Saturday 18 July 2026 Ukraine’s appointment of Major General Yevhen Khmara as acting Minister of Defence marks another significant transition in the country’s wartime leadership. It also represents something more profound than a routine change of minister. In selecting a senior Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officer rather than a career politician or conventional military administrator, President Volodymyr Zelensky has chosen a man whose career has been defined by intellig

Saturday 18 July 2026 The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) has moved from the fringes of political philosophy to the centre of economic debate. For decades it was regarded as an interesting but impractical proposal advanced by academics, futurists and a handful of social reformers. Today it is discussed in ministries of finance, international organisations and boardrooms alike. The reason is simple: the accelerating development of artificial intelligence has revived an

Saturday 18 July 2026 When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, many foreign governments hoped that experience might have tempered ideology. Taliban spokesmen assured the international community that women would enjoy rights “within the framework of Islamic law”, education would continue, and Afghanistan would seek constructive engagement with the outside world. Those assurances have proved to be among the most swiftly abandoned political promises of t

Saturday 18 July 2026 When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the world’s attention understandably focused upon the movement of armies, missiles and refugees. Less visible, but scarcely less significant, was another migration that began almost immediately: the departure of wealth. Not merely individuals but enormous quantities of capital started leaving Russia, often by indirect and ingenious routes, as members of the country’s business, prof

Saturday 18 July 2026 For much of the post-Soviet period Russia enjoyed one apparent economic advantage that its citizens often took for granted: abundant, inexpensive fuel. As one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, refined petroleum products and natural gas, Russia appeared insulated from the price shocks that periodically afflicted energy-importing nations. Today that assumption has been profoundly undermined. Across much of the Russian Federation, motorists, fa

Friday 17 July 2026 There are friendships born of affection. There are friendships born of necessity. Then there is the uniquely modern strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing: a relationship so perfectly equal that one partner writes the speeches while the other supplies the discounted oil. To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has offered a characteristi