Opinions

In mid-September, students at Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, a Paris suburb, protested teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and crumbling buildings. Within two weeks, France counted more than 400 school blockades. University students, teachers, nurses and the CGT union then joined, and calls to revive the yellow vests turned an education protest into a broader revolt against living costs and failing public services. On October 17, authorities counted 550,000 marchers nationwide, while unions said 800,000.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s arrival at Baku airport marked a new low in recent Turkish-Azerbaijani relations. Fidan had travelled to attend the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), which brings together heads of state. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did not attend, possibly in protest against harsh remarks from Baku.

There is an old, unforgiving rule in financial markets: when the relationship between risk and return appears to have broken down, it is rarely the risk that has disappeared. More often, it is the market's willingness to recognize it.

By activating the collective defense mechanism, the Turkish government is not only joining a war in Yemen but also becoming part of a regional conflict that could have much larger consequences than Ankara anticipates. As this regional war drags on, the stakes will rise for all parties, pushing them to take greater risks. Ankara may therefore find that what begins as a limited military deployment in Saudi Arabia ultimately ends centuries of relative peace between Turkey and Iran.

On October 5, 2026, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan agreed in Riyadh "to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defense commitments" under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. The decision puts the pact to its first real test and raises the question of how far Turkey is prepared to go in Saudi Arabia's defense. Our experts weigh in.

Last week, Saudi Arabia called an urgent meeting of the military chiefs of Turkey and Pakistan under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, as Houthi attacks on the kingdom intensified. When the chiefs met in Riyadh on September 25, they discussed intelligence sharing, military coordination and the integration of defense capabilities. The meeting has renewed the question of whether Turkey could be drawn into the war in Yemen.

Germany's latest regional elections have produced two very different political victories. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) emerged as the strongest party with 38.2 percent of the vote, more than doubling its 2021 result. In Berlin, meanwhile, Die Linke (the Left) achieved a striking breakthrough, rising from 12.2 percent in 2023 to 25.7 percent in 2026 and becoming the strongest party in the capital.

Over the weekend of September 11–13, Yemen's Houthis captured the Red Sea port of Mocha and the island of Perim, completing their takeover of Yemen's Red Sea coast and increasing their control over the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Saudi Arabia was forced to shut down a critical oil pipeline that had become one of the kingdom's principal outlets to the sea after Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

On September 3, Turkey's central bank took back 16 tons of gold that it had pledged as security for a loan of roughly $1.8 billion in dollars. It was the last in a series of such deals that began with the Iran war, and the return lifted Turkey's gold reserves to 791.4 tons.

The result of the Saxony-Anhalt state election should not be dismissed as a temporary protest vote or an isolated eastern German phenomenon. The more uncomfortable question is why almost half of the electorate chose the AfD.

A major global flashpoint the world is watching is the Indo-Pacific, where China seeks to unify Taiwan under its rule, either diplomatically or by force, as stated in Beijing’s own constitution. Over the last several decades, Beijing has built up its military (PLA) into a force that rivals the U.S. Armed Forces in preparation for regional expansion and influence.

The Israeli government is exploring closer cooperation with Japan on semiconductor technology, and Tokyo has already approved subsidies for an Israeli chip investment in Japan. The investment's importance, however, extends beyond commerce, reflecting an intent to deepen ties between the two countries.