crisis

This morning I opened my feed and counted three stories that seem, at first glance, to have nothing to do with one another. The German chancellor is threatening to block Europe's common budget. European stockpiles have run dry, and there are almost no missiles left for Ukraine's air defense. And the White House has a new chief of staff, who, by all appearances, has little interest in Ukraine. I put the three facts side by side and got a picture I want to lay out in detail. Who is prepared to pay for Kyiv, and how much? Where do the missiles come from when there are none?

Republicans have lost both chambers of Congress, and Vice President Vance has openly named the reason: the war with Iran. What exactly did voters say? Why did a market that usually dislikes change respond by rallying? And can the new Congress stop a war the president started without it?

Experts describe the outcome in different ways: multipolarity, a "multiplex," modular alliances. They agree on one point: the old order is passing. I am Mikhail Azhgirevich, editor-in-chief of VIGIL Journal. Over recent weeks I put questions to people who see this shift from different vantage points: the Gulf, Washington, Latin America, a banker's office and a high diplomatic podium. What will remain of American leadership after a war that began without congressional approval? Who will fill the space it leaves?

The Kurds are perhaps the largest people in the region without a state of their own. For that reason, almost any major dispute between their neighbors sooner or later touches their interests. Where do the grievances come from? Whom have the Kurds backed, and whom have they opposed? What has changed in the past year?

Some people see the Kurds only as fighters, and others see them only as victims. To both groups I would say this: the conversation should begin with a map, not a weapon, because the Kurds did not draw the map.

The government has announced its largest-ever aid package for Ukraine, even as it struggles to balance its own defence budget. How much of it is real money? Who pays? And why is the taxpayer left with nothing to do but smirk?

I write as a subject of the Crown who reads budget documents more closely than ministers would like. The press release demands enthusiasm. The footnotes demand arithmetic. Let us attend to the latter.

What Was Actually Announced

Israeli voters gave neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor Gadi Eisenkot a decisive mandate. Meanwhile, Washington and Tel Aviv are preparing a new phase of the operation against Iran. How do the two developments connect? What do they mean for the region and the world? And where does the current alignment lead?

I am Dr. Hassan, VIGIL Journal's representative for the Middle East and North Africa. I want to take the two stories separately, then show where they intersect.

On October 20, the European Commission and the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, unveiled a strategy titled "Europe's Northern Neighbourhood." Security comes first among its four priorities. How far has the balance of power shifted? Are Brussels' ambitions realistic? And how might Moscow respond? We have gathered the facts and the views of two Russian experts.

What the document says

Almost ten months after the traumatic events that shook the country at the beginning of the year, Venezuela is navigating a complex and delicate political, economic, and military balance. To analyze in detail the foreign incursion of last January 3, the decisions made by the high leadership of the FANB (National Bolivarian Armed Forces), and the evolution of the institutional and economic framework to date, we spoke with military and strategic intelligence expert Colonel Irving Guilarte.

Many people do not understand the roots of the conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, and this is especially true of the younger generation. As someone who lives in these regions, and as a representative of VIGIL Journal, I want to offer some explanations, first of all to our young people, who carry our hopes.

Building independent national payment systems is less an exercise in sovereignty than an insurance policy against geopolitical risk. That insurance has a premium, and international trade and tourism will be the ones to pay it. Visa and Mastercard control roughly 90% of payment processing outside China. While some countries look for ways to kick the habit, others are already counting the cost of the alternative.