LONDON — Artificial intelligence agents are not conscious. They do not feel, experience, or suffer. They possess neither innate preferences nor underlying motivations. Fundamentally, they are sequence-completion engines—internally hollow architectures designed explicitly to follow instructions and accomplish goals set by humans. If human civilization is to flourish through the 21st…
By Guillermo Ortiz September 17, 2026 MEXICO CITY—For two consecutive years, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has anchored her administration’s economic legitimacy on a single, compelling metric: the dramatic reduction of extreme poverty. Following the ideological and political blueprint of her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (widely known as…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the landscape of artificial intelligence, the transition from passive computational tools to autonomous, goal-oriented agents has been swift and largely unchecked. However, the theoretical hazards of autonomous systems collided with harsh reality this summer, highlighted by a security incident involving an automated swarm of OpenAI-developed agents…
VIENNA/CHICAGO — Across Western democracies, a profound political transformation is underway. Radical right-wing parties have steadily advanced by effectively weaponizing demographic anxieties, tapping into a pervasive sense of voter vulnerability by linking immigration directly to diffuse fears regarding economic stability, personal security, and shifting cultural identities. Rather than dismissing these…
By Filip Milačić, Eli Rau, and Susan Stokes September 16, 2026 VIENNA / CHICAGO Main Facts The political landscape across Western democracies is undergoing a profound and volatile transformation. Radical right-wing parties have made sweeping electoral gains in recent years, systematically capitalizing on public anxiety by linking the complex issue…
NEW YORK — When the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, shockwaves reverberated far beyond the borders of Eastern Europe. While Western capitals united in swift condemnation and unprecedented economic warfare against Moscow, major Asian democracies and rising economic powerhouses adopted a posture of strategic neutrality. At…
GENEVA/PARIS — When the European Union sits down to deliberate over what constitutes a strategic economic asset, its gaze is invariably drawn to the volatile horizons of global technology and heavy industry. Brussels fixates on semiconductors, advanced batteries, critical rare earth minerals, and green hydrogen—commodities where foreign rivals like China…
