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| Hello, everyone. Today at WPR, we’re covering the Trump administration’s model of peacemaking by dealmaking, and the dark clouds looming in the aftermath of Honduras’ presidential election. | But first, here’s our take on today’s top story: |  | Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Oct. 13, 2025 (Sipa photo by Eliot Blondet via AP Images). |
| Security forces in Azerbaijan detained key opposition figure Ali Karimli and raided his home over the weekend on suspicion of plotting a coup against the country’s leader, Ilham Aliyev. Karimli, the longtime head of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, rejected the charges as politically motivated, his lawyer said. | A board member of the APFP, Mammad Ibrahim, was also detained and his residence searched. A court in the capital, Baku, ordered both Karimli and Ibrahim be held in pre-trial detention until at least mid-February. | Azerbaijan has been ruled since 2003 by Aliyev, who took over after the death that year of his father, Haidar Aliyev. The Aliyev dynasty has a long track record of targeting journalists, activists and opposition politicians, even as the country of some 10 million people has taken a more prominent role on the world stage due to its oil and gas wealth. | The lead-up to Baku’s hosting of the annual U.N. Climate Summit last year was characterized by what Human Rights Watch called … Purchase a subscription now to get the paid edition of the Daily Review, which includes the full top story. | | This is the free edition of our Daily Newsletter. If you believe you are a paid subscriber and are receiving this edition by mistake, please reply to this email and we’ll make sure you receive the paid edition going forward. |
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| | Master ChatGPT for Work Success | | ChatGPT is revolutionizing how we work, but most people barely scratch the surface. Subscribe to Mindstream for free and unlock 5 essential resources including templates, workflows, and expert strategies for 2025. Whether you're writing emails, analyzing data, or streamlining tasks, this bundle shows you exactly how to save hours every week. | Subscribe for Your Free Bundle | | By nearly any measure, 2025 has been an extraordinary year for peace deals. From Gaza to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the South Caucasus to Southeast Asia, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has churned out ceasefires and purported peace accords at a dizzying pace. Six major agreements have been signed in less than 12 months, some at least temporarily halting conflicts that have defied diplomacy for decades. While many of the deals already appear to be falling apart, the U.S. approach nonetheless looks likely to transform the practice of conflict resolution for a long time to come, Adam Day writes. |  | The New Art of the Peace Deal | The Trump administration’s business-first approach is rewriting the rules of peacemaking, for better or for worse. | www.worldpoliticsreview.com/trump-peace-deals-gaza-ukraine |
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| | The outcome of Honduras’ presidential election held Sunday remains too close to call, with preliminary results showing Nasry Asfura of the National Party leading with just over 40 percent of the ballots, followed very closely by Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party. Former Defense Minister Rixi Moncada of the governing Libre party was a distant third with 20 percent of the vote, but her party raised doubts about the early projections and said it would not concede until all the votes were counted. The controversies over the vote-counting are likely to continue and even expand in the weeks to come, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration now considers the race to be of strategic importance to its agenda, James Bosworth writes in his weekly column. | | | Thailand Extradites Vietnamese Dissident | Thailand extradited a Vietnamese activist to his home country despite concerns from human rights activist that doing so could put him in danger. Y Quynh Bdap is the founder of Montagnards Stand for Justice, which advocates on behalf of predominately Christian ethnic groups living in Vietnam’s central highlands. | Southeast Asia in recent years has become a hotbed of transnational repression, or governments’ attempts to suppress opposition to their rule even when dissidents are living outside their borders. “Whatever taboo existed against extraterritorial renditions and executions in other places around the world never really existed in mainland Southeast Asia,” Joshua Kurlantzick wrote in WPR in 2023. “And as the countries in the region have grown closer to each other, they have stepped up these activities.” |
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| | | African Union Suspends Guinea-Bissau After Coup | The African Union has suspended Guinea-Bissau from participating in the organization’s activities, saying last week’s coup, following a contested presidential election, was an unconstitutional transfer of power. Meanwhile, former president Umaro Sissoco Embalo has fled to the Republic of Congo. Both Embalo and opposition candidate Fernando Dias had claimed victory in the Nov. 23 election. | As Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé wrote in WPR in 2021, the African Union has proven largely ineffective in mediating conflict, or reversing illegal power grabs, on the continent. The AU’s ineffectiveness as a crisis manager partly reflects the principles embedded in its governing framework, which gives deference to national sovereignty. “In order to overcome these limitations and to improve upon its mandate, member states must agree to weaken provisions limiting the AU’s interventions in national and regional affairs, and the AU would need to update its policies on unconstitutional changes of government, something regional heavyweights like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt are unlikely to agree to,” Ògúnmọ́dẹdé wrote. |
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|  | | When It Comes to African Crises, the African Union Is No Solution | A number of recent developments have exacerbated longstanding concerns of democratic backsliding, the return of military coups and the viability of the nation-state in Africa. | www.worldpoliticsreview.com/when-it-comes-to-african-crises-the-african-union-is-no-solution |
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| | The paid edition of the newsletter includes additional On Our Radar items. Purchase your subscription now to make sure you don’t miss anything. | If you believe you are already a paid subscriber and are receiving this free edition by mistake, please reply to this email and we’ll make sure you receive the paid edition going forward. | | More from WPR | Yasir Zaidan on the dangerous new phase in Sudan’s civil war after the fall of Darfur. Ulrike Franke on why a European defense industry may forever be a pipe dream. Mary Gallagher on the Nexperia chip crisis and deglobalization. Hilary Matfess on how protectionist trade policies reinforce gender inequality.
| Read all of our latest coverage here. |
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Welcome to my geopolitics blog site. This is a Hawaii Island news site focusing on geopolitical news, analysis, information, and commentary. I will cite a variety of sources, ranging from all sides of the political spectrum.