. Officially, US/Israel and Iran have agreed to stop attacks on each other and re-open the Strait of Hormuz to the general navigation. The other contentious points such as Iran’s nuclear program, its financing of diverse militias in the region, its diplomatic recognition of Israel, its military capabilities, internationa

Here are several things about the war against Iran: 1. Based on recent statements, NATO does not seem willing to send military assistance to the United States to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, which continues to be targeted by Iranian bombardments against merchant ships not heading to China. 2. Iran has slightly increased its oil exports since the war began two weeks ago. 3. Iran’s new government shows no signs of backing down, unlike Venezuela’s government did, so the war d

Although an open war has broken out between Iran and Israel, two pro-Iranian groups have remained on the sidelines of the conflict: Hamas and the Houthis. Hamas is currently very weakened militarily after its defeat in the Gaza war. In addition, the group has publicly expressed support for the peace process proposed by Trump, so entering the war now could endanger that process and even compromise what remains of its own organization. On the other hand, the organizational capa

The Strait of Hormuz, located between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, is one of the most critical arteries of global trade. Around 30 percent of the world’s oil supply and about 20 percent of seaborne liquefied natural gas pass through it. At its narrowest point, the strait is just 33 kilometers wide, with shipping lanes only about 3 kilometers wide in each direction. Because of its location, it serves as a crucial chokepoint for oil deliveries from OPEC countries to custo

US knowledge of Russia’s plans came primarily from two sources: satellite imagery and information from sources close to the Kremlin. The satellite images came from open-source providers such as Maxar Technologies. This allowed media outlets to report in November 2021 that tens of thousands of Russian soldiers had gathered near the Ukrainian border. Intelligence work targeting Russia was conducted by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK’s Government Communications