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 […]

NEED TO KNOW The Black Sheep and the Family HUNGARY Hungarian objections to Finland and Sweden entering NATO might delay a vote […]

NEED TO KNOW Beyond the Horizon ESTONIA Few countries have been more stalwart in their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than […]

NEED TO KNOW When Spring Comes RUSSIA/ UKRAINE As the US and Germany send advanced armored vehicles to help Ukraine’s cause, Russia […]

NEED TO KNOW Winter of Discontent UNITED KINGDOM The British press is invoking memories of Margaret Thatcher, the arch-conservative prime minister who […]

NEED TO KNOW Les Misérables FRANCE It’s an age-old battle in France: French leaders want more work out of their constituents. Workers, […]

NEED TO KNOW The Other Front UKRAINE As their fellow citizens battle the Russian army on the eastern front, Ukrainian authorities recently […]

NEED TO KNOW Tanking Diplomacy RUSSIA/ UKRAINE A Russian company that makes materials for oil fracking, Fores, is offering more than $70,000 […]

NEED TO KNOW Straddling a Divide SERBIA/ KOSOVO Late last year, Serbia and Kosovo, the former Serbian territory whose majority ethnic Albanian […]