Author: Editor
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July 2026
Pakistan's international importance is rising but its structural capacity is not. Pakistan enters Q3 of 2026 looking more confident abroad than at home. Diplomatically, Islamabad has become an increasingly visible player, mediating between Washington and Tehran, strengthening ties with the Gulf and deepening its strategic partnership with China. Economically, recovery is taking hold, but it…
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July 2026
Kazakhstan is no longer designing its future. It is implementing it. July was less about new policies than proving existing ones. The implementation of Kazakhstan's constitutional reforms, the extension of Tokayev's political horizon and disruption to critical oil export routes all lead us to the same conclusion - resilience is no longer an abstract strategic…
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July 2026
Last month’s MOU has rapidly unravelled: Iran’s assertion of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz led to the US sanctions waiver on Iranian oil exports being revoked after barely two weeks and the US displaying its frustration over the negotiations’ lack of progress with a days-long bombing campaign. Reprisal attacks against mainly military targets…
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July 2026
Last month we argued that Egypt was moving from mediator to stakeholder. This month the evidence suggests it is becoming something more - indispensable. Conflict now stretches from the Gulf to Gaza, Sudan and the Red Sea. Rather than reducing Egypt's room for manoeuvre, it has increased the value of the assets Cairo already possesses:…
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July 2026
While the 2026 FIFA World Cup positioned Mexico as a host of global events and the USMCA entered a new phase of annual reviews, the economy continued to attract investment in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, logistics, and financial services. At the same time, the government strengthened its security strategy through operations against organized crime and…
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June 2026
Kazakhstan is stepping into the execution phase of its transformation. The constitutional reforms that dominated headlines earlier this year are now being transitioned into institutions. The government's gaze is now on economic resilience, strategic infrastructure and long-term stability. Politically, the system continues to rally around Tokayev's vision of controlled reform. Economically, investment is increasingly aimed…
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June 2026
Bangladesh announced its largest ever budget this June, a 19% increase on the current budget. The government’s 6.5% GDP growth target also appears ambitious given current economic challenges. Exports and remittances continue to provide important support, but the government's ambitious budget targets are increasingly colliding with structural weaknesses in the banking sector and wider economy.………
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June 2026
The 40-day war opened by US and Israeli strikes on Iran did not end so much as change state. Diplomacy and low-intensity fighting now run in parallel: by the second week of June a fresh exchange (a US helicopter down near Hormuz, retaliatory US strikes on southern Iran, Iranian missiles against bases in Jordan, Kuwait…
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June 2026
The 40-day war opened by US and Israeli strikes on Iran did not end so much as change state. Diplomacy and low-intensity fighting now run in parallel: by the second week of June a fresh exchange (a US helicopter down near Hormuz, retaliatory US strikes on southern Iran, Iranian missiles against bases in Jordan, Kuwait…