Our Thinking

The Shock Operation in Venezuela. President Trump’s administration surprised almost everyone with the operation to take President Maduro from his Palace in Venezuela. It was seen as an exceptionally effective military operation being rapid, tightly coordinated, intelligence-driven and executed with decisive force. In a single move the Venezuelan Regime was temporarily decapitated and President Maduro’s potential successors were left in little doubt about who holds the str

How is the World Shaped Today? The post-2008 international order is fragmenting, giving way to competitive multipolarity. These are not recent changes, but issues Chris Parry and Rudy Vandaele-Kennedy have been discussing for almost 20 years. This shift has been gradual. Confidence in the Western-led rules-based system has weakened, strategic rivalry has returned and power is diffusing. Some describe the moment as a new Phoney or Cold War. There are signs of bloc formatio