Flash Points: Foreword

Gantry cranes at the Port of Taichung in Taichung, Taiwan.
Photographer: An Rong Xu/Bloomberg

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By Jennifer Welch, Tom Orlik, and Stephanie Flanders

February 10, 2026 at 9:50 PM UTC

Updated on

February 11, 2026 at 4:07 PM UTC

The price of geopolitical rupture is no longer hypothetical. The past year has seen war in Ukraine, war in the Middle East, war between India and Pakistan, war between Thailand and Cambodia, US strikes against Iran and Venezuela, and President Donald Trump’s attempted land grab in Greenland.

The human cost of conflict is tragically high. The economic cost is also rising. A striking example came in 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent European energy prices spiraling higher, forcing the central bank to raise rates and risking recession across the continent.