Day: June 29, 2025

The recent war between Iran and Israel has laid bare a truth long obscured by Kremlin bluster: Russia is no longer a superpower. Moscow’s muted response to Tehran’s plight is not an anomaly but the latest – and perhaps most telling – chapter in a pattern of strategic neglect that stretches from the Middle East to the Levant and South Caucasus. Advertisement Driven by President Vladimir Putin’s neo-imperialist fantasies, Russia plunged into Ukraine to find itself in a quagmire that has bled its military, hollowed its treasury and crippled its…

Last year, 13 million new electric vehicles rolled out onto China’s roads as the country continued a rapid transition to new energy. But as eco-friendly rides begin to dominate transport, the new technology appears to be hauling old baggage – motion sickness. Advertisement After investigating growing numbers of reports of EV passengers feeling dizzy, nauseated or breaking into cold sweats, researchers in Japan may have come up with a low-tech solution for the hi-tech problem: a simple sound that can be downloaded and played before a passenger’s next journey. Studies…

Neysun Mahboubi is a US expert on Chinese law and director of the Penn Project on the Future of US-China Relations at the University of Pennsylvania. He spoke to the Post shortly after leading a group of Penn students on a 10-day tour of Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou in May. The visit included wide-ranging discussions with Chinese students, think tankers, government officials and foreigners living in China. This interview took place before the announcement that the US State Department would “aggressively review” Chinese student visas and subsequent developments. A question…

China’s state broadcaster posted a video on Thursday featuring what appeared to be a new type of graphite bomb that it said could knock out enemy power stations and cause a “complete loss of electricity” across a targeted area. Advertisement A social media channel run by CCTV shared an animated video showing the weapon being launched from a land-based vehicle before ejecting 90 cylinder-shaped submunitions. These canisters bounced upon impact before detonating mid-air, dispersing fine, chemically treated carbon filaments designed to short-circuit high-voltage power infrastructure. The weapon aims to disrupt…

Cambodia could use Chinese-made weapons to strike Thailand but they would not put the Thai capital within reach, and Beijing is unlikely to stand by if border tensions erupt into military conflict, according to a Chinese analyst. Advertisement “China’s weapon exports are defensive in nature, and after purchase, ownership and usage rights belong entirely to the recipient country,” former People’s Liberation Army instructor Song Zhongping said. “China would not wish to see two of its traditional friends at war, even over territorial disputes,” he said, adding that Beijing would seek…

For months since the return of US President Donald Trump, there has been a roaring trade in papers and speeches about how to make Europe a truly independent geopolitical player. Advertisement The term “strategic autonomy”, championed by the French government during Trump’s first term, is back in vogue. But the independence movement was on the ropes this week, when a series of summits thrust Europe’s weakness on global affairs into the spotlight ahead of a bout of engagement with China. On Monday, a meeting of the European Union’s foreign ministers…