The Labour government in the UK is closing its first semester since its General Elections victory in July 2024, taking office for the first time in fourteen years. It has already been eight years since the country voted to leave the EU, with 52% of voters were in favour of Brexit. The Labour party found itself in a bind, facing the consequences of Brexit, the scary costs of living crisis, economic stagnation and political turmoil. The financial crisis has deepened, with Brexit exerting significant pressure on the economy, reducing the UK’s GDP by approximately 3% since the transition period in 2020. Furthermore, Brexit has particularly hit those sectors relying on export and free movement of people.

The new EU tariffication on Chinese’s electronics vehicles, sparked significant debate within the bloc. Germany, one of the main opposition to the reform, revealed to be more attached economically to China than what its original Zeitwende stated. This situation reflects a broader geopolitical struggle, where the EU is seeking to "de-risk" its relationship with China amid rising trade deficits. Germany, China, and the European Union are now caught in an ironic ménage à trois, where everyone is looking out for their own interests, all while [happily] ready to cut the rope.

The five countries that make up the most common definition of Central Asia, Kazakhstan Kirghizstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, have been left at the edges of contemporary media and international relations studies for the first 20 years since their independence in 1991. Their shared past as Soviet Republics, the continuity of their authoritarian regimes (except for Kirghizstan), and the uncontested Russian influence in the region, made them relatively uninteresting, in both a journalistic and academic perspective. This has changed much in the past ten years, and dramatically so after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The US elections results of the sixth of December have slammed the door open for questions and doubts that have been lingering for a long time around the EU institutions and its diplomats. To many EU personalities, Trump’s re-election came as a bit of surprise and many feel like the European Union has not done enough to prepare itself for the Tycoon’s second term in the White House. The general feeling is that, as expected, you can hide the dust under the rug only for so long before you have to vacuum.
What is the situation at the moment, what can be done and what can new faces bring to the table?

The 16th of November Joseph R. Biden Jr. met, for the last time, with XI Jinping, chief of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Lima, Peru, during the APEC summit of Pacific leaders. During this meeting both parties brought the accent on what they achieved from their relationship over the past four years, along with the issues still remained unsolved between them. The two great powers confirmed, with formal statements, that they had “a candid, constructive discussion on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues” on both areas of cooperation and difference.

Il 1° novembre il Giappone e l’Unione Europea hanno firmato una partnership storica per la difesa e la sicurezza: un partenariato senza precedenti con un Paese dell’Indo-Pacifico, regione indubbiamente attraversata da numerose e crescenti tensioni.