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Global Affairs Session 26 30 April 2026 WHY UAE LEFT OPEC Oil nationalism, Saudi rivalry and the struggle for market share This session examines the oil-market logic behind the UAE’s break with OPEC: an economy with low production costs and diversified revenues seeks greater sales volume and market share, while Saudi Arabia requires higher prices and stricter production cuts. The dispute extends into Gulf leadership, OPEC+ relations with Russia, American strategy, Asian demand and the growing need to finance hydrogen, ammonia and renewable-energy ambitions.

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 24 28 April 2026 THE PLAZA ACCORD: HOW JAPAN WAS DESTROYED What China (and Iran) are doing This session traces U.S.-Japan relations from war and occupation to alliance and trade imbalance, then argues that the 1985 Plaza Accord’s yen appreciation weakened Japan’s export engine, encouraged monetary expansion, inflated an asset bubble and contributed to long-term stagnation. It then presents the lessons China - and states watching the Iran war of 2026 - may draw about currency control, strategic autonomy, sanctions-proof finance and vulnerable chokepoints.

Global Affairs Session 23 27 April 2026 DOLLAR MILKSHAKE THEORY Will de-dollarization kill it? De-dollarization and dollar strength can operate at the same time. Global financial stress may pull liquidity towards United States assets and strengthen the dollar in the short run, while sanctions, alternative payment systems, reserve diversification and wider access to dollar swap lines may gradually weaken long-term dependence on it.

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 20 22 April 2026 AMERICA'S WARS: WHO BENEFITS? Following the economic, institutional and political winners created by war This session examines who can gain when the United States enters or sustains wars. Defence contractors, energy companies, private military firms and reconstruction businesses may obtain direct commercial benefits, while governments, military institutions, intelligence agencies and political leaders may gain budgets, authority, influence or short-term public support.