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Stone-Fellow 4
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13 Aug · GulfNeither war nor peace in the Strait7 Aug · MeccaA Sunni Article 5, written in Mecca12 Aug · EnergyBeijing takes the barrels5 Aug · TokyoWashington props the yen11 Aug · KyivKyiv sends terms to the American table6 Aug · East AsiaA missile, and a prime minister’s instruction13 Aug · CalendarThe diary: G20 money in Asheville, BRICS in India10 Aug · CaracasThe hemisphere, seven months on13 Aug · GulfNeither war nor peace in the Strait7 Aug · MeccaA Sunni Article 5, written in Mecca12 Aug · EnergyBeijing takes the barrels5 Aug · TokyoWashington props the yen11 Aug · KyivKyiv sends terms to the American table6 Aug · East AsiaA missile, and a prime minister’s instruction13 Aug · CalendarThe diary: G20 money in Asheville, BRICS in India10 Aug · CaracasThe hemisphere, seven months on

Essays

Trends and insights

Six frames for the season. Read them as a set: the strait, the new Sunni clause, the return of the economic state, the choke points, the hemisphere, and the summits that settle nothing.

  1. 01

    Neither war nor peace

    The Strait of Hormuz has become a doctrine, not a place. Whoever defines ‘open’ defines the oil price.

  2. 02

    The Mecca doctrine

    A mutual-defence clause among Riyadh, Ankara, and Islamabad is the first new security architecture of the Iran war.

  3. 03

    The new economic nationalism

    Governments have walked back onto the corporate stage. Tariffs, industrial policy, and currency defence are now foreign policy.

  4. 04

    The choke-point century

    Critical minerals, mature chips, and distressed oil are the new alliance math.

  5. 05

    Hemisphere first

    The raid on Caracas was a doctrine with a night-vision camera. Latin America is still watching the playback.

  6. 06

    The search for a deal

    Trump and Xi can meet four times this year and still settle nothing that matters. That may be the point.