Emerging Risks

Chinese feed producers, pig farmers and traders are reshaping the global grain market as they scour the world for supplies amid a domestic shortfall that sent local corn prices to record highs and is expected to fuel global food inflation in 2021.

Even if the two Nordic countries don’t join NATO, they have signaled a new era in relations with Moscow.

Could Iran’s program be contained by a military attack? And what would be the consequences in terms of collateral damage and regional instability?

Israel has the ability to attack Iran, and will soon have no other choice as the proverbial sword is almost at its neck.

A whistleblower has said the condition is alarming doctors, two years after it was first discovered in the spring of 2019.

There are few comforting lessons for Ukraine to draw from the Nordic countries’ relationship to Nato

Putin is right about one thing: A free, prosperous, democratic neighbor is a threat to his autocratic regime.

From Iran to North Korea, here are the five most dangerous flashpoints for the eruption of World War III, in descending order of peril.

From China's COVID-19 policy to Trump's fight for the midterms to Iran's nukes, Ian Bremmer on the top risks for the world in 2022.

Iranian leader says the former US president 'must face justice and retribution' for strike that killed the Quds Force chief

On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry unveiled two draft texts — a “Treaty between the United States…

The Communist Party congress will be a controlled display of power, while America’s mid-term elections may condemn the country to a divided government

Hundreds of projects launched since 2020 show that Chinese police, state media and the military are gathering data from sites including Twitter and Facebook to track perceived threats.

Declining populations in many cities means more people are moving to fewer places where affordability will get worse, not better.

Current conditions are ideal for a Russian invasion, but the historical inspiration is more tsarist than Soviet.

The Raisi government is clearly not impressed by the Biden administration's genuflections in Vienna.

Israeli leaders are beating the war drums against Tehran. But as settler violence rises with impunity, they would do better to concentrate on matters closer to home

Of all Bejing’s problems — demographic decline, a stifling political climate, the stalling or reversal of economic reforms — dwindling natural resources may be the most urgent.

India was slow to identify and publicize the emergence of delta

After striking a mockup model of the Israeli nuclear facility with ballistic missiles in a recent war game, Iran said the site will be a prime target in any potential war with Israel.

Military pressing full steam ahead with effort to develop credible threat against Tehran's nuclear facilities, while also preparing for next potential Gaza conflict

archived 27 Dec 2021 21:22:59 UTC

Former Senior CIA Officer Gregory Sims highlights a potential miscalculation in the thinking of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine

Since humanity first harnessed the atom, active nuclear power plants have not been on the front lines of conventional conflict. A Russian invasion of Ukraine could unleash an unprecedented radiological catastrophe.

archived 29 Dec 2021 04:42:24 UTC

Our oligarchs prostrate themselves for profit

In rural Oregon, voters fed up with their state’s leftward turn have embraced a simple and outlandish idea: What if we were just Idaho?

While the consequences of the "bomb" part of a nuclear warhead are well-known - intense fireball, heat, infrastructure damage - generations born after the Cold War may not understand the devastating effects radiation has on human health for those not killed in the initial blast. According to the Mayo Clinic, radiation sickness is damage to your body caused by a large dose of radiation over a short period of time. (It's important to note that routine exposures to very small amounts of radiation, such as in an X-ray or CT scan, doesn't cause radiation sickness.) Some symptoms happen immediate...