No. 2
28/10/2026 · 8 pieces
8 picks from 887 pieces reviewed in 37 publications across 8 regions.
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01 ★★★★★
Wood for war: how Wagner was paid in Central African forest
How does a mercenary army get paid when the state it protects has no money? In the Central African Republic, part of the answer was a forest. Amadou Diarra follows a timber concession granted as Wagner's fighters retook territory, using sanctions files, customs data and transparency reports. Read it for a clear view of how the resources-for-security model works, and why it outlives the companies that front it. We picked it for its paper trail: every step is sourced. Diarra is a researcher in Rabat who studies Russia's role in Africa; we found no stake.
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02 ★★★★★
The Argentine soldier known only to the Kremlin
Original title: Soldado argentino sólo conocido por el Kremlin
How does an out-of-work Argentine lorry driver end up in the Russian army? Ernesto Picco traces one man's path from a Facebook job offer to the front in Ukraine, with documents, messages and the voice of his mother in Buenos Aires. Read it for what headlines about foreign recruits leave out: who is targeted, how the trap works and what families face afterwards. We picked it as original reporting that names those involved, from a region the war rarely reaches in the news. Picco reports for Revista Anfibia, an Argentine long-form magazine; we found no stake. In Spanish.
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03 ★★★★☆
Iraq's fuel crisis exposes its oil dependence
Why does one of the world's biggest oil producers run out of petrol? Laurent Perpigna Iban reports from Baghdad, with traders, a former oil minister and analysts, on a fuel crisis the war around Hormuz exposed rather than caused. Read it to understand how an economy can sit on vast reserves and still be this fragile, and why the fixes keep failing. We picked it because it explains a mechanism through the people living it, not through a market chart. Perpigna Iban is an independent journalist who has covered the Middle East for over a decade; we found no stake.
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04 ★★★★☆
Dreaming of Zhu Rongji's China
What does China's educated middle class mourn when it mourns Zhu Rongji? When the former premier died in August, the economist Zhao Jian wrote an obituary that WeChat removed within a day. Sinification translates it in full, with an introduction by James Farquharson. Read it for a mood that rarely reaches foreign readers in Chinese voices: nostalgia, unease and a loss of trust that no single policy explains. We picked it as a primary source the censors chose to remove. Zhao, an economist and founder of the Xijing Institute, campaigns for the market reforms he remembers; we found no other stake.
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05 ★★★★☆
National security on the silver screen
Why is China's spy agency making prime-time television? Zack Chiang looks at the Ministry of State Security's turn to producing popular dramas about espionage and Taiwan, and at what the ministry says it wants from them. Read it to see how propaganda now works through entertainment rather than lectures, and why that matters for how ordinary viewers in China think about Taiwan. We picked it because it reads official sources closely and adds data rather than speculation. Chiang writes for the China Media Project, which studies Chinese media and propaganda; we found no stake.
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06 ★★★★☆
Yemen's Salafist commanders are shaping its battlefield
Who is actually fighting for Yemen's Red Sea coast? Not the Saudi and Emirati governments that pay for the war, but a handful of commanders who started out as Salafist preachers, with loyalties to religious networks and foreign patrons at the same time. Mareb al-Ward profiles three of them in more detail on their careers and rivalries than news reports ever carry. Read it to understand who holds the front line, and why that matters for where the war goes next. We picked it because reporting on Yemen by Yemeni writers is rare in English. The author is a Yemeni journalist and researcher; we found no stake in the story.
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07 ★★★☆☆
Myanmar's emerging governance mosaic
Who will govern Myanmar after the generals? Since the 2021 coup, dozens of groups have begun building their own administrations, and few people outside the country follow them. Dipannita Maria Bagh, Anders K. Moeller and Moe Thuzar map that patchwork in a long, careful overview. Read it if you want Myanmar beyond the junta: the experiments, the rivalries between them and why outside recognition matters. We picked it as the clearest map we have seen of a story most coverage ignores. The authors write for ISEAS, a research institute in Singapore; we found no stake.
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08 ★★★☆☆
Uganda: the entrenchment of a hereditary military oligarchy
Is Uganda heading for a dynastic handover dressed as an election? Omar Kalinge-Nnyago argues that the transfer of power from Museveni to his son is already under way, through the army, a loyalist movement and the courts, and asks who could still mediate it. Read it for an East African view of a succession that most foreign coverage treats as gossip. We picked it as a clear, structured argument from inside the region; it is an argument, not reporting, and says so. Kalinge-Nnyago teaches governance in East Africa and opposes the succession; we found no other stake.
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