Deeper trade with China can strengthen a partner country’s productive capacity or create new dependencies—and as Juan Fernando Herrera Ramos writes, which one happens depends on the partner government’s own policies. wpr.pub/3WhXHy2

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa promised on Oct. 5 that no family would lose power this dry season. Days later, Quito and Guayaquil went dark, putting his failed energy pledges in the spotlight ahead of local elections, James Bosworth (@bloggingsbyboz) writes. wpr.pub/47oVN19

The Trump administration’s turn toward Western primacy, even empire, is the outward-facing flip side of its “anti-woke” agenda at home, WPR’s Judah Grunstein writes. wpr.pub/3TZbPM2

Israel’s government condemned Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize, and U.S. President Donald Trump called it “an indelible stain on Norway.” Columnist @ProfPaulPoast argues the committee was right to honor the international lawyer, whose U.N. commission found genocide in Gaza. wpr.pub/4zX8UTx

Marco Rubio is right that the U.S. will need partners to maintain its privileged position. But framing global politics as a contest for civilizational dominance forecloses America’s options for partnerships. wpr.pub/3TZbPM2

Genocide law separates people killed for their identity from those killed for military objectives. Nobel Peace laureate Navi Pillay’s U.N. commission found Israel’s war in Gaza crossed that line, citing in part Israeli officials’ own statements, @ProfPaulPoast writes. wpr.pub/4zX8UTx

As @JoshKurlantzick writes, leading democracies are cutting international broadcasters like Voice of America, the BBC and Deutsche Welle just as authoritarian regimes pour money into expanding their own state media—ceding ground in a global war of narratives. wpr.pub/4yrTEgb

Ukraine’s backers were encouraged when U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law tightening Russia sanctions less than a month ago. His actions since suggest it may have been just a performative break in a consistent pattern of support for Putin. wpr.pub/4yQbNoZ

At the foot of the Parthenon, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cast the coming decade as a fight to keep the West’s “place at the head of the world.” That vision of Western primacy is a blueprint for a return to empire, WPR editor-at-large Judah Grunstein writes. wpr.pub/3TZbPM2

By awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, the Nobel committee stepped squarely into public debate, columnist @ProfPaulPoast writes. The controversy hinges on her U.N. commission’s finding that Israel’s conduct in Gaza constituted genocide. wpr.pub/4zX8UTx

Autocrats’ heavy spending on global state media is paying off: Studies find that audiences exposed to these outlets come away with warmer views of Beijing and dimmer views of the United States. wpr.pub/4yrTEgb

Lifting Russia energy sanctions, blaming Ukraine for not ending the war, calling for its president to be replaced, threatening Kyiv’s intelligence and arms supply. It’s hard not to read U.S. President Donald Trump’s past week as a decisive shift on Ukraine, @FridaGhitis writes. wpr.pub/4yQbNoZ

Abandoning coal for renewables would be cheaper for China and better for public health. Sophie Richardson (@SophieDRich) argues that Beijing’s reluctance reflects a regime unwilling to give its own public a meaningful say in environmental and climate decisions. wpr.pub/47j5azo

China’s economic coercion, Mary Gallagher writes, is shifting from denying access to its vast domestic market to withholding the inputs other economies need for production—and it will only grow more dangerous. wpr.pub/47leYJ7

With over 70 percent of the world’s population now living in autocracies, authoritarian regimes are using their state media to amplify one another’s messages and spread authoritarianism further, @JoshKurlantzick writes. wpr.pub/4yrTEgb