Global Pulse

The Middle East's precarious stability is hanging by a thread. For all his far reaching reforms and moves, Mohammad bin Salman could be in for trouble, while Iran plays its game rather smoothly.

The sudden end of Robert Mugabe's 37-year old reign is seeped in drama and uncertainty.

If one thing emerges out of Trump's Asia trip, it is that America is in retreat, and that's reason for many to rejoice.

As right-wing demagoguery continues to grow from Poland all the way to Brazil, negotiators from almost 200 countries meet this week in Bonn, Germany, in the biggest climate change talks of the year.

A year into Trump's election, the world looks expectedly different.

There seems to be an emerging global trend of overtly corrupt leaders strengthening their vice-like grip on power, whether with electoral backing or not.

The Middle East and European Union, particularly UK, are scrambling to avoid an implosion. New Zealand, for all its appearance of a progressive liberal government, has a venomous right-wing party ruling from the shadows, and in his totally troubled times, Trump seems to have at least got the North Korea speech right.

The US may never go back to what it was. The Saudi kingdom has little semblance with even its recent past.  Is the political landscape across the globe changing in indelible ways?

The Paradise Papers are not as devious as the notorious Panama Papers; the fifth meeting between Shinzo Abe and Trump promises to "make alliance great again"; and Mohammad bin Salman is set on the path to an absolute monarchy. 

From Saudi Arabia and the US to Spain and Japan, the current world mood seems to be in favour of strongmen and political crackdowns on dissenters.