On January 5, 2026, the Supreme Court of India delivered a judgment that will significantly influence how Indian courts balance civil liberties against national security. By refusing bail to student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the alleged “larger conspiracy” behind the February 2020 Delhi riots, the Court underscored a hard constitutional truth: once an offence is framed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, bail jurisprudence shifts from ordinary criminal law to a far stricter statutory terrain.

US President Donald Trump’s renewed push to bring Greenland under American control has transformed a long-dormant geopolitical curiosity into a serious transatlantic crisis. Coming soon after a controversial US military operation that claimed the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump’s remarks have unsettled allies, alarmed Denmark, and revived fears that raw power politics are returning to regions once governed by restraint and alliance norms.

The United States’ military action to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has reignited an old and deeply uncomfortable question: is the global system for maintaining peace, built around the United Nations, still capable of restraining powerful states? Coming after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amid the continuing devastation in Gaza, the episode has sharpened doubts about whether the UN can still fulfil its most fundamental promise — preventing the unilateral use of force.

When U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the Monroe Doctrine to justify the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, he revived one of the oldest and most contentious ideas in American foreign policy. First articulated more than two centuries ago, the doctrine has never been static. Instead, it has evolved alongside U.S. power, repeatedly reinterpreted to legitimise American dominance in the Western Hemisphere. Its latest invocation underscores how historical doctrines can be reshaped to serve contemporary strategic agendas.

Donald Trump’s dramatic seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was intended to project American resolve and deterrence. Yet far from Washington, in Beijing’s strategic circles, the episode is being read very differently. For China, the operation is less a show of strength than a narrative gift — reinforcing its long-standing argument that the United States invokes international rules selectively, upholding them when convenient and discarding them when power permits. From Taiwan to the South China Sea, Chinese officials believe Washington has handed them valuable diplomatic ammunition.