Category: How We Think

Part IV of a four part series As part of our series covering payments and overarchingly focusing on how Europe is pushing to improve its autonomy from a transatlantic relationship that has become less predictable and more politically contingent, we now focus on the pharmaceutical sector. In March 2025 the European Commission first proposed the…

Part III of a four part series Tourism, trade and the geopolitics of acceptance The global payments system is no longer converging. It is fragmenting. For decades, the question of how tourists paid abroad was largely settled. A handful of global card networks acted as universal translators, smoothing transactions across borders with little political friction.……

Part II of a four part series Why Europe, Egypt and China are solving different problems The global debate about payments is often framed as a technical one. Faster transfers. Better apps. Cheaper fees. In reality, payments systems reveal something far more political – what states want control over, and why.… Read the rest

(Part I of a series) Why optionality, not disruption, is the real prize Europe talks a great deal about strategic autonomy. In payments, it is finally beginning to practice it. For decades, the basic act of paying – sending money, settling transactions, moving value across borders – has depended on infrastructure owned and governed elsewhere.……

We are living through tumultuous times, the end of an era, the beginning of a new epoch. Since 1947 the United States of America (USA or US) has dominated the planet, becoming the sole hegemon with the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991. Thanks to the stability that this Pax Americana…

Gold prices are falling fast. After weeks of record highs and breathless commentary, bullion has dumped hundreds of Dollars in a matter of hours. Silver has followed. The dollar has snapped back. Markets, suddenly, look calmer. The trigger had a name – Kevin Warsh. President Trump’s move to line up Warsh as the next Federal…

To try to make sense of the last twelve months, and more, it is important to understand the variety of theories that seek to explain events, decisions, and outlooks. There are several schools of thought in the study of International Relations. All of them are valid to one degree or another when studying any particular…

At first glance, Egypt’s announcement sounds technical. Africa’s first specialised gold bank. Refining. Vaulting. Trade finance. Another MoU, another promise. But look closer and it’s something else entirely. This is about who controls value, who controls reserves and who controls the pipes when geopolitics turns hostile. Let’s get one thing straight upfront.… Read the rest

In recent weeks the US has struck alleged narcotics smuggling boats and kidnapped a foreign head of state. One excuse given for these attacks was that Venezuela was responsible for some of the flow of narcotics into the USA. Here we dismantle this facile argument because, for all this force projection, Washington still refuses to…