The rise of Space Commands

By Marçal Sanmartí · 20/01/2023

There is nothing new under the sun Many were surprised when the United States announced the creation of a Space Force as a separate branch of its army in 2019. The truth is that the concept is not new. The very first Space Force was created back in 1992 by Russia. But it had a […]

When there is a horizon, there is need for strategy

By Rosa Cabús · 04/02/2022

It is commonplace to argue, as I have previously myself, that every country – in this case, Catalonia – requires a strategy. Strategy is a big-sounding word. In many cases, the word is useful as a counterargument when criticizing what political leaders either do or do not do. Although the term has become diluted due […]

Russia and Ukraine: the threat of war is real

By Abel Riu · 24/12/2021

In October 2021, the CIA began to issue alarm signals regarding a build-up of Russian troops, weapons, and military equipment in the border area with Ukraine. The situation is reminiscent of spring 2021, with the difference that this time the size of the troop mobilization is much larger, with 122,000 troops some 200km from the […]

Introduction to Astropolitics: an opportunity for Catalonia?

By Marçal Sanmartí · 13/09/2021

During the last decade, we have witnessed an increasing number of rocket launches and a renewed competition between countries to send probes and even humans into Space. But what’s behind this new Space Race that makes private companies such as SpaceX flourish? Let’s have an introductory look at the intertwined economic and geopolitical reasons behind […]

EU-Russia relations: time to break the stalemate?

By Abel Riu · 02/04/2021

“A Common European Home from Lisbon to Vladivostok.” That was the vision of the last general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Thirty years after the breakup of the USSR, this dream is farther than ever, as the state of relations between the EU and Russia has reached its lowest point, with a […]

The world as it is or as we would like it to be?

By Roger Castellanos · 05/02/2021

The restoration of realism at the heart of old Europe, perhaps even more so in Catalonia, is not an easy task. Fundamentally, the difficulty lies in the prevailing idealist account in approaching the actual disputes that govern global dynamics. The Realist School does not ask herself “how we would like the world to be,” but […]

The Second Karabakh War and the new geopolitics in the South Caucasus

By Abel Riu · 29/01/2021

2020 is gone, but it has been a year that set global dynamics in fast motion. The tectonic plates of a changing international order have continued to move, giving rise to the emergence of new conflicts and the reactivation of old, unresolved disputes, until recently, wrongly labeled as “frozen” by some analysts. This is the […]