With President Vladimir Putin signing a law last week that could keep him in power until 2036, surpassing even Joseph Stalin’s tenure in office, Russia’s foreign policy is becoming emboldened again. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are holding their annual spring meetings this week amid the most extraordinary economic and political contexts in at least a generation.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will this month become the first world leader to meet face to face with Joe Biden, highlighting the Asia-Pacific foreign focus of the new US president.

The 10th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s resignation from the Cuban Communist Party’s central committee falls this month, at a time when the US Biden administration is under growing pressure from Congress to nail down its stance toward the socialist island state.

Following the deepest review of the UK’s foreign posture since the end of the Cold War, Prime Minister Boris Johnson this month launched a long-awaited, integrated international relations strategy.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is in the middle of a key six-country Middle East tour, but the eyes of the world are as much on the deepening geopolitical alliance between Beijing and Moscow, which warmed further last week.  

The geopolitical spotlight is shining brightly on Europe this week, with not just an EU-US summit featuring President Joe Biden, but also the first visit to the region by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The most important meeting in international relations so far this year took place last Thursday and Friday, with the diplomatic mood as frosty as the freezing Alaska weather.