Britain has put an end to coal power. What does it mean for its industry?
In the late 1980s coal produced about 70% of Britain's electricity. It is now the first G7 country to abandon coal generation, which raises hard questions for its industry.
China
What we stubbornly pursue slips away, while what comes more easily is usually not so important
A selection of sayings from Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy", on the elusiveness of what we most desire, the discipline of following one's own road, and the love that moves the sun and the other stars.
Electricity generation per capita in Germany and China
Germany's electricity generation per capita falls year after year, while China's has risen continuously for at least three decades — a sign of where industrial capacity is heading.
China's strategic depth and the clash of its interests with those of the United States in the Asia-Pacific
This infographic maps the complex operational picture in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility, where the United States confronts China.
All warfare is based on deception
Sun Tzu on deception in war, the summit of military skill, and what an enemy's peace overtures really mean.
The North–South Transport Corridor and Iran's pivotal role
The International North–South Transport Corridor is an ambitious 7,200-km multimodal route from St Petersburg to Mumbai. Because every branch of it runs through Iran, the country has become the corridor's pivotal link.
Why I consider Amir Temur the greatest commander
In my view, though I may be mistaken, the Great Temur ranks first among the greatest commanders in all history, followed by Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great and Hannibal Barca.
Why Chinese manufacturers dominate the solar panel and battery industries
The author's case for why Chinese manufacturers dominate the global solar panel and battery sectors: long-term state industrial strategy, subsidies, self-sufficiency in minerals, scale, automation and cheap electricity.
Battery cell production costs: China, South Korea, the EU and the US
The chart compares the average cost of producing battery cells in China, South Korea, the European Union and the United States, and shows why the US and the EU lag behind China.
China's monthly solar panel exports to the rest of the world, in megawatts
China's monthly exports of solar panels to the rest of the world, measured in megawatts (MW). Chinese panels are far cheaper than those made elsewhere, and China also produces three-quarters of the world's batteries.
Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard…
Zbigniew Brzezinski on Ukraine as the geopolitical pivot of Eurasia, and on how the West should deal with China.
Karl Haushofer's theory of pan-regions and the continental bloc (for those interested in geopolitics and the geopolitical processes unfolding in the world)
Karl Haushofer (1869–1946) was born in Munich, Germany, into a professor's family. He served in the army for more than 20 years and became the author of an original theory of the continental bloc and of pan-regions.
Territories held by countries in the Arctic zone
This map shows the territories countries hold in the Arctic, a region now at the centre of economic and geopolitical competition between the United States, Russia and China.
The Global Gateway strategy of the European Union
The European Union's Global Gateway strategy aims to speed up digital, energy and environmental transformation in emerging and developing economies, mobilising €300 billion of investment by 2027.
Global gold market capitalisation exceeds $20 trillion
The capitalisation of the global gold market has passed $20.8 trillion, as uncertainty and inflation drive investors towards the metal.
China controls 62% of the global electric vehicle market
China controls 62% of the global electric vehicle market and holds on to its lead in electric transport.
The impact of artificial intelligence on the future labour market: which jobs may disappear and which may remain
According to an IMF report, artificial intelligence affects occupations differently: some face a high risk of replacement, others are safe.
In response to the 10% US tariffs on imports from China
In response to the 10% tariffs the United States imposed on imports from China, Beijing introduced additional duties of 15% on US coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG), and 10% on American oil, agricultural machinery, large-engine cars and pickups.
China graduates eight times as many STEM specialists as the US
This chart shows that China produces eight times as many STEM graduates each year as the United States, according to 2016 data from Statista.
How fast things change in the world of technological competition
In the 1990s Europe, the United States and Japan made all of the world's semiconductors. Their combined share has since collapsed, while China has gone from 0% to 24%.
The Panama Canal's importance to the United States
The Panama Canal is a lock-type waterway owned by Panama that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It carries 2.5% of world maritime trade a year and 40% of US container traffic.
China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a flagship of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, linking Pakistan's Gwadar and Karachi ports to China's Xinjiang region. Its cost has risen from an initial $46 billion to $65 billion.
Pakistan seeks closer economic ties with Central Asia
Pakistan's location makes it a natural bridge between landlocked Central Asia and the Arabian Sea, according to The News on Sunday. Regional trade integration could add up to 1.7% to Pakistan's GDP.
Eastern sea corridor between Chennai and Vladivostok
The eastern sea corridor linking the Indian port city of Chennai with Vladivostok, Russia's largest Pacific port, is back in service. It cuts cargo delivery times from 40 to 24 days compared with the Suez Canal route.
Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago as a US–UK strategic foothold in the Indian Ocean
The Chagos Archipelago, some 500 km south of the Maldives, hosts the Diego Garcia base, which lets the United States and Britain control sea lanes between South-East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In October 2024 Britain agreed to hand sovereignty over the islands to Mauritius while keeping the base for 99 years.
Kazakhstan's strategic choice
Kazakhstan declined full membership of BRICS at the bloc's October summit in Kazan, choosing instead to watch how the group develops while diversifying its foreign-policy ties and keeping close engagement with the West, The Diplomat reports.
ITC India–Middle East–Europe
In September 2023, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, the United States, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the EU announced plans for the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor (IMEC). It is meant to speed up trade and deepen economic integration between Asia, the Gulf and Europe — but war in the Middle East now threatens it.
Coal consumption in the Asia-Pacific region
According to the IEA, 83% of the coal mined worldwide is consumed in the Asia-Pacific region, with China alone accounting for more than half of global consumption. India and Indonesia are also increasing their use of coal year after year.
Old coal-fired power plants and new technologies
The United States has the world's oldest coal-fired power plants, with an average age set to pass 50 next year, and its 92 nuclear reactors are the third oldest globally. Yet while others build ultra-supercritical coal units, the US is closing its coal plants and switching to gas.
A good blacksmith piles up mountains of unworked iron
A Chinese proverb on how true skill shows itself in abundance, and on why kindness and mistakes alike call for careful thought.
The global market for industrial robots
According to the International Federation of Robotics, 545,000 industrial robots were installed at factories worldwide in 2022. Asia took 74% of them and China alone 53%.
The Draghi report on EU competitiveness
On 9 September this year former ECB president Mario Draghi presented the European Commission with a report on the future of the European economy, arguing that the EU must mobilise €750–800 billion a year to stay competitive.
Friedrich Ratzel's concept of Lebensraum and the world power
Friedrich Ratzel is regarded as the founder of geopolitics as a scientific discipline. His doctrine of the state as a living organism that must expand its living space justified German territorial expansion.
Some key takeaways from the BRICS summit in Kazan
The 16th BRICS summit ran in Kazan from 22 to 24 October this year under Russia's chairmanship. No new members were admitted, and the group ruled out a single currency.
Countries with aircraft carriers in their navies
An aircraft carrier is a floating airbase that projects a country's military and economic power at sea. Eleven countries operate carriers today, and NATO members together with Japan have 20 between them.
China, South Korea and Japan dominate commercial shipbuilding
This chart shows the countries that dominated shipbuilding by gross tonnage of merchant ships built in 2023, led by China, South Korea and Japan, which together account for 94% of the industry.
Rocket launches into space worldwide over the past three years
According to the American analytics and engineering firm BryceTech, SpaceX has tripled its rocket launches over the past two years and leads the world, while China, Russia and India are all stepping up their programmes.
Economic growth in the Global South
The fastest-growing economies now lie in Latin America, Africa and Asia, the regions known together as the Global South. Guyana's GDP doubled between 2021 and 2022, and African countries are set for average growth of 6–8% through 2028.
The Global North and the Global South
The Cold War divided the planet into three worlds; after the Soviet bloc collapsed, the concepts of the Global North and the Global South took shape.
The Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan
The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip of land in the Wakhan region of Badakhshan Province in eastern Afghanistan.
Growth in China's electricity consumption
According to the International Energy Agency, electricity demand in China's economy will grow to 10,498 TWh by 2025, more than double US demand of 4,475 TWh.
Global lithium reserves
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), identified lithium resources worldwide grew significantly in 2023, to about 98 million tonnes.
World GDP growth over 2,000 years
A World Bank chart tracing the growth of the world economy over the past two thousand years. World GDP grew by just 20% in the first millennium but has doubled every 20–25 years in recent decades.
Russia raises its key policy rate
On 13 September 2024 the Bank of Russia raised its key rate to 19%, even as other major central banks were cutting. The increase is feeding through to mortgage rates, which have climbed above 21%.
India's vast industrial development prospects
India has enormous long-term potential for industrial development. Nearly half its working population is still employed in agriculture, and mechanisation will push that labour into the cities and into industry.
Comparing the G7 and BRICS
According to the IMF, the combined GDP of the G7 reached $45.9 trillion in 2023, one and a half times the size of the BRICS economies.
The rise in global military spending in 2023
Defence spending rose at its fastest rate in a decade in 2023, reaching $2.443 trillion worldwide, with NATO accounting for 55% of the total.
The world's largest economies by 2050: Saudi Arabia's nuclear programme
Saudi Arabia's decision not to renew its era-defining security agreement with the United States, the sale of oil for dollars, reflects both America's declining global influence and where most Saudi oil is now sold.
Bloomberg and IMF forecast: China leads global growth, 2024–2029
Bloomberg and IMF forecasts put China first for contributions to global growth in 2024–2029, ahead of the G7 combined, with India second and Indonesia third.
China's foreign direct investment by country
China's outward foreign direct investment by country: the distribution based on fDi Markets data.
The world's largest economies by 2050: who will build Saudi Arabia's reactors
Saudi Arabia has yet to pick a builder for its planned reactors, with Rosatom, Westinghouse, KEPCO and CNNC in contention — and it has let the 1974 petrodollar pact with Washington lapse.
A good merchant hides his wealth and appears poor
A Chinese proverb on why a skilled trader conceals his riches and makes no show of them.
The world's largest economies by 2050: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia ranks 16th by GDP (PPP), and its oil wealth is managed by the state giant Saudi Aramco. The non-oil economy is now growing fast, even as hydrocarbons stay central to modern manufacturing.
The world's largest economies by 2050: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is the largest regional power on the Arabian Peninsula and the birthplace of Islam, which arose in Mecca and Medina in the 7th century.
NATO
Poland spends the most on defence of any NATO member, at 3.9% of GDP, while the US is the main beneficiary of rising allied defence budgets.
Japan's electricity generation
Japan's Sixth Energy Plan targets 38% renewables and 20% nuclear by 2030, while coal and gas lose ground. Yet total power generation has been falling since 2010.
Aluminium production in the United States
This chart tracks aluminium production in the United States and its share of world output. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the US made more than half of the world's aluminium; today it produces almost none.
India's electricity generation by energy source
India is the world's most populous country and its third-largest economy, yet coal still provides more than 80% of its electricity. This chart breaks down Indian power generation by source.