The Game Awards reached a new milestone in 2025, drawing a record 171 million global livestreams and confirming its status as the world’s most-watched video game event. Viewership rose sharply across platforms, driven by co-streaming, global distribution and major premieres.
The average US gallon of gas costs under $3, the Dow Jones is up 13.5 per cent YTD despite April’s 13 per cent drop amidst the tariff frenzy, and JD Vance seems set for the 2028 Republican nomination. Yet the government shut down for 43 days, letting Democrats win NJ and VA gubernatorial races: here are the second Trump admin’s biggest Ws and Ls for 2025!
‘The American Republic in the first half of the 19th century gradually drifted away from the Founders’ original vision and embarked on the path of modern mass democracy. The final result of this, paradoxically, became exactly what the Founders had feared…The Jacksonian rejection of the principle of hierarchy led not to the fulfilment of freedom, but to the rise of a new, faceless form of tyranny.’
What are Russia’s minimum objectives for demonstrating victory? What will happen to Gaza? How can the West persuade Central Asia to cooperate with the US and Europe? We asked a former senior director at the National Security Council in George W Bush’s White House for a year-end analysis of the world’s three major geopolitical conflicts.
Western media spent the week circulating baseless claims about Hungary, from a fake ‘longer’ US security strategy urging EU exit to Bloomberg’s allegation that Viktor Orbán plans to replace parliamentary democracy. The narratives appear designed to damage the government ahead of 2026.
Central Asia’s growing role in global critical-mineral supply chains was discussed at the launch of the Danube Institute’s Turkic–Western Engagement Initiative, where experts highlighted the Middle Corridor’s rise, China’s tightening grip on strategic resources, and Hungary’s opportunity to shape Western engagement.
‘If the countries of Europe truly fear abandonment by the United States, they should first and foremost invest in their own security.’
‘Unless NATO can produce a credible plan to remain relevant in a world that is changing dramatically—geopolitically and technologically—it risks falling apart under the weight of its own irrelevance.’
‘The legacy of Klára Andrássy is one of turning the Andrássy Palace into an open centre of anti-Nazi resistance.’
‘Europeans occasionally refer to the United States as the “Fourth Rome”, yet within American discourse, the designation is simply the “New Rome”, implying direct succession to the Urbs Aeterna.’