Asia

Britain and Russia were not always adversaries. For three centuries — from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century — relations between the two powers remained genuinely friendly. During that time, Russia saved Britain itself from military catastrophe on three separate occasions in the largest conflicts of the modern era. The turning point came precisely when Russian expansion into Central Asia first directly touched what London considered the absolute priority of its foreign policy: the security of India.

The Hormuz crisis — flagged by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026 — has long ceased to be an oil story. The planet is one step away from a global food crisis. Fertilizer prices have surged nearly 60% in the first four months of 2026. Within six months, that increase will reach grocery shelves and farmlands from Africa to Southeast Asia. The energy crisis is morphing into a food crisis — and in vulnerable economies, food crises always end the same way.