After joining ASEAN in 2025, Timor-Leste is leveraging sustainable, high-value tourism to boost soft power, diversify beyond oil, and cement its regional role—positioning itself as Southeast Asia’s next authentic frontier, not its next mass market.
Ghana’s bid to join BRICS+ reflects a growing push to diversify economic partnerships without abandoning traditional allies. Could its entry strengthen BRICS’ role in a multipolar world?
India-China ties are improving, but border tensions, strategic rivalry, and Indo-Pacific competition require realistic expectations. Cooperation can grow, yet enduring differences will continue shaping the relationship.
QUAD Plus can reinforce a Free and Open Indo-Pacific by expanding intelligence, technology, and maritime cooperation, reducing dependence on China and strengthening regional resilience against coercion.
Canada's submarine choice highlights a key lesson: modern arms sales depend not only on capability and price, but also on alliances, strategic trust, and long-term security partnerships. South Korea must sell relationships, not just weapons.
Abiy Ahmed's political capital is shrinking as insecurity, inflation, elite fragmentation, and dependence on external patrons drive up the cost of power. Can Ethiopia's political marketplace sustain his rule much longer?
