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The US and China are both vying for influence among Global South countries, whose support will be crucial in shaping the future of the international order. Against this backdrop, it is increasingly important to understand Beijing’s views of this unfolding contest.

The alliance of convenience between Russia and China threatens not only to accelerate an increasingly overstretched US’s relative decline, but also to erode Indian security. India now must take advantage of its relationship with Russia to mediate an end to the Ukraine war and drive a wedge between Russia and China.

If opposition candidate Masoud Pezeshkian wins and succeeds President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month, US policymakers must respond constructively. Such a scenario could not only reduce the risk of a wider war in the Middle East, but also prepare the way for a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine.

Struggling under an unsustainable debt burden, Pakistan must take decisive action to monetise its huge unrealised geostrategic value, while also unlocking the hidden value of its state-owned enterprises.

Borrowing from the Kremlin’s playbook, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s de facto ruler, is seeking to eliminate foreign-funded NGOs, suppress independent media, and eradicate the political opposition. His determination to establish an authoritarian regime reflects his harmony of interests with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Thanks to a combination of shrewd political tactics and powerful false narratives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party appear to be headed toward an easy victory in the country’s ongoing parliamentary election. With that, the erosion of Indian democracy will almost certainly accelerate.

Given the outsize impact of US–China competition on East Asian countries, even slightly improved bilateral ties would bode well in the near term. Nonetheless, new risks and political arrangements ensure that the region will continue to be characterised by great-power rivalry and many flashpoints.

With the exception of the extreme right, no one in Israel wants to be stuck in Gaza, responsible for 2.4 million Palestinians, and facing a likely insurgency. Israel can end this war soon and save those hostages who are still alive, having demilitarised Gaza and set the stage for an alternative to Hamas.

After more than 200 years of neutrality with respect to regional and global great-power conflicts, Sweden has now chosen a side with its formal accession to NATO. With major strategic assets to offer the alliance, Sweden's membership represents a fundamental shift in the regional balance of power.

Two years after Russia launched its full-scale war of aggression, Ukraine is still holding the line militarily, and even beginning to recover economically. As much as Vladimir Putin wants the world to think he has shielded the Russian economy from blowback, recent financial and economic developments suggest otherwise.

Growing concerns over Beijing’s coercive power in the critical mineral supply chain have led the US and other Western countries to explore new strategies for diversifying away from China. Japan provides a useful case study in this regard.

Whether they target Chinese vessels directly or not, attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels threaten to undermine China’s economic recovery. But, viewed through the lens of its rivalry with the US, the current turmoil in the Middle East is not bad news for China.

Given the island’s role in the US–China rivalry – which can be understood as a contest between democracy and autocracy – the recent presidential and legislative elections may turn out to be a kind of bellwether. In any case, believers in democratic principles worldwide have reason to celebrate.

Ensuring that the UK is ready to cope with national challenges requires increased resourcing and a commitment to the right level of governance, based on a clear strategy that can be implemented across the whole of society.

The impending demise of Myanmar’s military junta illustrates that autocracies can be brittle and that democratic transitions can be resumed. But even though resistance forces will likely overthrow the regime, they will require meaningful support from regional powers to reconstitute a viable pluralistic state.

It is hard to see anything good coming from the current spasm of violence between Israel and Hamas. But this tragedy, which has forced both Israelis and Palestinians to stare into the abyss, might prove to be a turning point that will clear the path for a lasting peace.

Vladimir Putin has reimagined Russia's past throughout his political life.

The latest Gaza war presents the US and governments across the Middle East with an opportunity to end Hamas and Iran’s cynical project of creating chaos. But first, Israel must be stopped from expelling the Palestinians from Gaza, as that would radicalise and destabilise the entire region.

The passing of the US’s preeminent foreign-policy thinker and practitioner marks the end of an era. Throughout his long and extraordinarily influential career, Henry Kissinger built a legacy that Americans would be wise to heed in this new era of great-power politics and global disarray.