What We Cover in This ePublication

Since the day I had the idea for Fair Observer, I was clear that we would publish many perspectives from around the world. Growing up in India, I hated how the self-annointed Delhi elite would wax lyrical about what was going on in the country. Many Delhi journalists did not condescend to speak Hindi, Bangla, Tamil or any vernacular language. Even today, English publications in India comprise only 11% of the national media. What irked me even more about the Delhi jetset was that they would constantly complain about former colonial masters while sipping their scotch in British bungalows. As during the British era, servants proffered paneer pakodas and chicken tikka masalas to their masters — the brown sahib who had replaced the white one in the bungalow.

When I resigned from the Indian government and left for Oxford, I fell in love with the British media. The Economist was a riveting read. Journalist Jeremy Paxman on the BBC was a force of nature. He questioned everyone, and prime ministers quaked in his presence. Yet I realized that British coverage of their former colonies was invariably inadequate and increasingly superficial. In the past, some British journalists like Alistair Cooke and Sir Mark Tully went native. When they wrote about the United States or India or elsewhere, they did so with a deep knowledge and often great love for the local culture.

By the time I had gotten to Oxford, foreign correspondents would parachute into Kenya or Pakistan for two or three years and leave without learning more than a smattering of local words. They would parlay their brief experience into a book and claim expertise on the region. I wanted to create a media organization that would challenge this model. I wanted a more bottom-up organization that would welcome different perspectives and foster discourse.

A decade and a half after its inception, Fair Observer has achieved some of what it set out to do. In this yearbook, you will find both German and Japanese economists. We have published young American and Indian authors. We have also published noted academics, retired diplomats and policy wonks. Our authors range from Venezuela to China. I can say with a hand on my heart that no one combines diversity with quality the way we do.

In the age of Instagram and TikTok, fewer people read than before. This new year, I invite you to make time to read some, if not all, the pieces in this. You will read perspectives you agree with and, more importantly, perspectives you don’t. Unlike social media algorithms that feed you more of what you like, we make sure you avoid what I call “information fast food” that is deadening our minds. We aim to provide a balanced and diversified diet that will make you marginally more intelligent and substantially better informed. As an independent nonprofit media organization, you can rest assured that neither governments nor billionaires determine our agenda. We only aim to serve you.

I wish you a very happy New Year and all the best for 2026.

Atul Singh

Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief

AFRICA

Language Wars: The Francophone-Anglophone Conflict in Cameroon – Imogen Alessio

ASIA-PACIFIC

China May Now Dare to Challenge the US Dollar – Jiahao Yuan

China Turns Tariff War Into Strategic Opportunity Against United States – Jiahao Yuan

Blood on the Streets: Indonesia Silences Its People’s Pleas – Yeta Purnama, Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat

Anatomy of the Mushroom Murders – Ellis Cashmore

Bangladesh Now Aligns With China, India Worries – Shokin Chauhan, Atul Singh

Australia’s Idiotic Social Media Ban – Ellis Cashmore

Warnings are Escalating: Sino-Japanese Relations are Deteriorating Rapidly – Jiahao Yuan

Chile’s Indigenous Rapa Nui Wants Its Stolen Moai Back – Priya Acharya

EUROPE

“The Scars Are on My Body and Mind, Forever”: Survivors Onboard Ocean Viking Share Their Stories – Fellipe Lopes

Germans in Romania: A Story of Survival and Remigration – Andrea Geistanger

NATO and European Defense in the Face of Russian Resurgence and America First – Peter Hoskins

The Battle Over Euroclear and Russia’s Frozen Billions – Alex Gloy

In France, Politics is an Extreme Sport – Peter Isackson

LATIN AMERICA

The Trial of Jair Bolsonaro: The Future of Brazilian Democracy – Luiz Cesar Pimentel

US Revokes Colombian President’s Visa: The Volatile Relationship Between North and South America – Laura Pavon

To Live Without Fear: Brazilian Protests Denounce Rise in Gender-Based Violence – Karin Schmalz

MIDDLE EAST

International Community Bears Responsibility for Red Sea Crisis and Houthi Crimes – Fernando Carvajal

Kurdish Newroz Celebrations Expose Iranian Chauvinists’ Fear of Ethnic Identity – Halmat Palani

The Middle East 2025: The Good, the Bad and the Tragically Ugly – Gary Grappo

The World’s Silent Complicity in Israel’s War on Gaza – Alan Waring

Washington’s Gamble on Ahmed al-Sharaa Could Push Syria Toward a New Authoritarian Era – Halmat Palani

SOUTH ASIA

The Long-Term Dangers of China’s Expanding Swap Line Strategy: Financial Dependence and Geopolitical Influence – Masaaki Yoshimori

Indian History Students Must Learn to Analyze, Not Memorize – Aaditya Sengupta Dhar

India Must Threaten Escalation to Force Pakistan to Stop Terrorism – Cherish Mathson

My Memories of the Emergency: The Darkest Period in Independent India’s History – Vikram K. Malkani

Afghanistan Under the Taliban Four Years Later: No School, No Future, No Problem – Saboor Sakhizada

Forty Years After the Oregon Cult Commune: The Girl from the Osho Ranch – Anke Richter

US

De Bello Trumpico: Will the US Really Take Greenland and the Panama Canal? – Andrew Morrow

Donald Trump’s Two-Pronged Strategy To Gut the “Deep State” – Alfredo Toro Hardy

Zohran Mamdani: Hypocrisy, Socialism and the Danger of Elitist Politics – Christopher Roper Schell

Make America Scary Again: The Challenging Path to Reviving US Deterrence – Emma Isabella Sage

The Epstein Files: A Political Ticking Time Bomb – Liam Roman

Republicans Test the Limits of Gerrymandering and Voter Suppression – Pooka MacPhellimey

Nobody’s Girl: Virginia Giuffre’s Memoir Reached Libraries Six Months After Her Suicide – Laura Pavon

Why Talking About Israel and Gaza Feels so Taboo in the Best US International Affairs School – Liv McAuslan

WORLD

Balkan Tinderbox: How Russia’s Moves Could Reignite Bosnia – Harun Karčić

Authorial Intent and Psychosis: How Authors Make Meaning From Chaos – Dustin Pickering

Can Aging Better Prepare Us For Death? – Gabriel Andrade

The Problem with the Dollar: When One Nation’s Currency Becomes the World’s – Alex Gloy

Democracy is in Decline. The Mechanics of Changing the World Offers a Way Out – Cheyenne Torres

The Dollar at a Crossroads: Trade Wars, Tariffs and Stress on the World’s Safe-Haven Currency – Masaaki Yoshimori

The Unseriousness of Young Revolutionaries – Tara Yarwais

Corporate Power: From Armies and Cannons to AI – Alfredo Toro Hardy

Pope Francis Was a Misunderstood Visionary – Anton Schauble