CIPS vs SWIFT: the battle for global financial infrastructure
Why CIPS vs SWIFT defines the future of financial power Behind every international wire transfer, trade invoice, and central bank operation lies a messaging infrastructure invisible to markets yet structurally decisive for geopolitical power. SWIFT — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication — has performed that function since 1973. China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), launched […]
How Sudan’s civil war became a regional power contest
How Sudan’s civil war became a regional power contest is a critical development that the international community can no longer afford to ignore. What began in April 2023 as a localized power struggle has transformed into a high-stakes geopolitical battlefield. Consequently, Sudan is now a “forgotten war” where massive global consequences are unfolding in silence. […]
From grain to fertilizer: the new geopolitics of agriculture
As the 2026 sowing season commences, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has transformed the agricultural input market into a battlefield of resource nationalism. Consequently, food security no longer represents a simple trade metric ; it functions as a strategic military lever. The global squeeze: a two-front war on calories Geopolitics has finally collided […]
The geopolitical risk premium: pricing tension
Markets do not wait for disruption to become visible before they start pricing it. In energy, finance, and cross-border investment, markets often absorb part of the cost of instability in advance through expectations. This forward-looking element is the geopolitical risk premium: the extra return, spread, or price adjustment that markets demand when political tension raises the perceived […]
Shipping & choke points: geography as risk
Globalization is often described as a world of seamless flows. Goods move, capital circulates, and supply chains stretch across continents. Yet global trade is far less fluid than it appears. In practice, much of it still depends on a small number of narrow maritime passages, where geography compresses movement into a few vulnerable corridors. There may […]
Geopolitics of fossil fuels: energy transition and new global crisis
In an increasingly unstable global context, fossil fuels continue to play a crucial role in global geopolitics. This is one of the key points that emerged during the seminar held by Pier Paolo Raimondi, Research Fellow at EUI and Senior Research Fellow at IAI, dedicated to the geopolitics of fossil fuels, with its trends, players […]
Strait of Hormuz: impact on financial markets
On February 28, 2026, coordinated airstrikes led by the US-Israel coalition targeted Iranian military targets. Immediately, Iran’s Islamic regime chose to destabilize international trade through a single maneuver: the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This 55-kilometer-wide passage is one of the world’s most critical energy arteries, through which approximately 20% of seaborne oil and […]
Energy networks, standards, and power: what businesses can learn from Europe’s gas crisis
In the current global context, which is becoming increasingly unstable, energy is not just a geopolitical or economic issue. In this situation, energy has also become a matter of security, infrastructure and power. Energy is a weapon, and nowadays States use it to gain power in Governments’ relations in a strategic way. This is just one […]
Franco-German “sovereign AI” initiative: Europe’s bid for digital autonomy
France and Germany have announced a new strategic partnership with Mistral AI and SAP SE to build what they frame as a sovereign AI infrastructure for public administration. As shown in the chart below, the US and China account for roughly two-thirds of newly funded AI start-ups worldwide. This joint initiative, revealed on 18 November, […]
India’s multi-alignment and the growing partnership with Italy
In the last article, we have commented on whether multilateralism can survive the current Age of Multipolarity. Now, we examine multi-alignment in Indian foreign policy. India’s global weight is rising. It is today the third-largest economy in the world, according to the IMF and the World Bank. The largest economies in the world, according to […]