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Heads of state

Trump (US)Xi (China)Putin (Russia)Modi (India)von der Leyen (EU)Macron (France)Merz (Germany)Starmer (UK, outgoing)Burnham (UK, contender)Meloni (Italy)Sánchez (Spain)Tusk (Poland)Netanyahu (Israel)Pezeshkian (Iran)Zelensky (Ukraine)Erdoğan (Turkey)MBS (Saudi)MBZ (UAE)el-Sisi (Egypt)Ramaphosa (S. Africa)Tinubu (Nigeria)Ruto (Kenya)Lula (Brazil)Sheinbaum (Mexico)Milei (Argentina)Petro (Colombia)Prabowo (Indonesia)Marcos (Philippines)Anwar (Malaysia)Kim (N. Korea)Sharif (Pakistan)Tarique Rahman (Bangladesh)Carney (Canada)Albanese (Australia)

Successions & elite health

Khamenei (Iran)King Charles III The papacy Putin Xi

Former leaders

Yunus (Bangladesh)Orbán (Hungary)Bolsonaro (Brazil)

Elections & the ballot

Refusing to Concede The Anti-Incumbency Wave The Far Right, Mainstreamed Snap & Early Elections The Postponed Vote

Coups & people power

Gen Z Uprisings The Coup Belt Strongman Succession People Power

The domestic arena

Courts vs Elected Power Lawfare & the Net Closing Centre vs the States Austerity and the Street

Active wars

Ukraine–Russia Iran / Gulf Gaza / Israel Sudan Sahel DR Congo / M23 Myanmar Somalia Yemen Syria Haiti Ethiopia Nigeria Mozambique Colombia Pakistan insurgency Central African Rep.Cameroon Mexico (cartels)

Standoffs & frozen

Taiwan Strait South China Sea India–Pakistan Korea Armenia–Azerbaijan Israel–Hezbollah India–China border Serbia–Kosovo Essequibo Western Sahara Cyprus Thailand–Cambodia Egypt–Ethiopia Morocco–Algeria Greece–Turkey Venezuela (internal)

Coups & state collapse

Ceasefires & peace processes

Proxy & arming dynamics

Drones & autonomy

FPV drones Loitering munitions Naval drones Counter-UAS Swarms Shahed

Air & missile defence

Patriot THAAD Iron Dome S-400 Interceptor stocks

Nuclear forces

Sentinel ICBM B-21 China buildup New START Proliferation

Industrial base & output

Shells / 155mm Rheinmetall Lockheed RTX BAE Rostec NORINCO

Arms trade & procurement

EW, cyber & naval

Bases & force posture

The Overseas Base Race Indian Ocean Bases Island-Chain Bases Arctic Militarisation Himalayan & Tibet Airfields Forward Posture & Rotations Basing Rights & Access Homeland Basing & BRAC

Alliances, pacts & burden-sharing

NATO AUKUS The Quad SCO CSTO Burden-Sharing & the 5% Push Bilateral Defence Pacts EU Defence & Autonomy Extended Deterrence

Exercises & readiness

Major Exercises Readiness & Strain Conscription & Manpower Grey-Zone Drills

AI

Semiconductors

TSMC Samsung Intel SMIC ASML HBM SK Hynix Micron Arm

AI data centers

Hyperscaler capex Power demand Nvidia (GPUs)AMD Stargate Cooling & water

Labs

OpenAI Anthropic Google DeepMind Meta AI xAI Mistral DeepSeek Alibaba (Qwen)

Model releases & capability

Evals & benchmarks

Agents & tool use

Safety & alignment

Open vs closed

Standards & protocols

Quantum & materials

Biotech & synbio

Oil

Brent WTI Dubai OPEC+US shale Strategic reserves Russian crude

Gas & LNG

EU gas (TTF)Asia LNG (JKM)Henry Hub Qatar LNG US LNG Russian pipeline gas

Power & electricity

Nuclear & uranium

Uranium Enrichment SMRs Kazatomprom Rosatom

Renewables & storage

Refining

Launch & access

SpaceX Starship China launch Ariane / Europe Launch cadence & costs

Satellites & constellations

Starlink China megaconstellation Amazon Kuiper OneWeb / Eutelsat

Orbital congestion & debris

Orbital congestion Debris & collisions Space-traffic management

Navigation & PNT

GPS jamming / spoofing BeiDou Galileo

Military space

ASAT weapons Space Force Missile warning Golden Dome space layer

Exploration & cislunar

Artemis / Moon China lunar / Tiangong Mars

Funding & valuations

Seed & pre-seed Series A/B Growth / late stage Mega-rounds ($100M+)Down rounds & markdowns Dry powder & fund sizes Valuations & unicorns

Funds & investors

Sequoia Andreessen Horowitz Accel Founders Fund Thrive Capital General Catalyst Lightspeed Khosla Ventures Benchmark Index Ventures Tiger Global SoftBank Vision Fund Insight Partners

Exits, IPOs & M&A

Tech IPOs Startup M&A Secondaries SPACs Direct listings Acquihires

AI ventures

Foundation-model labs AI agents AI infrastructure Applied / vertical AI Defense AI AI coding / devtools

Hot verticals

Fintech Climate tech Defense tech Biotech / health Space Crypto / web3 Robotics & hardware Consumer & social Deep tech

Global ecosystems

Silicon Valley New York Boston Los Angeles Austin Toronto / Waterloo London Paris Berlin Stockholm / Nordics Amsterdam Warsaw / CEE Tel Aviv Dubai / UAE Riyadh Lagos Nairobi Cairo Bengaluru Delhi / Mumbai Singapore Jakarta Beijing Shenzhen Hangzhou Seoul Tokyo Sao Paulo Mexico City Sydney / Melbourne

Accelerators & studios

Y Combinator Techstars Antler Venture studios

Shutdowns, layoffs & fraud

Shutdowns Layoffs Fraud & failures Founder / board disputes

The money

Media rights Club valuations PE & investment Sponsorship Ticketing & gate

Sportswashing & soft power

Saudi PIF LIV Golf Qatar UAE Newcastle United Saudi Pro League

Football (soccer)

Premier League La Liga Champions League FIFA UEFA Real Madrid Manchester City PSG Transfer market

US leagues

NFL NBA MLB NHL MLS

Cricket & South Asia

IPL BCCI ICC (cricket)T20 leagues

Motorsport

Formula 1 MotoGP

Mega-events & hosting

Olympics IOC FIFA World Cup Hosting bids

Governance & integrity

Betting Doping / WADA Match-fixing Corruption

Athletes & labour

Player unions NIL & amateurism Athlete activism

Emerging

Esports Women's sport

Tariff fronts

US–China US–EU USMCA US–India US–Brazil EU–China

Sanctions & export controls

Russia Iran Chips→China Venezuela North Korea

Blocs & deals

WTO CPTPP RCEP Mercosur–EU AfCFTA

Industrial policy & subsidies

Rare earths & magnets

NdFeB magnets Neodymium Dysprosium MP Materials Lynas

Battery metals

Lithium Cobalt Nickel Graphite Manganese

Copper & base metals

Copper Aluminium Zinc Tin

Resource nationalism

Indonesia nickel DRC cobalt Zimbabwe lithium Chile lithium Guinea bauxite

Producers & processors

Albemarle SQM Ganfeng Tianqi Glencore Zijin CMOC Freeport-McMoRan Codelco BHP Rio Tinto Vale Nornickel Rusal Huayou Cobalt

Refining & processing tech

Refining & separation HPAL (nickel)Direct lithium extraction Magnet manufacturing Smelting Recycling Substitution

Minor & strategic metals

Gallium Germanium Antimony Tungsten Tantalum Niobium Vanadium Titanium sponge Platinum Palladium Rhodium

Chokepoints

Hormuz Malacca Suez Bab-el-Mandeb Panama Gibraltar Turkish Straits Danish Straits Dover Taiwan Strait Sunda Lombok Kerch Korea Strait Tiran Cape of Good Hope Magellan

Container freight

Spot rates Shanghai index (SCFI)Maersk MSC CMA CGM COSCO Hapag-Lloyd

Tankers & dry bulk

Baltic Dry VLCC rates War-risk premiums

Ports

Shipbuilding

Central banks

Fed ECB BoJ PBoC BoE RBI SNB BoC BCB (Brazil)CBRT (Turkey)

Currencies & FX

USD / DXY EUR JPY CNY GBP INR TRY ARS EGP

Sovereign yields & bonds

US Treasuries JGBs Gilts Bunds

Insurance & reinsurance

Payment rails & CBDCs

SWIFT CIPS CBDCs Stablecoins

Banking stress

Distress & defaults

Senegal Egypt Pakistan Argentina Kenya Ghana Zambia Sri Lanka Ethiopia Tunisia Bolivia

IMF programs

Lenders (China / Paris Club)

Grains

Wheat Rice Corn Soy Barley

Fertilizer

Urea / nitrogen Potash Phosphate Ammonia

Soft commodities

Cocoa Coffee Sugar Palm oil Cotton

Protein & fisheries

Seeds & agri-genetics

Export bans & food security

Archaeology

Major digs & finds Underwater archaeology Ancient DNA & origins Rock & cave art

Heritage & preservation

World Heritage Heritage in conflict Antiquities trafficking Living & indigenous heritage

Restitution & repatriation

Colonial loot returns Looted antiquities Nazi-looted art Ancestral & human remains

Declassified & archives

Colonial archives Wartime records Intelligence declassification Archive access & secrecy

Memory & reckonings

Reparations debates Colonial reckonings Genocide recognition Wartime & atrocity memory History laws & textbooks

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institutional assessment

By lens · 1 takes across the edition

IISS Military Balance 2026 · Global · Conscription and Military Manpower

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updated Jul 3, 2026 en ar ja ko zh