Europe

Washington and Moscow care a lot about some post-Soviet conflicts—but are largely ignoring others.

Geopolitical provocateurs can cause serious diplomatic headaches.

Data and accountability mechanisms can encourage states to avoid their worst impulses.

Brussels must take harsher measures against ruling parties in Budapest and Warsaw if it’s serious about upholding democratic norms.

Moscow’s deal with Pyongyang for more artillery rounds will fill Russian gaps—but likely not turn the tables in Ukraine.

Ukrainians differ on what would keep their nation safe from Russia.

Running for reelection, the Polish government is flailing in every direction to keep its populist credibility.

As the country’s water reserves run low, tensions are running high.

Conservationists face off against farmers in a familiar man-versus-nature conflict.

Adam Tooze answers listener questions about inflation.

Trudeau’s accusations suggest New Delhi’s intelligence operatives could lead it down a dark path.

Warsaw’s strategic role in Europe is too important for Washington to ignore.

The ethical calculations are less clear than you might think.

He’s not the same as the old boss.

Ahead of a presidential election, debate in Buenos Aires reveals the mounting challenges of multi-alignment.

How the European Commission president has prepared for a possible second term.

Robert Fico is anti-Europe, pro-Russia, and could take back his seat as prime minister in this month’s snap elections. 

Both nations are championed by Washington but under threat from revanchism.

Beijing’s global maritime operations double as intelligence-gathering outposts.

Ukraine’s president made an impassioned plea at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly to bring wrongdoers—such as Russia—to justice.

U.S. military support for Kyiv continues, but political resistance means no long-range fire.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has left Moscow insecure elsewhere.

Increasingly, poor countries are saying to the rich that your priorities won’t mean more to us until ours mean much more to you.

The Europeans have far more to lose than the United States from curbing ties.

The EU is still trying to rekindle the nuclear deal—for now.

Orban just wants the Swedes to kiss the ring. Turkey might still be a problem.

Russian disinformation has bewitched the far right and the far left.

Their recent summit showcased just how transactional the Russia-North Korea relationship has become.

All eyes were on Erdogan, but now Orban has found an excuse to be outraged and delay ratification.

As another multilateral forum issued a watered-down statement, Russia and North Korea met to deepen military ties.

Force won’t get to the root of the country’s crisis. But smart monetary policy will.

Elected officials, not electorates, are the primary barrier to redistributive policies that would benefit the world’s poorest countries.

A deeply flawed document violates basic human rights.

There is no alternative to slowly and methodically reducing Russian forces in Ukraine.

The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.

An espionage case involving a parliamentary aide comes at a bad time for the Conservative Party.

Pyongyang has given up on normalizing relations with Washington.

Foreign Policy's Fall 2023 Issue: Multilateralism is at a dead end, but powerful blocs are getting things done.

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

The bond has been decades in the making, but Russia’s war in Ukraine has tightened their embrace.

But the bloc’s future could look very different from its past.

India will tout the meeting as a victory, but the bloc remains deeply divided.

Russia needs weapons for Ukraine. North Korea is looking for a quid pro quo.

The United States’ and Canada’s chief cyberdefenders talk adversaries and AI.

The world’s largest ship-owning nation is profiting from the sale of aging vessels, while enabling Moscow’s sanctions evasion.

Conformism and acquiescence have a long tradition in a culture of chaos and repression.

Moscow’s regular spies have been expelled. Their kill squads are still active.

His foundation is shifting away from Europe, while his own approach to China has hardened.

Princeton University’s G. John Ikenberry on alliances and the new world order.

Putin’s weaponry runs on advanced electronic components obtained from a hidden international market.

Erdogan’s economic gambles created an inflation mess. Can his U-turn fix what’s broken? 

Armenia turns toward West after accusing Russia of failing as a partner.

It’s time for Washington to see through the Kremlin’s mind games.

The Wagner chief broke the deal struck with Putin for his survival.

The Turkish leader is in a weak position to dictate the terms of what the new normal with Syria will be.

His foundation’s recalibration to the global south reflects the failure of democracy promotion on the continent.

For money or out of conviction, some Ukrainians are helping Russia kill their compatriots.

The Kremlin has taken indoctrination and historical falsification to a new level.

Attempts to build a left-wing occultism are fundamentally unserious.

Born just ahead of the horrors of the Nazi regime, the airport now offers a safe haven to refugees and everyday Germans.

Western companies’ assets are under threat.

A reform that experts see as central to achieving Berlin’s climate goals could also catapult the far right into power.

The last international agreement on digital crime was in 2001. Why are experts so worried about this one?

Paris is complicit in the lack of social and democratic progress that prompted the coup.

Russia’s war and China’s rise are turning a talking shop into a fledgling alliance of democracies.

The bloc’s new members include countries New Delhi is keen to expand ties with.

Why Europe’s biggest economy won’t make the switch to paying with cards.

New additions to the bloc from Africa are linked by their opposition to a Western-dominated financial system.

But it is a warning shot for the West to end its strategic slumber in the global south.

From wheelchair accessibility to better tea, the national railway service aims not just to keep trains running but to improve.

A diplomatic deadlock over a 50-year-old pipeline agreement is wreaking havoc in the region—and beyond.

Germany’s chancellor represents—for better or worse—the future of progressive politics.

Moscow relishes being a player in Africa, but committing to another foreign war wouldn’t serve its interests.

The idea that a deal with Moscow will bring peace in Ukraine is based on very flimsy assumptions.

In death, Yevgeny Prigozhin got a taste of his own messaging medicine.

The infamous Russian mercenary group finds itself without a leader, but still with a mission.

Interpretations of the Wagner saga are more imaginative than analytical.

The Wagner chief’s death in a plane crash was confirmed by Russia’s aviation agency.

The successful lunar mission, coming on the heels of Russian failure, could accelerate a long-running space race.

Kyiv is determined to destroy a major supply line into occupied Crimea.

The refusal to gather data on race and ethnicity is exacerbating inequality, increasing social segregation, and preventing badly needed reforms.

In Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova, the Kremlin is waging a quiet war to consolidate its hegemony.

Britain’s prime minister promised serious economic leadership—and is getting punished for failing to deliver.

Rhetoric about “European civilization” clashes with anti-colonial ideals.

The British writer aimed to be the liberal intellectual of his generation—and ended up a victim of his own repressed dogmas.

The ruble is down and interest rates are surging, but vast oil revenue is keeping Moscow afloat.

The global south is hungry for an alternative to the Western-dominated order, but BRICS may not be up to the task.

A slow counteroffensive hasn’t led to major breakthroughs—prompting calls for negotiation rather than escalation.

Cambodia and Laos have direct experience with the aftermath of U.S. cluster bombs, now deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Ghost voyages and dark port calls by Russian and Iranian vessels are enabling both countries to circumvent Western sanctions and thrive in a shadow economy.

Urban areas have made more progress than national governments on climate change—and offer a compelling political roadmap.

With Wagner troops hovering, the woods between Poland and Belarus have become kindling for a heated election campaign.

“Japa” contains both the hope and the pain of wanting to leave one’s country behind for better opportunities.

A trail of evidence on social networks and state media detail Minsk’s role in a potential war crime

The world's infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists.

Worldcoin trades cryptocurrency for eyeball scans, creating a global ID database and scaring the willies out of privacy experts.

The mercenary group is a product of the system Putin built, and he can’t dismantle it without undermining Moscow’s global influence.

Key alliance members are failing to uphold their obligations in the face of Moscow’s unflagging interest in the High North.

Turkey has turned its back on the Islamist group, eliminating one of its last safe havens.

Leaders are reaching for fellas and films as much as bullets and blockades. 

A sense of betrayal by Westminster and lost status have fueled extremism and weakened commitment to peaceful power-sharing.

Russia’s dictator controls its past. But can history that avoids politics live on?

Why Rome's decision is being seen as a 'major humiliation' for Beijing.

Mediation offers from China aren’t made in good faith.

Prigozhin’s mutiny helped expose the false arguments for Russia’s invasion.

The judiciary needs to strike down Netanyahu’s judicial reform before he turns Israel into a sham democracy—just as Viktor Orban did in Hungary.

Other states have a legal and moral duty to stop Moscow.

Brussels has become the last thing anyone imagined: a stage for political emotion.

Military history suggests Ukraine’s current campaign is far more daunting than the public understands.

Most global powers with a military presence or financial stake in the country stand to lose from instability—and that could put pressure on the military junta.

The image of starving Africans may score propaganda points for the West, but Russia’s suspension of the deal arguably does more harm to wealthier countries.

A forever war in Ukraine comes with almost limitless possibilities to stifle dissent.

But Europe and Israel have yet to take surveillance abuses seriously.

The United Kingdom needs to examine its own bigotries.

Oliver Eagleton’s book on the Labour leader blends leftist critique with biography, presenting a comprehensive account of a deeply ambiguous figure.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s reforms, which were meant to usher in a new era for the key Central Asian country, appear to have stalled.

Test yourself on the week of July 22: Spain heads to the polls, Israel forces through a judicial overhaul, and Putin courts African leaders.

Leaders in Iran and Iraq are using outrage at Quran burnings to deflect attention from their domestic woes while Russia helps disseminate disinformation.

Are NATO, Russia, and China about to play a new Great Game in the Arctic? Don’t hold your breath.

Kyiv’s forces are finally starting to breach the dragon’s teeth.

The CIA and MI6 are promising a trust Moscow lacks.

Despite the policy whiplash at the NATO summit, Erdogan has been remarkably consistent in his foreign-policy goals.

The security state is targeting nationalists like Igor Girkin.

Is the rising power a market or a threat?

The trans-Atlantic alliance has made China a security priority.

It’s not just in NATO. It’s one of the alliance’s most confrontational members.

Karl Schlögel re-creates a lost world of long lines and shared spaces.

A new history of Russia’s ruble highlights the reciprocal relationship between autocracy and monetary policy.

“Follow the Money” traces an economy in crisis.

The U.S. military’s admiration of a proto-fascist city-state is based on bad history.

Boeing aircraft are still plying tourist routes from Moscow to Turkey, Egypt, and Thailand, and they’re refueling—and possibly getting repairs—en route.

Moscow used to bang shoes to get attention. Now it blows up grain warehouses.

Berlin has published a surprisingly tough China strategy. Can it put it into action?

Why didn’t Prigozhin’s mutiny against Putin change anyone’s mind?

At a summit in Brussels, the EU and CELAC committed to deepening business and political ties.

Ukrainians are in Europe to stay. The bloc can help itself—and Kyiv—by better integrating them.

Rumblings are growing on Capitol Hill about oversight of more than $100 billion in U.S. assistance to Kyiv.

Prigozhin’s rise and fall is the latest example of what happens when a ruler in Moscow fears the power of military underlings.

Calling Spaniards to a midsummer snap election is a desperate move. It won’t work.

When it comes to increasing its security footprint abroad, Beijing is facing a conundrum in reconciling Maoist doctrine with contemporary reality.

The EU has quickly moved from economic talk shop to military player—but still has a way to go.

It’s not Chernobyl 2.0. But experts say Russian threats to cause a catastrophe shouldn’t be dismissed lightly.

Former CIA analyst Andrea Kendall-Taylor with the big-picture view on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Washington’s desire for Balkan stability has overtaken its support for democracy, the rule of law, and anti-corruption.

A pro-Kremlin candidate is leading the polls—and could shatter the country’s support for Ukraine.

Normandy in 1944 is a much better historical analogy—and it counsels patience.

The dictator of Belarus recognized the mutiny in Russia as an opportunity to empower himself.

A major discovery could have transformative industrial potential.

If you think Kyiv’s path to NATO is hard, wait until you see its struggle to enter the EU.

Changes to the platform have systematically amplified authoritarian state propaganda.

Integrating Kyiv into the Joint Expeditionary Force would help deter Moscow.

Moscow is weaponizing resources that aren’t even its own.

The NATO summit offered Kyiv mostly vague pledges and empty rhetoric—but there could be other ways to defend the country short of alliance membership.

Fear of a Muslim-majority Bosnia could finally induce EU leaders to stop the separatist strongman.

New defense plans signal the biggest alliance overhaul since the Cold War.

I saw the impact of these weapons on my homeland—but Biden’s decision was right.

Pipelines, ports, and cables in and around the Baltic Sea are as critical as they are vulnerable.

Why welcoming the Wagner Group carries risks for Aleksandr Lukashenko’s rule.

NATO gave a lot to Ukraine. But not the one thing that mattered most.

The U.N.’s oldest agency is taking on the world’s newest technology.

From the United States to France, rich democracies are ignoring racial realities—and hurting social policy.

Some Western officials say Putin’s nuclear threats are all talk. Others are more wary.

Voting in the middle of the Russian invasion is legally and practically unworkable.

A series of bad decisions during the Obama years prepared the ground for Vladimir Putin’s war.

There is a strategy behind the Spanish prime minister’s call for early elections.

Territorial conflict wasn’t a hurdle for NATO membership after World War II. Should it be today?

Severed ties between U.S. and Russian scholars are straining the field to a breaking point.

In times of political instability, Washington prefers the nuclear devil it knows.

Don't revive the Arctic Council until Russia is out of Ukraine.

NATO’s former secretary-general on the case for arming Ukraine and what to expect at the Vilnius summit.

This is where the alliance might be headed.

Those who fled Turkey are now facing extradition as Ankara seeks concessions from Stockholm before approving its NATO bid.

Will it be NATO membership or the Israel model?

Eastern Europe’s first openly gay head of state looks to firmly plant the country in the West.

Nine thinkers assess the alliance’s future ahead of a historic summit.

But for the Bundeswehr to fight will take a culture shift, not just weapons orders.

Putin faces a choice between punishing Prigozhin and ceding influence and territory to Tehran.

Turkey’s latest extortion attempt won’t dissuade Swedes.

The Kremlin is trying to take control of the Wagner Group’s Middle Eastern empire.

A joyful and tragicomic novel has been given extra weight by Russia’s invasion.

Why every day on the Mediterranean is a new scandal for Europe.

The AfD is on the rise nationally, notching a mayoral win and matching the Social Democrats in polls. Can it last?

A shocking video sparked massive riots and has reignited the debate on police violence in the banlieues.

Emmanuel Macron is pushing a European policy that flatters France and annoys everyone else.

How Prigozhin’s actions are felt around the world.

Albrecht von Wallenstein was the Holy Roman Empire’s power broker—until he clashed with his superior.

A new book charts the troubled path of the U.K. Conservative Party in the wake of Brexit.

The Wagner Group’s short-lived mutiny seems to have weakened Putin—but that isn’t necessarily a win for Washington.

Last weekend’s mutiny was partly the product of a mismanaged authoritarian state.

Moscow has a tight command-and-control system—but there’s always a risk.

The nature of global migration has transformed since rules were put in place in 1951.

Xi feels vindicated over Putin’s style of governance—but has made a bad bet on the Russian leader.

Vox could unseat Pedro Sánchez in snap elections. How do you beat such an unusual party?

A new poll reveals strong support for Sweden’s accession to the security alliance.

Potential instability in Moscow is inconvenient for Putin’s partners in Beijing.

With its good fighters out of the picture, Russia’s manpower problems get worse.

In Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Wagner rebellion has exposed Russia’s fragility.