‘A Radical Reset’
NEED TO KNOW ‘A Radical Reset’ UNITED KINGDOM In late May, just six weeks before the election, British Conservative Prime Minister Rishi […]
‘Meat-grinder’ Recruitment
NEED TO KNOW ‘Meat-grinder’ Recruitment RUSSIA The Russian army is recruiting female convicts to ship to the frontlines in Ukraine. In exchange […]
Match Point
NEED TO KNOW Match Point FRANCE French authorities recently charged two boys aged 12 and 13 with raping a 12-year-old girl in […]
New and Shiny
NEED TO KNOW New and Shiny NETHERLANDS King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands recently visited Albany, Atlanta, and New York […]
Let the Games Begin
NEED TO KNOW Let the Games Begin FRANCE French officials are only fairly sure that the opening ceremony for the upcoming summer […]
Eye of the Beholder
NEED TO KNOW Eye of the Beholder RUSSIA Russian-American historian Yuri Felshtinsky recently told Times Radio that Russian elites are in a […]
Rightward Ho
NEED TO KNOW Rightward Ho EUROPEAN UNION Expect right-wing parties to win big when 400 million voters in 27 countries elect new […]
Irreconcilable Differences
NEED TO KNOW Irreconcilable Differences BELGIUM A few years ago, Belgium famously had no elected government for more than 600 days, as […]
An Open Race
NEED TO KNOW An Open Race ICELAND A 700,000-year-old glacier called Snæfellsjökull almost appeared on Iceland’s presidential ballot for June 1. “It’s […]
Fronts and Faults
NEED TO KNOW Fronts and Faults MOLDOVA A few months ago, photos surfaced of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko standing next to a […]
Proximity Politics
NEED TO KNOW Proximity Politics LITHUANIA Few countries have supported Ukraine’s fight against Russia more than Lithuania, a former Soviet republic on […]
Wish You Weren’t Here
NEED TO KNOW Wish You Weren’t Here EUROPE International tourism is arguably the fundamental building block of globalization. Visiting a foreign country, […]
Staying in the Ring
NEED TO KNOW Staying in the Ring UKRAINE More than two years after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade his […]
Silent Treatment
NEED TO KNOW Silent Treatment KOSOVO Responding to a request from Serbia for a boycott, only around 1 percent of the ethnic […]
Goodbye, Utopia
NEED TO KNOW Goodbye, Utopia DENMARK In 1971, hippies began squatting on an abandoned naval base in Copenhagen, Denmark, creating a community […]
Finding a Foothold
NEED TO KNOW Finding a Foothold NORTH MACEDONIA A symbol of international solidarity, University Hall, recently burned down in the North Macedonian […]
Gangland Elections
NEED TO KNOW Gangland Elections CROATIA Zoran Milanović caused a stir last month when he announced his candidacy for Croatia’s parliament as […]
The Return
NEED TO KNOW The Return SPAIN A plan to forgive Catalan separatists in Spain might have seemed like a political masterstroke when […]
Up for Grabs
NEED TO KNOW Up for Grabs SLOVAKIA Thousands of Slovaks took to the streets of their capital of Bratislava recently to protest […]
Vladimir the Determined
NEED TO KNOW Vladimir the Determined RUSSIA Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, is urging Russians to […]
Being There
NEED TO KNOW Being There EUROPEAN UNION Saxon State Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor, and Transport Martin Dulig recently said that Germany’s […]
The Masterful Player
NEED TO KNOW The Masterful Player ITALY Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been confronting twin crises. The first is low economic […]
Stinky Politics
NEED TO KNOW Stinky Politics PORTUGAL In November, investigators searched the official residence of Portugal’s Socialist Prime Minister António Costa, as well […]