No. 3
28/10/2026 · 8 pieces
8 picks from 1,068 pieces reviewed in 45 publications across 8 regions.
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01 ★★★★★
Salmon from the desert: the politics behind Xinjiang's fish farms
How does one of the most landlocked places on Earth end up farming salmon, grouper and lobster? Ian Urbina investigates the aquaculture boom in Xinjiang, from the aquifers beneath the Taklamakan to village dividend ceremonies and the supply chains that carry the fish abroad. Read it to see how food security, land seizures, labour transfers and propaganda fit into one industry. We picked it for its depth: mapping, company records and state media, set against the wider economics of fish farming. Urbina founded The Outlaw Ocean Project, whose wider investigation this belongs to; we found no other stake.
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02 ★★★★☆
Why Beijing won't forgive Tonga's debt, and who pays instead
Why won't Beijing write off the loans weighing on Tonga's budget, and who covers the repayments instead? Jack Salmon explains how the kind of Chinese loan signed years ago decides what relief a country can hope for, and what blocks a write-off even for a tiny debtor. Read it for a clear account of how China's Eximbank lends, and for the uncomfortable question it puts to Canberra. We picked it for packing much evidence into a short piece. Salmon is an independent researcher on development finance and Chinese lending in the Pacific; we found no stake.
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03 ★★★★☆
Jordan's border economy after Syria's war: smugglers, drugs and neglected towns
What happens to a border economy when a neighbour's civil war turns petty smuggling into a drug trade? Armenak Tokmajyan and Laith Qerbaa trace the Jordan-Syria frontier since the 1970s, and ask what Assad's fall has changed for the towns along it. Read it for a long view of security policy and border life. We picked it for its history and detail; it ends with policy recommendations. Tokmajyan is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, Qerbaa a lawyer and researcher in Jordan; UK government research funding supported it, and we found no other stake.
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04 ★★★★☆
Bolivia's gold rush and why no one can stop it
Original title: La fiebre del oro que enferma a Bolivia
Why has a gold rush in Bolivia's Amazon proved so hard to control? Fernando Molina follows the metal from cooperative dredges in northern La Paz to smuggled bullion at Santa Cruz airport, through a porous concession system, mercury poisoning and a central bank short of dollars. Read it to see how one boom can be livelihood, criminal economy and political bargaining chip at once. We picked it for explaining a mechanism few outsiders follow, without casting miners as villains. Molina writes for Nueva Sociedad, a centre-left journal funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation; we found no stake. In Spanish.
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05 ★★★☆☆
Kinmen drinks from Fujian: a pipe under the Taiwan Strait
What does it mean when an island held by Taiwan drinks water piped from mainland China? Leonie Spangenberg tells the story of the undersea pipeline from Fujian to Kinmen, from a local water shortage to a symbol each side reads differently. Read it for a small, concrete case of how infrastructure binds places that politics keeps apart, and what that leaves an island on the old front line to weigh. We picked it as this issue's wildcard: short, specific and unlike anything else we reviewed. Spangenberg is an economic sinologist who studied in Shanghai and Seoul; we found no stake.
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06 ★★★☆☆
Niger's failed mutiny and the Sahel juntas' two armies
What did a failed mutiny in Niamey in August reveal about the military regimes of the Sahel? Moussa Traoure looks past the night of gunfire to who took up arms and why, and compares Niger with Mali and Burkina Faso. Read it to understand how these juntas protect themselves against their own officers, and what that protection costs the armies fighting jihadist groups. We picked it as a clear argument from an African outlet on a story mostly covered as breaking news; it draws on other analysts rather than new reporting. Traoure writes for African Arguments; we found no stake.
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07 ★★★☆☆
Syria's disappeared children and the institutions that kept the records
When children of detainees vanished into Syrian care homes under Assad, who knew? Zeina Allouch, writing after new reporting on SOS Children's Villages, asks what responsibility falls on the international organisations overseeing those homes, and sets Syria beside Argentina, Ukraine and Canada. Read it for an argument about records: who holds them, who sees them, and how a label like 'orphan' can erase a family. We picked it from Daraj, new to our sources; it builds on others' investigations. Allouch, a child protection expert in Lebanon, has put this view to investigators; we found no other stake.
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08 ★★★☆☆
Ethiopia's hunt for a coastline and the wars it could start
Original title: La desesperada carrera etíope por el acceso al mar
Why could a strip of coast Ethiopia never obtained start a war in the Horn of Africa? Héctor Barros retraces the 2024 memorandum with Somaliland and the chain it set off, through Somalia, Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Eritrea, and back to Ethiopia's own roads to the sea. Read it for a patient map of how a port question tangled with older disputes over the Nile and Tigray. We picked it as the clearest account we found of a crisis usually told in fragments, though it draws on published reporting. Barros writes for Nueva Sociedad; we found no stake. In Spanish.
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