Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

A close-up image of a hydrogen fuel cell.

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Hydrogen warfare

Unlocking new hydrogen fuel technologies could unleash a transformation in warfare as profound as any witnessed over the past five centuries, with far-reaching strategic implicatio..

Mara Balasa January 22, 2026

Joseph Conrad arriving in New York, 1920.

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Conrad’s American century

In his 1904 novel 'Nostromo', Joseph Conrad imagined a world shaped by distant financiers and imperial ambition, anticipating a century of American global power.

Morten Høi Jensen January 22, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Friday, 16th January 2026.

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The flaws in Mark Carney’s new world order

The Canadian prime minister is right to stress that middle powers must adapt to a new world order. Yet his rhetorical appeal to the heroism of anti-Communist dissidents, even as he..

George Magnus January 21, 2026

Kulusuk, Greenland. Credit: Robert Harding

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Greenland shows the limits and opportunities of Danish statecraft

American interest in Greenland confronts Denmark with a choice it has faced before. With strategic imagination, it could engage the US to forge a mutually beneficial path for the i..

Joshua Treviño January 21, 2026

Workers add the name of President Donald Trump to the exterior of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

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The Kennedy Center without the arts

Donald Trump’s reordering of the Kennedy Center illustrates a broader truth: when political leaders imprint their signature on cultural institutions, artistry finds a way to escape..

Elisabeth Braw January 20, 2026

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The first great radio hoax

In January 1926, a satirical broadcast by Father Ronald Knox sparked panic across Britain. Listeners mistook his parody of an impending revolution for real riots in the capital – a..

Daniel Marc Janes January 20, 2026