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Global Affairs Session 83 24 August 2026 IRAN'S LONG GAME What the future holds for the global economy now Iran’s long game in August 2026 is not simply to survive US-Israeli pressure. It is to convert survival into bargaining power by using military endurance, the Strait of Hormuz, Eurasian connectivity and strategic relationships to shape the terms of an eventual settlement.

Global Affairs Session 72 04 August 2026 JOHN MEARSHEIMER’S WARNING TO USA American hegemony seriously at risk John Mearsheimer warns that American global dominance is fading because liberal hegemony failed, the world has shifted into a dangerous multipolar era, and overextended conflicts in West Asia and Europe risk severe strategic defeats.

Global Affairs Session 68 28 July 2026 WAR ZONE EXPANDS Six fronts, one fragile pause As of 28 July 2026, the Middle East sits in a fragile pause rather than a genuine peace. A temporary halt in US–Iran strikes and an Omani plan for the Strait of Hormuz coexist with a widening map of flashpoints — a new Ukraine–Iran clash in the Caspian Sea, a reopened Houthi front against Saudi Arabia, and mounting strain on Qatar and Kuwait.

Global Affairs Session 66 15 July 2026 DEADLY PHASE 2026-30 Polycrisis has arrived Multiple threat factors and crises have now come together to build a Polycrisis of huge proportions. The world will live through this now for 2026-30, at least.

Global Affairs Session 65 13 July 2026 DONALD TRUMP AND THE PENROSE STAIRS Trapped in the Iran–Israel tangle Donald Trump’s Iran predicament resembles Penrose stairs: every military strike, sanction, negotiation and ceasefire appears to move him towards victory, yet returns him to the same landing. Israel’s security demands pull Washington deeper, while Iran’s nuclear leverage and grip on Hormuz raise the cost of withdrawal.

Global Affairs Session 50 08 June 2026 IRAN WAR REIGNITED? 100 days of the Iran war One hundred days after Iran's war with Israel reignited on 28 February 2026, three waves of Iranian strikes, an Israeli response inside Tehran, and a fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire have left the region no closer to a settlement. This session traces how the war escalated, what it has proved about Iran's staying power as a regional actor, why Tehran will not tolerate an Israeli move against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and what a prolonged war would mean for oil, inflation and India.

Global Affairs Session 46 02 June 2026 LEBANON AND ISRAEL History, identity and a fragile frontline Lebanon's confessional democracy, its religious diversity and its position in the Levant make it central to Middle Eastern rivalries. Decades of conflict with Israel, capped by the 2006 war, have left Hezbollah, UNIFIL and UN Resolution 1701 at the centre of the country's security. The 2026 escalation, tied to the wider Iran-Israel confrontation, has again turned Lebanon into a frontline state even as reconstruction and refugee questions remain unresolved.

Global Affairs Session 30 6 May 2026 AMERICA IS STUCK IN THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ How military escalation turned a regional waterway into America’s strategic trap The United States entered the Iran conflict with overwhelming military power, but the Strait of Hormuz gave Tehran asymmetric leverage over shipping, energy prices and regional stability. The resulting confrontation shows why military superiority does not automatically produce political control.

Global Affairs Session 25 29 April 2026 FROM PLAZA 1985 TO IRAN 2026 How the World Changed The Plaza Accord did not cause the Iran war, but it helped shape the dollar-centred financial system, Asia’s manufacturing and energy-demand structure, and the globalised economy through which a regional conflict now transmits worldwide economic and geopolitical consequences.

Global Affairs Session 22 24 April 2026 THE GULF STATES: BETWEEN DEVIL AND THE DEEP SEA How prosperity, geography and security dependence expose the Gulf during a regional crisis The Gulf states convert energy wealth into high living standards, modern infrastructure and global influence. Yet the same geography that makes the region strategically valuable also exposes it to disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, military escalation, supply-chain shocks and dependence on external security guarantees.

Global Affairs Session 21 23 April 2026 IRAN WAR 2026 – THE FULL STORY From the Shah-era alliance to the fragile April 2026 standoff The Iran War of 2026 emerged from decades of accumulated hostility: the fall of the Shah, the hostage crisis, the Iran–Iraq War, Hezbollah’s rise, the nuclear dispute, the collapse of the JCPOA and increasingly direct conflict between Iran and Israel. This session follows that full chain from the early 1970s to the unresolved standoff of 22 April 2026.

Global Affairs Session 14 14 April 2026 MESSY NEW WORLD ORDER AWAITS US A messy multilateralism awaits The United States built the post-1945 order and remained its dominant pole until China emerged as a second true pole. Washington preferred a controlled transition, but Russia’s 2022 system shock, Iran’s regional leverage, Europe’s uneven rise and the manoeuvring of swing states are producing a fragmented, layered and transactional order instead.

Global Affairs Session 12 10 April 2026 THE FORGOTTEN IRAN-IRAQ WAR 1980-88 The war that forged modern Iran The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War grew from fear of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, leadership rivalry, the Shatt al-Arab territorial dispute and Iraq's belief that post-revolution Iran was vulnerable. It evolved from invasion and counter-offensives into trench warfare, human-wave attacks, chemical warfare and the Tanker War, ending without a clear winner but leaving a lasting imprint on Iran's institutions, strategic outlook and distrust of the West.