Author: Hunter MAXWELL

Sub-Saharan-Africa-grpwth-projection

Resilient, But Exposed

Sub-Saharan Africa is growing a little faster than expected, and that is notable because the global background is hostile. In its semi-annual Africa Economic Update, published on Tuesday, the World Bank projected regional growth of 4.3% in 2026, up from 4.1% last year and 0.3 percentage point above its April […]

US-Europe-diesel-shock

The Fuel That Moves Everything

Last week’s US inflation report offered some encouraging news. Core price momentum appeared to be easing as of August, and households under cost-of-living strain could be forgiven for hoping the worst had passed. Commodity analysts are urging caution. The record run-up in diesel prices in the United States and Europe […]

US-Europe-diesel-prices-inflation

The Fuel That Moves Everything

Last week’s US inflation report offered some encouraging news. Core price momentum appeared to be easing as of August, and households under cost-of-living strain could be forgiven for hoping the worst had passed. Commodity analysts are urging caution. The record run-up in diesel prices in the United States and Europe […]

US-Supreme-Court-Trump-migrants-deportation

The Court Keeps Choosing “For Now”

The Supreme Court’s decision to let the Trump administration resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own, without giving them a chance to argue the harm they might face there, follows a pattern that’s become familiar over the past two years: the justices repeatedly allow a contested immigration policy […]

AI-safety-US-China

When The Builders Sound The Alarm

There’s something structurally unusual about a stock selloff triggered not by a competitor’s bad news or a disappointing earnings report, but by the industry’s own leading executives publicly warning that their product might be dangerous. That’s essentially what happened Monday, as AI-linked stocks fell across every major market – Wall […]

Germany-Merz-elections-Berlin-Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania

Sunday’s Elections Could Decide Merz’s Fate

rl Friedrich Merz has been chancellor for just 16 months, and he’s already facing the kind of electoral test that could determine whether he serves out anything close to a full term. Voters in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania went to the polls Sunday in elections that, on paper, are regional […]

Cambodia=Thailand-maritime-dispute

Cambodia-Thailand Maritime Standoff

Twenty-five years of overlapping claims, a collapsed joint development agreement, and deadly border clashes have finally pushed Cambodia and Thailand into a formal UN arbitration process – one so rarely used that only a single prior case exists to serve as a model for how it might actually play out. […]

EU-climate-damage-budget

Climate Damage Becomes Europe’s Next Fiscal Emergency

For years, European governments have treated flood plains, wildfire seasons and storm damage as unfortunate but exceptional line items – costly, disruptive, but ultimately one-off events to be absorbed and forgotten. That framing is now breaking down. As this summer’s wildfires tore through southwestern Europe and reconstruction from Spain’s catastrophic […]

Trump-Iran-war-immigration-US-elections

The War Dividend Nobody Wanted

When Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran alongside Israel, he framed the operation as swift and decisive – a war measured in weeks, not months. Eight months later, that promise has become the single clearest liability of his second term. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed Monday put Trump’s approval rating […]