Three fronts, one pattern: formal structures — a coalition, a union, a bloc — keep functioning while the cohesion underneath them erodes.

Yemen and the Gulf

  • Houthi rebels claim a Sunday strike on a Saudi military base as renewed fighting with Yemen's government kills hundreds and displaces tens of thousands (more).
  • The escalation follows Saudi Arabia shutting down a key pipeline after Houthis seized a Red Sea island near the Bab al-Mandab strait (more).
  • Hypothesis worth watching: control of the strait may be building the Houthis their own smuggling revenue, not just serving Iran — money that could make them harder for Tehran to steer (more).

United Kingdom's fault lines

  • Trump says Irish reunification would be "fantastic" and that he'd "love" to see it, drawing pushback from London (more).
  • The remark lands as Irish, Scottish and Welsh nationalist leaders meet on the UK's break-up, with Scotland's First Minister John Swinney saying Westminster must prepare for a "post-UK future" (more).

Alliances under strain

  • Europe expanded its hybrid-war infrastructure even as its own officials admit they're losing the underlying fight; Russia, China and India used Security Council and BRICS vetoes to block two separate enforcement pushes, while the CDU, the UK and the US-Canada relationship all cracked at home (more).
  • BRICS leaders in New Delhi produced their longest declaration in years and struck a bilateral Egypt-Russia nuclear and grain deal, but Pakistan is still waiting on membership three years on and Beijing's "Greater BRICS" framing diverges from Delhi's focus on the Pahalgam attack and UN Security Council reform (more).