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Foreign Policy

July 2026

Spain Records Unprecedented Migrant Crossing

Migrants cross back to Morocco after they crossed the border to try to enter Spain

Giorgia Meloniitaly, Prime Minister
This crisis in Ceuta has nothing to do with the regularization of migrants adopted by the Government of Spain, as is being falsely claimed by some,
Juan Jesús Vivasceuta President
It’s a situation of absolute humanitarian and social emergency,
Juan Jesús Vivasceuta President
The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,
Donald Trumppresident
This agreement is a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people,
Pedro Sánchezprime Minister
Solidarity and empathy are optional. Respect for European treaties and the facts is not.”
Carlos Cordeiroamerican soccer administrator (born 1956)
It is a bad deal for FIFA’s Member Associations, a bad deal for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game,
The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product,

The Dreams of ‘Star Trek’ Aren’t Dead

The four-person crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission broke the record set by Apollo 13, back in 1970, traveling more than 406,000 kilometers from Earth

Ellie Arrowayastronomer
No words to describe it. … They should have sent a poet.”

Is the U.S.-Iran War Expanding?

Victoria J Taylorbiologist & researcher at the Open University
The real challenge in confronting the militia activity is that the most hard-line militias within Iraq are the most responsive to the Iranian regime,
Dario Amodeianthropic CEO
The world’s leading AI companies believe they could be close to automating AI research,
Victoria J Taylorbiologist & researcher at the Open University
We shouldn’t be surprised,
So, it’s really good that we are introducing a bipartisan piece of legislation that basically says: America is going to remain a Pacific nation, we’re going to remain a leader in the region,

NATO Says Russian Missile Violated Polish Airspace

We were ready to shoot down this missile if it continued its flight,
Tahir R. Andrabipakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Negotiations between parties are ongoing, particularly on [the] Strait of Hormuz and to de-escalate,
Kyriakos Mitsotakisgreek Prime Minister
We have difficult days ahead of us,
He is truly sorry for having caused all this trouble,
Volodymyr Zelenskyypresident
All partners know how and with what they can help,

How Gen Z ‘Cockroaches’ Beat Modi at His Own Game

Last Thursday, as weeks of mass protests against the leak of a medical school entrance exam paper continued to rock India’s capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi uploaded his first-ever selfie video to Instagram

The Delhi Police have this argument that they are doing it for public safety, to make sure that people with criminal backgrounds who have entered these peaceful protests don’t end up creating a ruckus,
Apar Guptaindian lawyer
The BJP built the most formidable political propaganda machine in Indian history,
What I think is more important, actually, is less the fact that this took place and more about what the government will do next,
Apar Guptaindian lawyer
The earlier movements were physical movements that used social media as an amplifier,
Delhi Police is frantically issuing takedown notices … to scrub social media of posts criticizing the Prime Minister during the recent protests,
At least hire GenZ to write the [propaganda] meant for them?”
But in my opinion, if you are constantly monitoring and surveilling peaceful protesters who are well within their right to peacefully protest, I don’t think there is any legality there,
These were kids who were fighting for their future,
While we’re seeing this very active political and judicial conversation around what legal standards apply to the use of deadly force or the use of riot guns and pellet guns by the Delhi Police, we need similar questions to be asked about what sort of surveillance capabilities are being deployed by the Delhi Police and other agencies as well,
Social media made the protest feel like a conversation, not a lecture,

Lindsey Graham’s Parting Gift to Ukraine

Lindsey Graham’s legislation mandating sweeping sanctions on Russia is one big step closer to becoming law

Russian banks and energy companies would not likely face any immediate consequences”
Most Russia sanctions currently are not codified in law, so what this bill would do is name specific banks and companies that would have to be sanctioned. For future administrations, that would be difficult to undo,
Adding tariffs into this equation has not been something that’s been highly effective,

Anti-Government Protests Resurge in North Africa

A crowd of people is shown shouting and holding up Tunisian flags

The outage underway this summer demonstrates that concentrated executive rule has not, and structurally cannot, fix Tunisia’s basic services,
The American side expressed its concerns about the functioning of this institution and called on Chad to review its accession to the Rome Statute,
They poured water over us and hit us on the buttocks with cords. They hit the soles of our feet and asked us, ‘Are you going to go out and demonstrate again?’
The people want justice that punishes those who squander the people’s money,”... Electricity—where have the billions gone?”
This is the fourth summer they have been in jail. This is the fourth summer like this,

U.S.-Saudi Strikes Add a New Front to the Iran War

Mourners carry two coffins draped in the Iraqi flag through a crowd

The kingdom emphasizes that it does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression it faces,
Pedro Sánchezspanish Prime Minister
The next 12 hours are going to be very important—decisive,
The Kingdom emphasizes that it does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression it faces,

A Better Path

In this episode, Inbar Bobrovsky, the CEO of U.K.-based charity Technology Strategy Roleplay, explains why AI-future simulations can help policymakers and industry leaders make decisions about AI development that could lead to better outcomes for humanity

The Wildberries Theory of Russian Defeat

The past week has seen at least a dozen attacks on the warehouses of Wildberries, an e-commerce retailer often described as the Russian Amazon

Scandal Exposes Limits of China’s Scientific Rise

The death of a child during an experimental gene-editing trial renews questions about biotech ethics and ambitions

Trump’s Diplomatic Doubleheader

António Guterresunited Nations chief
I will do everything I can to support the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in this very important moment,
Sanae Takaichijapanese Prime Minister
We have already been informed that people have been injured,
The excellent chemistry between the leaders was evident,
Donald Trumppresident
This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough,

Compromised Candidates

To be appointed, a candidate must receive at least nine votes from the 15-member U.N. Security Council while also avoiding a veto from any of its five permanent members

What a Powerful El Niño Means for the World

Governments are bracing for the fallout of the intense weather phenomenon

If all these countries around the world are dealing with higher energy costs and higher demands for military spending, that’s just reducing the available fiscal space for responding to the challenges that will inevitably come from these kinds of shocks,
When these shocks happen, countries take two steps back,
Andrew Hoellmeteorologist
A stronger El Niño increases your likelihood of having a certain outcome—it doesn’t make it a certainty,
If the intensity of El Niño winds up of similar magnitude to the last Super El Niño in 1997–98, the contemporaneous economic losses will be on the order of $686 billion,
In southern Africa, the El Niño event in 2015 impacted food security at its most severe peak in 2016 and 2017, but has left many communities struggling to recover since then,

Why Putin Will Escalate

But behind the new architecture sat a familiar assumption, unchanged after four years of war: that enough conventional pressure on the battlefield will eventually force Russian President Vladimir Putin toward a negotiated off-ramp