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The World Ahead | Alliances in 2025

How the world lines up, from wars to whales

Each hot issue brings a new global alliance

illustration of three rubik's cubes, depicting different areas of the world
Illustration: Ricardo Tomas

By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic editor, The Economist

There is much talk of a new cold war, but the world has not quite reverted to the old blocs of East, West and a fuzzy non-aligned, ex-colonial middle. Instead many countries triangulate between the big powers to gain advantage, sometimes creating odd bedfellows.

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This article appeared in the International section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2025 under the headline “Strange bedfellows”

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