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Es ist eine der strittigen Szenen des Abends: Zadina geht zu Boden. Er wird von Wallmark mit dem Stock an der linken Kniekehle erwischt und muss von zwei Betreuern vom Eis begleitet werden. Für Mysports-Experte Helfenstein ist es eine klare Strafe.

En Tunisie, parler des règles n'est pas toujours facile ni dans le débat public ni dans l'intimité. Pour remédier à ce problème, la pharmacienne Ashraf Ben Messaoud a écrit un livre, Jasminrose : la révolution menstruelle, un guide complet aussi bien pour les adolescents que pour les parents, publié aux éditions Arabesques. Portrait de l'autrice pour cette journée mondiale du livre.

Ce dimanche 26 avril, l'Ukraine commémorera les 40 ans de la catastrophe nucléaire de Tchernobyl. Une catastrophe environnementale et humaine qui a entraîné l'évacuation de dizaines de milliers de personnes de la région dans les jours qui ont suivi l'explosion du réacteur numéro 4. Parmi elles, des travailleurs de la centrale qui ont vu leur vie basculer ce 26 avril 1986. Ils partagent leurs souvenirs et racontent les conséquences de la catastrophe nucléaire pour eux et pour leurs familles.

Depuis le début du conflit en Iran, les hubs aériens de Dubaï, Abou Dhabi ou Doha ont été fortement perturbés. Résultats : des voyages et des correspondances annulés, et des vacances reportées pour les touristes européens qui devaient faire leurs escales dans ces aéroports. Aux Seychelles, les autorités ont réagi très vite pour ne pas perdre leurs touristes qui représentent 70 % de leur PIB.

Erlebe den Sternenhimmel auf 1548 Metern über Meer: An drei Abenden lädt das Hotel Restaurant Chasseral zum Astronomie-Event mit Teleskopen, Abendessen und Übernachtungsoption. Blick verlost exklusive Tickets für das Spektakel mit 360-Grad-Panorama auf dem Chasseral.

Früher war alles besser? Von wegen! Heute geht vieles einfacher. Ob Shopping, Banking oder Mobilität: Dank digitalen Helfern sparen wir Zeit und Nerven. Wir zeigen dir, wo du den VIP-Service erhältst, und wollen natürlich auch deine Tipps. Die besten werden belohnt!

Viele Fitnesstrends überfordern uns, während wir den Nutzen kleiner Alltagsgewohnheiten unterschätzen. Sportmediziner Professor Arno Schmidt-Trucksäss plädiert für Bewegungssnacks und erklärt, warum der Muskelerhalt wichtiger ist als schnelle Erfolge auf der Waage.

Temu-Waren aus der Schweiz? Ja, das geht. Blick hat bei den ersten Händler nachgefragt – und zeigt dir, wie du die Produkte findest.

Mit «Glitsch» bringt die Choreografin Doris Uhlich eine neue Produktion auf die Bühne. Die Kostüme stammen vom Label Maison Blanche von Yannik Zamboni. Eine neue Herausforderung für den Basler. «Die Mischung aus Tabubruch und Respekt passt perfekt zu mir.»

Mevlüt Koyuncu (51) steht seit Jahren im Streit mit seinem Vermieter in Winterthur. Der Lackierer kämpft gegen Mieterhöhungen, abgeschalteten Strom und Sachbeschädigungen – ausziehen ist für ihn dennoch keine Option.

Karin Keller-Sutter gegen Sergio Ermotti. Bundesrat gegen Grossbank. Sicherheitslogik gegen Wettbewerbslogik. Das sieht nach klaren Fronten aus. Die eigentliche Gefahr aber ist: Beide könnten recht haben.

Du 16 au 22 avril 2026

- Agenda / Macédoine du Nord, Dans les Balkans, France - Régions

Du 16 au 22 avril 2026

- Agenda / Macédoine du Nord, Dans les Balkans, France - Régions

In Zusammenarbeit mit MySports präsentiert dir Blick die Highlights der Partie HC Davos – HC Fribourg-Gottéron (2:3 n.V.).

Im Cup-Halbfinal gegen Yverdon ist einmal mehr aufgefallen, was der FC St. Gallen besonders gut kann: Standardsituationen. Kein anderer Super-Ligist ist hier so gefährlich wie die Espen – auch dank speziellem Trainingsfokus.

L’opposant malien Oumar Mariko, actuellement en exil, s'est rendu clandestinement au Mali où il a pu rencontrer 17 otages maliens détenus par le groupe djihadiste JNIM. Oumar Mariko, Président du parti politique malien Solidarité africaine pour la démocratie et l’indépendance, était sur France 24.

Die Barça-Frauen mit Nati-Spielerin Sydney Schertenleib gewinnen zum siebten Mal in Folge den spanischen Meistertitel.

Karim Sadjadpour on the extended cease-fire and continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The truce is hanging by a thread despite Trump’s extension.

No longer does global power rest only on alliances, military might, currency dynamics, and effective control of multilateral institutions. The new geopolitical contest is between competing infrastructure blocs: packages of finance, contractors, standards, and data systems that create long-term dependencies.

For most of the postwar era, global power was defined by alliances, aircraft carriers, and reserve currencies. But we are now entering an era defined by critical infrastructure and those who finance, build, and operate it. Ports, power grids, rail corridors, data centers, and critical-mineral supply chains are no longer just “projects.” They are the operating system of sovereignty. Infrastructure—networks that move energy, goods, and data—is the industry of industries. Whoever shapes it through contracts, standards, currency denomination, and long-term maintenance (much of which is increasingly guided by data and AI-driven systems) will achieve enduring global influence.

Debates about “de-dollarization” often focus on reserve currencies. In the International Monetary Fund’s Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves data, the US dollar accounted for roughly 57% of global reserves in 2025, with the euro a distant second. But official reserves are a lagging indicator. The more relevant shift concerns infrastructure.

China recognized this early. Between 2000 and 2023, it extended approximately $2.2 trillion in official loans and grants as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, much of which was invested in transportation and energy infrastructure. This model was never just about capital. By bundling finance, contractors, equipment, and digital systems, China was exporting state capacity and embedding long-term dependence. Projects like the Chancay mega-port in Peru—which is majority-owned by a Chinese operator and backed by billions in investment—illustrate how infrastructure can reconfigure trade routes and other dependencies. Likewise, the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, financed largely by Chinese lending, dramatically reduced freight times between Ethiopia and the Red Sea.

The geopolitical implications of infrastructure investment are increasingly top of mind for policymakers. The prospect of Chinese involvement in airport construction in Greenland raised security concerns in both Denmark and the United States. The new contest is not simply between currencies but between competing infrastructure blocs.

For decades, US influence rested on military power, the dollar, and multilateral institutions. But while this architecture still matters, it is rapidly being supplemented—and in some cases challenged—by infrastructure strategies.

Political tensions reflect this shift. In 2024, US President-elect Donald Trump threatened severe tariffs against countries pursuing alternatives to dollar-based invoicing and payments. At the same time, Western economies have scaled up their own infrastructure initiatives. The G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, for example, aims to mobilize $600 billion by 2027; the European Union’s Global Gateway pledges up to €300 billion ($353 billion); and the Blue Dot Network (launched by Australia, Japan, and the US) seeks to certify high-quality infrastructure standards.

Yet many countries perceive these efforts as slow and overly conditional. In a world facing climate shocks, demographic pressures, and urgent development needs, the ability to deliver infrastructure quickly often outweighs governance concerns.

Various middle powers are redefining their own strategies accordingly. India, for example, is pursuing “corridor diplomacy” by supporting projects like the Chabahar Port and the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor. Rather than aligning exclusively with one bloc, it is leveraging infrastructure to hedge, diversify, and expand its own strategic autonomy.

There is also another critical shift underway. Far from being confined to steel and concrete, infrastructure geopolitics increasingly extends into compute, data, and AI. Corporate filings reveal the scale of this transition. Technology firms such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon are investing tens of billions of dollars annually in AI infrastructure, including data centers and specialized hardware. Their capital expenditures and associated depreciation now resemble those of traditional infrastructure sectors.

Semiconductor manufacturing has become a strategic chokepoint in this system. Facilities costing tens of billions of dollars anchor global supply chains and define access to advanced compute capabilities. But AI is not just another layer of infrastructure. It is meta-infrastructure that will shape how all other systems are planned, operated, and optimized. If infrastructure defines geopolitical power, AI is increasingly defining infrastructure. It can improve grid efficiency, extend the life of transport networks, and enable more precise climate-adaptation strategies.

But AI also introduces new forms of vulnerability. Remote control over optimization systems can function as a “kill switch” for critical infrastructure, and opaque or biased algorithms can systematically determine which regions or communities receive investment. In this context, infrastructure is no longer only about physical assets, but also about who controls the intelligence layer that governs them.

Nowhere are the stakes more visible than in Gaza. According to UN and World Bank assessments, by late 2025, roughly 90% of homes and infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed, and nearly the entire population of 2.1 million people had been displaced. Reconstruction will require tens of billions of dollars, but without a durable political settlement, the enclave’s new infrastructure could become an instrument of control rather than recovery. Infrastructure geopolitics is not inherently emancipatory. Transit corridors, energy systems, and housing can be designed to enable mobility and growth; but they can also be used to constrain people.

The world is moving toward overlapping infrastructure ecosystems: a US-centered system built on open capital markets and legal enforcement; a China-centered system combining state finance, contractors, and embedded standards; and a diverse set of regional and middle-power strategies.

The decisive question is not which system is largest, but which will ultimately be accepted as the default. Even when decisions about ports, energy systems, and data networks are framed in purely technical or financial terms, an underlying political logic is at work. Such decisions are increasingly mediated by AI systems that were trained on historical data and designed to optimize for efficiency, thus narrowing the range of perceived alternatives.

George Orwell famously warned about the control of language. Today, we are witnessing an even more subtle form of power. Infrastructure, increasingly guided by algorithmic systems, risks making certain potential futures appear inevitable, and others unthinkable.

The greatest danger is not that one power dominates, but that societies gradually lose the ability to choose among competing paths. The new world order is being built in concrete and encoded in silicon. The last sovereign act may not be to build or to resist, but to recognize that these choices remain open, before the systems we construct begin to optimize us in return.

L’article The Geopolitics of Infrastructure est apparu en premier sur IRIS.