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All Reports
THE CES BRIEF


Why the US–Iran War Now Turns on Two Elections
Tehran's armed forces are on ordered standby, Washington's decision deadline is electoral, and Jerusalem cannot form a government to fight one. Whether the war resumes or freezes is now a question of two vote counts, not two armies.
4 days ago6 min read


Bab el-Mandeb Blockade and Gulf Oil Export Disruption: The Chokepoint Arithmetic
Updated 1 Nov 2026 — The strait was seized in September and put back into contention in October: a Saudi-backed counter-offensive is fighting to retake the coast a non-state levy regime now taxes rather than closes. Our contested-levy scenario holds; the updated assessment runs three recalibrated scenarios from Q4 2026 through the H1 2027 corridor cycle.
5 days ago33 min read


Romania 2026: NATO's Porous Flank
Updated 31 Oct 2026 — Romania was not attacked in 2026; it was eroded: struck in Galați in May, drained of its nuclear capacity by drought in August, governed since October by a minority whose mandate has no majority. Our August downside scenario has come true; the updated assessment runs three scenarios through the 2027 coalition window.
6 days ago27 min read


Canada 2026: The Sovereignty Stress Test
Updated 30 Oct 2026 — Canada was not broken in 2026; it was billed: tariffed in August, rallied in October, and hiked into its own inflation. Our August stress-test scenarios have partially come true; the updated assessment runs three scenarios for the post-midterm window through Q4 2027.
7 days ago30 min read


Mexico's Senate Makes the American Presence Routine
An 87-5 Senate vote has opened the door to five and a half months of US special-operations training on Mexican soil — the fourth such authorisation in a year. Whether the next request still fits inside the word "training" is now a question of precedent, not of principle.
Oct 305 min read


How the Greek–Turkish Maritime Standoff Reaches the Drill Bit
Athens has taken the Turkish-Libyan memorandum to the Security Council — with Chevron's seismic fleet and a €3 billion air-defense shield waiting in the same corridor. The dispute is no longer cartographic; it is scheduled, insured and procured.
Oct 305 min read


Chinese Warships Turn Presence Into Standing Fact Off Taiwan
A 53-hull deployment stretches from southern Japan to Taiwan's eastern waters — held, not surged. The question for boards is no longer whether Beijing can sustain the arc, but who absorbs the cost of its normalization first.
Oct 305 min read


EU Law Seals Nord Stream's Fate Beyond the Ukraine War
The European Commission has ruled out any postwar return of Russian gas through the Baltic pipeline system — in law, not just diplomacy. Whether that statute survives a €100/MWh winter is now the operative question.
Oct 296 min read


Morocco 2026: The Hedged Hegemon
Updated 29 Oct 2026 — Morocco was not hedged in 2026; it was priced: the migration lever discharged in July, the sovereignty file put on a 2027 clock, the hedge itself now the collateral. Our August consolidation scenario has bent, not broken; the updated assessment runs three scenarios for Q4 2026 through the 2027 UN transition.
Oct 2923 min read


Khartoum Frames Sudan–Ethiopia Drone Strikes as Interstate Aggression
Khartoum has put Ethiopia's name on a week of drone strikes that left its capital and fuel belt dark. Whether the dossier holds is almost secondary — what it buys Khartoum is the question.
Oct 296 min read


Indonesia's Political Risk Test Arrives Through the Smoke
Jakarta's first permitted rally in months fused wildfire anger with a budget revolt, and Singapore has now placed named plantation groups under compulsory audit. The stability test runs on two clocks — the monsoon and the ledger — and they will not expire together.
Oct 296 min read


DR Congo's Ebola Epidemic Outruns the Response Built for It
Congo has passed 10,000 Ebola cases without a licensed countermeasure for the strain driving them. The question for boards is no longer the case count — it is what a stalled response does to trade, mining and movement across three regions of the continent.
Oct 296 min read


Santo Domingo Makes Hemispheric Cartel Risk Institutional
In Santo Domingo, nineteen governments have just turned an anti-cartel pact into standing military architecture with no exit date. Beneath it, « terrorist » labels are quietly rewriting contracts and insurance across the hemisphere.
Oct 296 min read


Ukraine Peace Talks Leave Europe Paying Without Power
Moscow will neither confirm nor deny Europe a chair at Abu Dhabi — because the ambiguity itself is the negotiating position. What Brussels pays into the settlement, and what it gets to decide, are about to diverge.
Oct 296 min read


US Election Risk Turns Hemispheric Ahead of November 3
A week before November 3, the White House conditions its acceptance of the results while federal litigation already targets 20,000 California ballots and a 'rigged' verdict lands on Brasília. What that coupling prices for boards — and where it breaks — turns on a handful of observable margins.
Oct 285 min read


Mexico's Freight Strike Now Runs Through the 2027 Budget
Canacar halted a national indefinite stoppage in under 24 hours, exchanged against five federal negotiating tables with the Treasury convened first. What one parked day extracted, a year of petitions never delivered — the open question is whether the 2027 revenue law makes that leverage reusable.
Oct 286 min read


The Brazil-US Diplomatic Crisis Acquires a Florida Address
Hours after Brazil's Supreme Court cancelled his passports, Washington issued visas: the defeated candidate lands in Florida, and Brazilian judicial sovereignty collides with US executive politics at the opening of Lula's fourth term.
Oct 285 min read


Strait of Hormuz Conflict 2026: The Attrition Corridor and the War Nobody Can End
Updated 28 Oct 2026 — The Strait of Hormuz was not closed in 2026; it was converted: blacklisted in tranches, tolled by decree, bypassed by shuttle. Our managed-attrition scenario remains the modal path; the updated assessment runs three scenarios for Q4 2026 through Q2 2027.
Oct 2825 min read


Beijing Deflates the Room It Refuses to Leave
The seat for China's defence establishment in Cebu was filled by an embassy attaché—not a minister. Simultaneously, a PLA carrier group exited Philippine waters. What does this convergence mean?
Oct 285 min read


Riyadh Buries Its War Insurance in Singapore: Saudi Crude Storage Heads for Jurong
Riyadh's answer to the Hormuz war premium is logistical, not military: pre-positioning security stock inside customer territory. Singapore has just become Asia's first purpose-built node for absorbing Gulf risk.
Oct 276 min read
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