The British government’s new defence strategy gestures towards the real security challenges of the 21st century while remaining locked overall in an outmoded vision. But the seeds of new thinking, beyond and even inside the state, will grow.
Italy's prime minister is under severe domestic pressure after a fallout with his closest political ally. But a great political survivor still has room to manage his exit strategy, says Geoff Andrews.
The Belarusian opposition seeks to map a path beyond the authoritarian rule of Alexander Lukashenko by establishing a claim to represent the true or real nation. But it needs to work on different ground - for this is a contest it can’t win, says Nelly Bekus.
The meticulous operation that rescued Chile's trapped miners after two months underground highlights the country's economic problems as well as its professional and human assets. This makes its longer-term impact on Chile less than certain, says Carlos Huneeus in Santiago.
A surprising first-round result in Brazil’s presidential election sharpens the fight between Dilma Rousseff and José Serra. Brazilian voters' choice is also between two scenarios for the country's democracy, says Arthur Ituassu in Rio de Janeiro.
The politics of a small Persian Gulf kingdom do not usually reverberate far beyond its borders. But an accumulation of social tensions and rights violations in Bahrain gives its coming election a rare international importance, say Christopher M Davidson & Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen.
An extraordinary Latin American country gifts another story to the world. But Chile's latest epic carries many ghosts in its train, writes Isabel Hilton.
The Chilean miners’ rescue, a inspiring story of human solidarity, offers the nation’s president a miraculous political reward. There are lessons for a European counterpart, says Goran Fejic.
A series of developments across greater west Asia offers evidence of al-Qaida’s dispersed reality, continued energy and potential vulnerability.
The Beijing elite’s vehement reaction to an imprisoned dissident’s Nobel award is a sign of its political vulnerability, says Kerry Brown.
Behind the escalation of United States cross-border raids into Pakistan and of Taliban attacks on coalition tanker-convoys lie the cold political reality of an unwinnable war.
The election of a new leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party is a rare opportunity to put fresh thinking on global security at the heart of the political agenda.
