geopolitics
Meet the world’s largest landowners.
For linguists, the uniqueness of the Basque language represents an unsolved mystery. For its native speakers, long oppressed, it is a source of pride.
Once a cosmopolitan faith, Islam valued intellectualism and modernity. It was derailed by various geopolitical and religious forces.
In a time when we dislike and distrust our politicians, why can’t we get more popular leaders like Kim Jong Un and Bashar al-Assad?
Soviet censorship was thorough yet fallible.
Cyberattacks are growing in number and sophistication.
“Who is the aggressor?” That depends on which of these maps you believe.
As AI evolves — and more robotic warfare systems are deployed — the nature of conflict could change beyond recognition.
Mongol forces never fully conquered the continent, but they played a key role in its historical development.
His plan to replace it with homegrown rice did not go well.
When Mongol traders came knocking, Sultan Muhammad II shaved off their beards. Three years later, his whole empire was annihilated.
The story of China is the story of global economics.
Dig a 70-mile tunnel under the Bering Strait, and you get this amazing InterContinental Railway, which will reshape the world.
Estonia has long been seen as a pioneer in digitizing the democratic process.
Social media has made yelling past each other all the easier.
The restoration of public confidence is crucial for strong democratic governance around the world.
Queen Calafia seems like she could have sprung from the pages of a modern fantasy novel.
The state of global democracy is relatively strong — but there are clear signs of recent erosion.
In a state of “hyperwar,” accidents or unexpected AI decisions could lead to widespread devastation before humans could intervene.
There’s a link between dark personality traits and breaches of battlefield ethics.
How to separate the reality from the conspiracy theory.
Why we keep giving power to the wrong people, according to political scientist and associate professor Brian Klaas.
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9 min
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In 1934, American Communists translated a Stalinist book about revolution into a children’s game. Curiously, it didn’t catch on.
Even if a balloon flies directly overhead, attempting to shoot it down with a conventional firearm is stupid, ineffective, and dangerous.
Spying is not usually done these days with balloons because they’re an easy target and are not completely controllable.
This graph shows how badly German cities were hit by Allied bombing raids.
Alibaba has played a key role in China’s meteoric economic rise.
Some effective altruists “earn to give” — they make as much money as they can and then donate most of it to charities.
Rogue Putin is the biggest risk of 2023. Here are the other nine, explained by global political expert Ian Bremmer.
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17 min
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