Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

A Week of Rising International Risk

A Week of Rising International Risk

The most consequential story in international politics right now is the sheer number of potentially consequential stories. Here are ten of them.


North Korean Warning Shots

Missile testing at an unidentified location in North Korea

North Korean Warning Shots: A new UN report claims that North Korea has used cyberattacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges to earn $2 billion for weapons. To protest US-South Korean military exercises, North Korea has test-fired four short-range missiles in the past two weeks and warns that it's considering a "new road," presumably one that leads away from the progress Trump and Kim have claimed in nuclear negotiations. President Trump says the missile tests are not alarming because the weapons could not reach the US mainland. But they could reach US allies, say South Korean and Japanese officials.

The bottom line: None of these stories is fated to end in disaster for those exposed to them. But all of them look to be moving in the wrong direction.

More For You

​Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, right, alongside United States Vice President JD Vance.  07 Nov 2025

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, right, alongside United States Vice President JD Vance. 07 Nov 2025

Aaron Schwartz/POOL via CNP
Can JD Vance save Orbán?US President Donald Trump’s allies have taken a major interest in European politics over the last 18 months, attempting to boost far-right leaders in Albania, Germany, and Poland. Now, Vice President JD Vance is aiming to boost MAGA’s closest ally on the continent: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Vance reportedly [...]
QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas production facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, on March 2, 2026.

QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas production facilities, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, on March 2, 2026.

REUTERS/Stringer
Air defense batteries moved out of Asia. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Growing domestic frustration with the Trump administration. Formula 1 races in the Gulf canceled.The secondary effects of the US-Israel war with Iran have been expansive. But no specific issue has perhaps been more pressing for governments than the fuel shortages [...]
A Russian LNG tanker, Arctic Metagaz, damaged earlier this month and currently adrift without crew, floats in the Mediterranean Sea, in this handout picture released on March 13, 2026.​

A Russian LNG tanker, Arctic Metagaz, damaged earlier this month and currently adrift without crew, floats in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa, in this handout picture released on March 13, 2026.

Marina Militare/Handout via REUTERS
700: The tons of fuel and liquefied natural gas aboard a Russian tanker that is currently floating around the Mediterranean Sea unmanned, after a drone attack earlier this month prompted the crew to abandon ship. Russia blames Ukraine for the attack. Italy, France and other EU members have warned that the ship, which is now floating into Libyan [...]
Putin looks on over missiles flying between Israel and Iran.

Putin looks on over missiles flying between Israel and Iran.

Three weeks into the US-Israeli war against Iran, the list of losers is unusually long. Iran is getting devastated. The United States is trapped in an asymmetric conflict it can't exit. Gulf states are absorbing infrastructure damage they never signed up for. The developing world is facing food and energy crises. I could keep going.Washington and [...]