COMMENT: Amid shrinking civic space, will the EBRD still uphold its democratic mandate?

As the global Democracy Index recorded a historic low in 2024, institutions tasked with upholding democratic values are under increasing pressure to adapt.

COMMENT: Taiwan is playing with darkness by abandoning nuclear power

Japan has restarted many of its nuclear reactors, recognising their role in energy security and climate targets. South Korea has also reinstated nuclear as a core component of its energy strategy. Taiwan, by contrast, is marching backwards.

In Kurdish peace moves, expect ailing founder Ocalan to get Turkish Riviera house arrest and “Real PKK” splinter to emerge, says analyst

Ankara thinks it can “mop up” those who continue fighting, adds Soner Cagaptay.

COMMENT: China’s quiet power play in Southeast Asia

BEYOND THE BOSPORUS: Who's to say PKK guns won't be used under a different name?

And anyway, despite what you are reading, the militants' so-called name has not been in use since 2002.

COMMENT: Why Asia should not follow the failed European model

Over the past 15 years, Europe’s trade frameworks have faltered, integration has stalled, and a number of its core political and economic ideas have failed under real-world pressure.

COMMENT: Lessons from Ukraine suggest India will not go to war with Pakistan

The vast economic and demographic imbalance between India and Pakistan strongly favours New Delhi in any theoretical war between the two rivals. Yet, lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine suggest that India cannot win a total war.

COMMENT: Central Europe’s diverging economic paths challenge regional policy synchronisation – ING

The economic trajectories of Central and Eastern European countries are drifting apart, with growth, inflation, and policy direction showing increasing divergence.

Food, Water, Energy: Romanian extremists' utopian model or a road to authoritarianism

Calin Georgescu’s “Food, Water, Energy” programme promises to heal Romania, but could morph into an authoritarian project.

HALLIGAN: Power struggle in OPEC+ is pulling oil prices down

The oil market has entered choppy waters once again. Crude prices fell by a dramatic 18% in April y/y – the sharpest monthly drop since November 2021 – partly due to a global slowdown, but more due to a power struggle within OPEC+.

COMMENT: The US doesn’t have the clout to split Hungary off from China

The US doesn't have the clout to even get countries as small as Hungary to cut their ties with China, says political commentator and bne IntelliNews columnist Arnaud Bertrand.

COMMENT: Trump’s tariff drive hits emerging markets as growth and inflation forecasts slide – Oxford Economics

President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies are already casting a long shadow over emerging market economies, with analysts cutting growth forecasts and warning of prolonged investment uncertainty and policy disruption.

COMMENT: Turkish opposition’s efforts to bring down Erdogan regime are just not working

Half-measures, be damned. The CHP had better step up its game. Or democracy is lost.

Post-war order teetering – rights watchdog

Eurasia “at forefront” of assault on individual freedoms.

COMMENT: Middle Corridor makes progress, but playing second fiddle to the Northern Route

The Middle Corridor linking China to Europe through the South Caucasus and Central Asia has expanded significantly in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but its long-term prospects remain uncertain.

MACRO ADVISORY: Kazakhstan’s high stakes oil gambit

Kazakhstan’s economy is estimated to have grown by more than 5.5% in the first quarter. Growth in February alone topped 7.5% y/y. The reason for the strong growth is the surge in oil production at the giant Tengiz oil field.

Think-tank urges EU to consider 'Big Bang' enlargement and sweeping reforms

European Policy Centre analysts call on the EU to abandon its piecemeal, hesitant approach to enlargement and commit to ‘permachange’: a permanent state of adaptation in response to cascading crises.

Turkey’s foreign policy falling apart on all fronts, writes shadow minister

Ankara took a slap to the chops as Turkic Central Asian states inked an investment-linked deal on relations with Brussels that pointedly included no recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

COMMENT: Embracing “Greater Central Asia” has become a strategic imperative for US

Wider region increasingly seen as arena in which major powers’ interests, such as in sourcing critical minerals, collide and converge.

BEYOND THE BOSPORUS: Rancid regime moves to detain lawyer to Imamoglu's lawyer

Will he need a lawyer? Perhaps not considering how the Erdogan administration routinely ignores supposedly weighty court rulings.