Understanding politics across borders and divides
Published: November 5, 2026 Democrats won control of both chambers of the US Congress in the November 3, 2026 midterm elections, ending two years of unified Republican government under President Donald Trump. The party flipped seven Senate seats, in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina, and gained a large House majority … Read more
Published: September 24, 2026 Iran, Gaza and the search for a new Secretary-General have dominated the first two days of the UN General Assembly’s general debate, and much of the real diplomacy has happened outside the hall. President Donald Trump told the Assembly on September 22 that he must decide whether to “annihilate” Iran or … Read more
Published: August 1, 2026 On July 27, President Trump said the United States has collected more than $13 billion from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil since the January 3 military operation that captured Nicolas Maduro. Washington took control of Venezuela’s oil exports that same week, and it has run the trade ever since. The … Read more
Last Updated: July 2026 Overview Three countries share a continent, a trade agreement and a set of anti-corruption treaty obligations, and they score 75, 64 and 27 on the same index. Transparency International put Canada at 75, the United States at 64 and Mexico at 27 on the 2025 corruption index, with the American score … Read more
Last Updated: July 2026 Overview No one has been executed anywhere in the Americas outside the United States since December 2008, when Saint Kitts and Nevis hanged Charles Laplace in what became the region’s last execution outside US jurisdiction. In the same hemisphere, the United States carried out 47 executions in 2025, its highest annual … Read more
Published: July 19, 2026 The interim deal that was supposed to end the 2026 US-Iran war has collapsed, and for the first time since March, American troops are dying to direct Iranian fire. US Central Command announced on July 18 that two service members were killed in Jordan the previous day, with one more missing … Read more
Published: July 18, 2026 Overview The United States enters the second half of 2026 governed by a Republican trifecta operating on the thinnest of margins. President Donald Trump, in the second year of his non-consecutive second term, has a party that controls both chambers of Congress but cannot always control its own members, producing two … Read more