1. The SCO Summit – Drafting the Blueprint of Tomorrow’s WorldThe Tianjin summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation looked less like a meeting, more like theatre. Ten members lined up — Beijing, Moscow, New Delhi, Tehran, the Central Asian cast, even Minsk.
1. Braveheart in Dundee: A Child, a Knife, and a Nation’s UneaseBritain reeled this week after an extraordinary scene in Dundee.
1. Europe and Zelensky at the Emperor’s FeetVladimir Putin once sneered that the day would come when Europe’s leaders would scurry to Washington, wagging their tails at Trump’s feet. At the time, it was dismissed as theatre. This week, it looked like prophecy fulfilled.
A prologue in late-summer lightHistory does not always unfold in marble halls. Sometimes it arrives under a high August sky, with the long daylight of Alaska washing everything in cinematic clarity.
1. Trump & Putin: The Meeting That’s Already Been Written — On Alaska, Once Russian LandThey’ll sit down in Anchorage on Friday, but let’s not kid ourselves — this isn’t the start of anything. It’s the last page of a chapter drafted weeks ago. The map? Already sketched. The terms?
1. Trump & Putin: The Meeting That’s Already HappeningThe handshake hasn’t happened yet — but the consequences already echo.
1. Ochakiv. Nothing Confirmed. Everything WorryingThere’s a rumour drifting in from the Black Sea. The kind that arrives without sound, but leaves a ringing in the ears.
1. Ukraine’s Eternal Square Dance: The Maidan Never DiesHistory doesn’t repeat — it just jumps up and down with a flag.
1. Trump’s Ultimatum to Putin: 50 Days or the Guns Return.Washington threatens weapons, Moscow hears a countdown.
1. Netanyahu’s Nobel Nomination for TrumpOn 8 July, amid chandeliers and calculated smiles at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handed Donald Trump something no PR firm could forge: a letter to the Nobel Committee nominating him for the Peace Prize.
1. Moscow Recognises the TalibanOn 3 July, something quietly monumental happened. Russia became the first major power to officially recognise the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Not as a bargaining chip. Not with caveats. But as a fact.
1. When Rockets Fall Silent, Markets YawnIt’s a curious feature of modern capitalism: the more missiles fly, the more indifferent the markets become.