Essays Archive

essays

The Greenland question

Donald Trump's aggressive bid for Greenland has amplified the island's long drive for self-rule, while illuminating the complex ties that bind Copenhagen, Washington and Nuuk.

Elizabeth Buchanan February 19, 2026

Postage stamp printed in Russia shows a mirrored map of the Arctic, with Russian flag on the North Pole.

essays

Russia’s Arctic game

President Putin sees Greenland as a testing ground for his vision of a world divided into spheres of influence, in which the United States and Russia set the rules of the game and ..

Sergey Radchenko February 18, 2026

Close-up image of the map of Europe on a 100 euro banknote.

essays

Europe: a great power in the making

Surrounded by an unreliable United States, a belligerent Russia, an assertive China, and a rising India, European statesmen face a timeless truth: to resist competitors, they must ..

Dimitar Bechev February 13, 2026

An artist's concept of a nuclear missile launch.

essays

New START, new nuclear threat

With the expiration of the arms agreement between Washington and Moscow, the world faces a new era of nuclear competition.

Owen Matthews February 11, 2026

Lord Halifax, British Ambassador to the United States, at the National Airport in Washington.

essays

The aristocratic ambassadors who won America over

Lord Lothian, followed by Lord Halifax, led the British Embassy in Washington during the early years of the Second World War. Securing US support for Britain, they set the standard..

Tim Bouverie February 10, 2026

Marco Ricci and Sebastiano Ricci's 'Landscape with Classical Ruins and Figures'.

essays

Edward Gibbon’s empire

Edward Gibbon’s 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' was published 250 years ago. Its arguments remain as pertinent as ever.

Sumantra Maitra February 10, 2026

essays

The dream of a universal picture language

The idea that images can transcend words has a long intellectual history.

Keith Lowe February 9, 2026

Soldiers from the Danish army taking part in live-fire training after their arrival in Greenland, on Sunday, 18 January 2026.

essays

The Nordic strategic tradition

The confrontation over Greenland has become a defining test for the Nordic countries, revealing deep interdependencies shaped by history, geography, and alliance politics.

Peter Haldén February 6, 2026

A Soviet Cartoon from 1956 showing a defeated British lion and Gallic cockerel on the banks of the River Nile.

essays

Britain’s Suez catastrophe

The Suez Crisis, a severe geopolitical shock for all of Europe, marked the moment when British statesmen realised that they could no longer rely on the American alliance to simulat..

Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri February 5, 2026