Sovereign Debt as Strategy: Credit, Constraint, and the Quiet Reordering of Power

Sovereign Debt as Strategy: Credit, Constraint, and the Quiet Reordering of Power

Sovereign debt is not new. What is new is the role it now plays at the strategic level. Instruments once treated as technical matters of fiscal management have moved to the centre of international politics, shaping how states exert influence, constrain rivals, and manage risk without overt confrontation. In a recent episode of The International…

Traceability and Risk in Africa’s Critical Minerals

Traceability and Risk in Africa’s Critical Minerals

Written by Elisa Garbil – 29.12.2025 Critical minerals have become the strategic linchpin of the global energy transition. Electrification, battery manufacturing, and digital infrastructure all depend on a steady flow of minerals such as cobalt, lithium, manganese, rare earth elements, and platinum-group metals. As industrialised economies push toward decarbonisation and technological expansion, they are discovering that the…

The Importance of Storytelling in Organisational Preparedness

The Importance of Storytelling in Organisational Preparedness

By Conducttr In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, we’re joined by Robert Pratten, storyteller, risk manager, and CEO of Conducttr, a platform providing high-standard risk simulation scenarios. “Stories are how we make sense of the world”. Organisational preparedness depends on how people interpret events, not just on whether procedures exist. In moments of…

Understanding the Risks Faced by Survivors of Torture: A Humanitarian and Policy Perspective

Understanding the Risks Faced by Survivors of Torture: A Humanitarian and Policy Perspective

Written by Elisa Garbil – 18.01.2026 Millions of people worldwide are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict, persecution, and systemic violence. Among displaced populations, survivors of torture face particularly complex and enduring risks that extend far beyond immediate physical and psychological harm. The long-term consequences of torture, compounded by the dangers of migration and the…

Grey Zone Warfare as Strategy: Ambiguity, Risk Management, and the Erosion of Order

Grey Zone Warfare as Strategy: Ambiguity, Risk Management, and the Erosion of Order

Grey zone warfare is not new. What is new is the role it now plays at the strategic level. Tactics that once sat at the margins of international politics have moved to its centre, shaping how states compete, coerce, and manage risk without crossing the threshold of open war. In a recent episode of The…

Egypt–Israel Relations: Between Strategic Necessity and Enduring Suspicion

Egypt–Israel Relations: Between Strategic Necessity and Enduring Suspicion

Very few bilateral relationships in the Middle East are as paradoxical as the one between Egypt and Israel. The two countries are bound together historically, geographically and diplomatically, one could say. They share what is today the region’s longest-standing peace treaty  -the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty-, but their relationship is characterized by strategic cautiousness and distance. Today, cooperation between Cairo and Jerusalem,…

Riot

Left-Wing Extremism in Germany: A Resurgent Threat

Written by Elisa Garbil – 10.12.2025 For decades, discussions of extremism in Germany have been dominated by the spectres of right-wing and Islamist violence. The nation’s historical trauma and recent experiences with far-right terror have understandably captured most of the security community’s attention. Yet beneath this focus, another movement has persisted, one that is quieter, more fragmented,…

crisis management international risk podcast

2025: A Year Full of Crisis Preparedness and Response

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 described an “increasingly fractured” world, with state-based conflict, climate disruption, political polarization and technological risks all intensifying at the same time. Geopolitical and international risk dashboards from 2Secure, BlackRock, KPMG and others show the same picture: conflicts are reshaping trade, energy and supply chains; national security concerns…

Putin in New Delhi: India’s High-Stakes Multlialignment Balancing Act

Putin in New Delhi: India’s High-Stakes Multlialignment Balancing Act

When Vladimir Putin touched down in New Delhi last week, the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the symbolism mattered far more than Moscow’s assurance of ‘uninterrupted‘ oil supplies. It served as a timely reminder that, even amid a shake-up of the global balance of power and geopolitical fragmentation, the India-Russia relationship remains resilient,…

Ukrainian Culture

Culture as a Battlefield: The Strategic Risks of Russia’s Cultural Offensive

Written by Elisa Garbil – 05.12.2025 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since 2014, has unfolded across multiple dimensions: military, economic, informational, and psychological. Yet one of its most significant and underexamined fronts is cultural. The Kremlin has reframed culture not as an organic expression of society but as a strategic tool where a weapon legitimises aggression,…