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U.S. and U.K. government initiatives reflect the widespread alarm AI has generated since the popularization of generative AI apps.

For the past several years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has fundamentally changed the goals and methods of Beijing’s foreign policy, with the Middle East central to its ambitions as a global powerbroker. Given China’s increased relevance in the region, its response to the Israel-Hamas war has been surprisingly underwhelming.

There is growing recognition in the West that multilateral institutions need to change to deal with worsening crises, as well as to respond to the legitimate demands of marginalized countries to be included in international decision-making. But there remains a lack of consensus on what a transformation of the global order entails.

It seems increasingly clear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not survive politically once the war in Gaza is over.

On Oct. 15th, Daniel Noboa, a 35-year-old business executive, won the race to be Ecuador’s next president, although due to the circumstances of the election, he will only get a shortened 18-month term. To subsequently win a full term in office for himself, Noboa needs to learn from outgoing President Guillermo Lasso’s failures.

Lake Titicaca, spanning the border between Peru and Bolivia, is critical to supporting the livelihoods of 3 million people. That makes it all the more alarming that this year it was named the “Threatened Lake of the Year” by the Global Nature Fund and the Living Lakes Network, for the second time in just 11 years.

The Israel-Hamas conflict has already highlighted the dangers that the degradation of Twitter, now known as X, can pose to global politics.

As with the war in Ukraine, fault lines in the international system have emerged amid the Israel-Hamas war. The variation in reactions is perhaps most evident among the African Union’s 55 member states, whose positions reflect different histories, traditions and interests as well as the preferences of national leaders.

U.S. President Joe Biden is confident that the U.S. can do it all: support both Ukraine and Israel at war, contain China, thwart Iran, regulate and secure the U.S. border, and address a host of other security crises now facing the world. But politics at home may make the current situation too much for Biden to handle.

Australia is a significant anchor for the U.S. strategy for countering China in the Indo-Pacific region, perhaps even more so than India.

For the past year, Yemen has been in a state of limbo, its messy, regionalized conflict on hold but unresolved. And that’s unlikely to change—for the better, at least—soon. Even if Saudi Arabia and the Houthis agree to a formal cease-fire, the country will remain stuck in the liminal space of “no war, no peace” for some time to come.

Since Chile’s leftist President Gabriel Boric took office, hopes that he will usher in sweeping change have evaporated rapidly. The latest disappointment came earlier this month, when the committee charged with replacing Chile’s outdated dictatorship-era constitution approved a draft that would make the country more conservative.

While Israel’s intense and immediate retaliation may have been inevitable, it has nevertheless now backed the country into a corner.

As is often the case when faced with an unexpected crisis, infighting hampered the EU’s ability to respond to the Israel-Hamas war. Critics pointed to the disarray as proof that the EU can never become a truly geopolitical actor. But once the EU finds its feet, its long-term responses to new challenges can prove remarkably resilient.

In a lightning strike on Sept. 19, Azerbaijan extinguished more than 30 years of de facto self-governance by ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. For Armenians, its loss is perceived as a catastrophe. For Azerbaijanis, the outcome represents restored sovereignty. But how the conflict ended has key implications for the future.

Across Latin America, leaders have promised to overhaul their country’s security strategy, before falling back on a militarized approach.

Israel’s order for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive has generated severe criticism. But an alternative, legal plan at Israel’s disposal for moving civilians out of harm’s way could, if executed, resolve Israel’s humanitarian dilemma and also yield some strategic side-benefits.