https://worldaffairs.net/posts/ Recent content in Posts on WorldAffairs Hugo en Wed, 20 May 2026 20:50:00 +0000 https://worldaffairs.net/brics-expansion-iran-war-stress-test/ Wed, 20 May 2026 20:50:00 +0000 https://worldaffairs.net/brics-expansion-iran-war-stress-test/ <p>BRICS foreign ministers met in New Delhi in May 2026 with one of the group’s newest members at war, Gulf shipping under pressure, and oil markets reacting to danger around the Strait of Hormuz. They ended without a joint statement.</p> https://worldaffairs.net/russia-china-energy-dependence/ Wed, 20 May 2026 17:05:00 +0000 https://worldaffairs.net/russia-china-energy-dependence/ <p>The clearest energy signal from Vladimir Putin’s May 20, 2026 meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing was the deal the two leaders did not sign. China and Russia praised their partnership and signed more than 40 cooperation agreements. Putin called energy the “driving force” of the economic relationship. Yet the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which Moscow needs to make its post-Europe gas pivot credible at scale, remained unsigned.</p>