The economic viability of extracting oil from the frozen north might be doubtful, but the geopolitical significance could be massive.
Not all eyes are on the prize: Eurovision is often as much about undeclared alliances, voting blocs and political paybacks.
Andres Putting (EBU)/Eurovision
For the first time, Australians can vote for this year’s Eurovision winner. But it’s as much a political battlefield as a song contest – so hopefully the Russians have forgotten the “shirtfront”.
In the end, Tony Abbott – pictured with Xi Jinping and mining magnate Andrew Forrest – can’t ignore the economic consequences of snubbing China’s investment bank.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The US gravely miscalculated in trying to get China to accept the existing global order. Forced to make a choice, America’s closest allies are joining the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Britain’s decision to join China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a revealing example of one of the key realities of the new international order. Not only are geopolitics and geoeconomics…
__The turmoil of 2014 was a timely reminder to businesses that they need to be prepared and have contingency plans for global conflict. The crisis in Ukraine brought Russia and the West to the brink of…
A show of force. Will China assert itself?
Sam Ilić
Whether you fear or welcome a challenge to the world’s existing power structure, the main focus of attention is on when China will begin to translate its increasing influence into genuine global leadership…
The “thirst for oil” is often put forward as a near self-evident explanation behind military interventions in Libya, for instance, or Sudan. Oil, or the lack of oil, is also said to be behind the absence…
A common topic of discussion in Iran is oil and the mixed blessing it represents. The country’s recent history has been intertwined with that of international oil politics since 1908, when William Knox…
EU in the room: failed high-level diplomacy in Minsk.
Alexey Druzhinin/Ria Novosti/KRE/EPA
As a fragile ceasefire just about holds in Ukraine, with shelling reported in the pivotal port city of Mariupol, the EU has announced a new round of sanctions against Russia. Targeted at state-owned firms…
Now that Otto von Bismarck, he knew what he was doing.
Jacek Turczyk/EPA
Karl Marx warned against conjuring up the past to explain the present, but really, we have been somewhere very like the Ukraine before. Benjamin Disraeli stood in the British parliament 150 years ago condemning…
The rapid escalation of the situation in Crimea has led us faster than we might have thought to consider if and how Russia might unleash energy policy as part of its geopolitical strategy. President Vladimir…
The Arctic is not, and never will be, plain sailing.
Szecska
Kathrin Keil, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam
Disappearing Arctic sea ice has brought new opportunities for shipping, and placed the top of the world squarely on industry and politicians’ agendas. When the bulk carrier MV Nordic Orion last week ferried…
Mourners accompany the remains of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez through the streets of Caracas.
EPA/David Fernandez
The recent death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez from cancer comes as no great surprise. The former military leader had rarely been seen in the public eye since December last year when he travelled…
A boom in cheap gas is weaning the US off foreign fossil fuels, and that has implications for geo-politics.
EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
Instead of increased reliance on gas imports expected five years ago the US now has an abundance of cheap gas for domestic use, and is even projecting LNG exports. Reliance on oil imports has fallen from…
US President Barack Obama meets with his soon to be Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier this year.
EPA/Martin H. Simon
CHINA IN TRANSITION: As China goes through its secretive but widely anticipated leadership transition, the rest of the world is watching. This week, The Conversation takes an in depth look at the National…