Red Sea
BUSINESS
Re-Alignment in the Red Sea: Russia & Iran
Russia and Iran recalibrate influence from Syria to Sudan, leveraging Red Sea conflicts and deepening military ties in shifting alliances.
PODCASTS
Unrecognised Independence: The Somaliland Case
In the first edition of this Horn of Africa series, Guled Ahmed and I explore Somaliland's 1960 independence, legal challenges, and state-building journey. Listen now!
BUSINESS
Direct Flights from Russia to Eilat: Red Sea VacationsÂ
Israel plans direct Russia-Eilat flights by 2025, making Red Sea vacations easier and cheaper as Israel's economy reels from the war in Gaza.
Popular
Winter Storm Research Rewrites a Witch Trial Tragedy
As new research published in Smithsonian Magazine this week connects a 1617 Arctic storm to Norway's deadliest witch trials, climate historians reveal how weather shock fed decades of persecution.
Prediction Takes Politics: Prophets and Polymarkets Collide
As 11 Peruvian shamans predicted Nicolás Maduro's fall on 29 December 2025, crypto traders were placing similar bets online—five days before U.S. forces extracted the Venezuelan leader to New York.
Mladenov Takes Over Gaza Board After Regional Veto
Nickolay Mladenov becomes Gaza peace board head after Arab states blocked Tony Blair, raising questions about whose interests guide Washington's selection.
Abu Dhabi Rebuffs British Universities Over Campus Radicalisation
The world’s wealthiest patrons now view Western campuses as hazards, forcing a costly inversion of the traditional hierarchy that once defined global education.
Bury the Lead: MTV ‘Death’ and the Way We Read Now
As MTV continued broadcasting across the United States and most of Europe on 1 January 2026, millions of social media tributes mourned a channel that had never actually shut down.


