Global Hotspots: Ethiopian Insurgent Groups Join Forces

In this week’s episode, Milos Maggiore, Jared Jeter, and Andrew Loftesnes are joined by in-house guest Sebastian Dittgen to examine growing instability in Ethiopia, as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front joins forces with other insurgent groups and raises new questions about the country’s security trajectory.

Also in this episode:

• U.S.-China: Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping extend the trade truce by two months during talks in Washington.
• South Korea: Washington highlights new investments tied to last year’s trade agreement.
• Transatlantic security: The U.S., Denmark, and Greenland sign a revised security treaty.
• Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian forces launch more than 1,000 missiles and drones toward the Moscow region.
• Middle East: Iraq orders the cancellation of flights from Iran amid U.S. sanctions pressure, while Israeli forces kill Hamas’ finance chief in Gaza.
• United States: A judge reverses a White House ban affecting several news outlets.
• Venezuela: Interim President Delcy Rodriguez says elections will be held, but gives no timeline.

Listen to this week’s Global Hotspots for analysis of the geopolitical developments shaping the week.

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Marxist Arrow by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Photo: A general view of a commercial district in Mekelle on September 24, 2026, as fresh fighting erupted between Tigrayan rebels and Ethiopia’s federal government. Tigrayans in northern Ethiopian were panic-buying on September 24, 2026 as a fresh conflict erupted between their region’s fighters and the federal government, driving up prices. Tigray rebels say they are once again in a “full-blown war” with the federal government after seizing local airports and launching attacks into neighbouring Afar and Amhara states on September 23, 2026. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)