Commentaries

The EU’s Digital Omnibus on AI postpones key high-risk obligations while strengthening the European AI Office and adding new safeguards. The reform responds to incomplete standards and growing competitiveness pressures, but delay is defensible only if it produces workable guidance, adequately resource enforcement and lower unnecessary burdens without weakening fundamental-rights protection. Its implementation will determine whether simplification becomes regulatory pragmatism or strategic retreat.

This commentary argues that contemporary conflicts increasingly combine intra-state and international dimensions, posing challenges to traditional conflict resolution strategies. It proposes an analysis of theories of International Relations and Conflict Resolution as well as the adoption of realistic policies that include deterrence, adaptive monitoring, regional cooperation and local peacebuilding efforts.

The intensifying US-China rivalry risks creating a dangerous bipolar trap, forcing nations to choose sides and eroding strategic autonomy. Instead of direct war, this polarisation fragments global supply chains, technology, and diplomacy. Middle powers like India, balancing Quad ties with BRICS, play a vital role in preventing a divided world order. Avoiding bipolar dominance is the 21st century’s greatest geopolitical challenge.