Notebooks

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

A Russian T-64 tank painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag with Kyiv's Motherland Monument in background.
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My journey to a defiant Ukraine

Even now, on the third anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainians remain valiant and defiant. But with Washington withdrawing its support for their struggle, E..

Brendan Simms March 5, 2025
Donald Trump speaks during Time magazine's Person of the Year event.
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The Trump effect

The Donald Trump we know today has a lot in common with the Trump of 2000 or 1988. The consistency and brute force of the president's core convictions allow him to make the politic..

Samuel Rubinstein March 4, 2025
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales for the 1941 Atlantic Charter meeting.
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The end of the Atlanticist Era

European leaders shouldn’t be surprised that the United States is reverting to its isolationist type. Despite this tendency, the Atlanticist Era has lasted for longer than anyone e..

Robert Lyman March 3, 2025
Getriebewerk factory hall in Brandenburg in 1989-1990/
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The revolt of Germany’s working class

Germany's workers are turning to the radical right because they feel alienated by the internationalist ethos and welfare policies of their country's ruling classes, as the recent s..

Katja Hoyer February 28, 2025
The Jingo Bully: a political cartoon from 1897 satirising tariff wars between the United States and Europe.
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The transatlantic alliance is fractured, not broken

Despite the severe strains that are being placed on the transatlantic alliance by the Trump Administration, Europe and the United States are bound by economic and security ties tha..

George Magnus February 27, 2025
A still from Pauline at the Beach.
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The art of Éric Rohmer

The filmmaker Éric Rohmer never sought a mass audience: he wanted to reach those thoughtful, sensitive people to whom poetry, art and serious music play an integral role in life, a..

Jaspreet Singh Boparai February 26, 2025
A map of Kinshasa and Brazzaville.
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A tale of two Congos

Despite their geographical proximity and deep historical ties, the Democratic Republic of Congo and its sibling, the Republic of Congo, have travelled along divergent political and..

Mpiti Mosothoane February 26, 2025
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Charles Lamb’s literary alter ego

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Charles Lamb’s birth, providing an opportune time to take stock of his finest work — his strikingly original essays.

Malcolm Forbes February 24, 2025
Frederick II 'the Great' of Prussia holds the Prussian standard while advancing against Russian troops during the Battle of Zorndorf, 25 August 1758.
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The 18th century way of war

At a time of increasing autocratic tendencies and heightened great-power competition, the 18th century provides important lessons from an age when it was normal for states to annex..

Adam L. Storring February 24, 2025

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