“The title ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ captures the movie's central paradox: seeing without understanding. Kubrick suggests that power structures are not hidden, but ignored, existing in plain sight within accepted rituals and social norms. The greatest illusion is not secrecy itself, but the belief that we would recognise the truth if it stood directly in front of us .” The other day, I got into a rather heated political discussion with a couple of old friends. We were discussing decli

From the federal United States to the hyper-centralised UK, and even in the tightly state-directed system of China, local government is increasingly constrained and hollowed out. The slow-building emergency in government debt is not only on a national level but on a local level too. Across advanced and emerging economics, local governments have taken on growing responsibilities without the fiscal tools to fund them, undermining service provision and political trust without tr

It seems that the era of repetitive politics is over in Japan. Since her inauguration as the first female Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi has set a new path for Japan’s foreign policy. Her first order of action? A diplomatic firestorm with China. In her parliamentary declaration of last November, Takaichi underlined that any attempt of a Chinese blockade against Taiwan will signal an existential threat for Japan, precipitating the need for a collective self-defence st

On the 5th of December Donald Trump’s second National Security strategy was released to little fanfare, nevertheless precipitating great global alarm, not least in Europe, as it appears to promote an archaic vision of a world once again carved up for consumption by superpowers.  This National Security Strategy is very streamlined, at only 29 pages, compared to  Trump’s 55-page 2017 equivalent. It even describes these old strategies as ‘ bloated and unfocused.’  This reflects

Europe is sabotaging its own climate goals by prioritising the protection of its car industry over allowing affordable Chinese electric vehicles in. This turns the green transition into a trade dispute with China, whilst risking the green transformation both sides urgently need. Europe doesn’t need a trade war, it needs a strategy. Instead of raising tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles , the EU should establish a Green Trade Truce based on transparency, cooperation and fair

In most Western schools, children were often asked in Geography class: “Which is the largest ocean in the world?” To us, the Pacific looked like empty space — a vast stretch of blue that separates continents. But that cartographic illusion hides the truth: the Pacific is not empty at all. It is a constellation of nations, languages and histories, now standing at the fault line of global power. However, much like the game of chess that was the Cold-War, is the Pacific slipping

China’s infamous fishing fleet ranks among the gravest emerging threats to global security: a flagrant assault on the environment, a...

As China's grandest military parade approaches, Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his attendance  at this commemoration of...

The persistence of the West’s continuing gluttony for Russian hydrocarbons doesn’t just counteract our aid but is utterly shameful. Why...

Over the past three years, a combination of military coups , rising anti-colonial sentiment , and growing influence from alternative...

In an executive order,  President Trump has called for the development of an “Iron Dome for America,” an initiative that has since been...

Myanmar’s civil war may seem distant to Europe, but it represents a crucial test of the European Union’s values and interests in the...

The 2025 BRICS Summit, convened in Rio de Janeiro, underscored, once again, the growing ambition of the Global South in reshaping...

While the international spotlight remains fixated on the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, a recent political upheaval in...

Central Asia, often considered one of the least integrated areas in the international system , represents perhaps the most overlooked...

More than four years after Myanmar’s military seized power in a February 2021 coup, the country remains mired in a brutal civil war. On...

Since the deluge of national security regulations, Beijing and its loyal agents in Hong Kong have tirelessly reiterated that the city is...

Illustration by Will Allen/Europinion With my recent appointment as Cultural and Indigenous Rights’ Lead for the Special Interest Groups...

CELAC–China summit revealed both the potential and limitations of regional diplomacy in this new era. China is defending the order that...

As 100 days under Trump 2.0 have passed us by, media outlets from AP  to The Guardian  have criticised and scrutinised Trump’s decisions...