NEED TO KNOW Contextual Legacies BELGIUM History has been stirring passion in Belgium as the country prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary […]

NEED TO KNOW End Game RUSSIA Commemorated on June 12, Russia Day celebrates the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic’s declaration of independence […]

NEED TO KNOW When the Levee Breaks RUSSIA/ UKRAINE Theories abound about the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied southern […]

NEED TO KNOW Settlement of Evil POLAND A mile-long mass of hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Warsaw, […]

NEED TO KNOW Far North Face Off NORWAY Norwegian officials recently warned their citizens to avoid Hvaldimir, a beluga whale that swims […]

NEED TO KNOW Enmity, Long and Deep KOSOVO Kosovo declared independence in 2008, around a decade after NATO bombed Serbian forces who […]

NEED TO KNOW Balkan Malaise ALBANIA Men from remote mountain regions have been among the majority of the more than 12,000 Albanians […]

NEED TO KNOW Russian Reveille RUSSIA Twenty-three years ago, respected Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen penned an op-ed in the New York Times […]

NEED TO KNOW Swinging Politics SPAIN Aficionados of Spanish history will likely know that the fascists won the country’s civil war in […]

NEED TO KNOW Tough Love GREECE Eight years ago, at the peak of the migration crisis in Europe, around one million Syrian […]

NEED TO KNOW Strongman Down TURKEY Turkish politicians have been appealing to voters in the Mediterranean city of Mersin in the run-up […]

NEED TO KNOW A Pyrrhic Victory UKRAINE Ukrainian commanders have been establishing protected supply lines and funneling soldiers and weapons to Bakhmut, […]

NEED TO KNOW The Wheels of Fortune ROMANIA Romania has emerged from its post-Cold War funk to become a more service-oriented economy […]

NEED TO KNOW Hearts and Minds GEORGIA The prime minister of the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili, recently met European and […]

NEED TO KNOW The 100 Percenters NORTHERN IRELAND American, British, Irish, and Northern Irish politicians recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the […]

NEED TO KNOW Wanted: A Government BULGARIA Bulgarians have voted in five general elections in the last two years. Voters, meanwhile, are […]

NEED TO KNOW Fair Weather Friend BELARUS Belarusian authorities recently announced that Russia would station nuclear missiles in their country, placing the […]

NEED TO KNOW Allies, Enemies and Other Horrors KOSOVO The former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, and other prominent politicians who were […]

NEED TO KNOW The Cheerleaders RUSSIA Russian blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, had been a cheerleader for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of […]

NEED TO KNOW The Revolution Playbook FRANCE French authorities last week closed the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and other popular tourist sites […]

NEED TO KNOW Waterfront Property MONTENEGRO The presidential race in tiny Montenegro, a NATO member with close ties to Russian-ally Serbia, became […]

NEED TO KNOW Joyful Warriors FINLAND For the fifth time in a row, Finns are the happiest people in the world. According […]

NEED TO KNOW Legion of Doom RUSSIA The prime minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, is worried. He didn’t like the implications of […]

NEED TO KNOW Call Me GREECE A young man traveling on the train from Athens to the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki […]