Notebooks

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

The construction by Rosatom of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh.
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Russia’s global grip on nuclear energy

Like its Soviet predecessor, Russia’s nuclear energy industry is a tool of state power pursuing military and foreign policy goals with ruthless ambition.

Paul Josephson February 3, 2025
DeepSeek page on a smartphone screen.
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China’s AI Sputnik moment is not what it seems

China's AI sector has profound strengths, but it will need to overcome a range of complex challenges if it is to thrive, as the unveiling of the AI model DeepSeek shows.

Alice Han January 31, 2025
The four Scandinavian leaders have dinner together.
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Geopolitics, the Scandinavian way

At a time of mounting geopolitical tensions, Scandinavian leaders have sent the world a powerful message: that it is possible for countries, and their leaders, to have close and tr..

Elisabeth Braw January 30, 2025
A chromolithograph by Robert Carrick of Turner's Rockets and Blue Lights, 1852.
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Turner’s genius for technology

J.M.W Turner lived in an age of extraordinary mechanical advances. He was ever alive to the opportunities new technologies afforded the arts.

Andrew Wilton January 29, 2025
Vintage Fiat poster.
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The Italians and their cars: the history of a fatal obsession

Even more than America, Italy has always seen the car as a symbol of freedom and glamour, an assumption that has had perilous consequences.

Tobias Jones January 27, 2025
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto shake hands during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
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Why Indonesia joined the BRICS

When the country’s past is examined from a deeper historical perspective, it is unsurprising that Indonesia's leaders have been wary of any kind of global alignment.

Christopher Hale January 24, 2025
A sign reading 'AfD wählen ist so 1933'.
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Germany’s present is not Germany’s past

German voters face very different problems to those of a century ago. One surefire way to lose their trust is for politicians to offer dubious history lessons.

Katja Hoyer January 23, 2025
The declaration of State of Israel in 1948. Historic Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
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Israel’s elusive peace

The Arab-Israeli ceasefires of 1949 were a missed opportunity for peace in the Middle East. Buoyed by Israel's triumph in the 1948 War, Israeli governments failed to build a durabl..

Jack Dickens January 23, 2025
Still from David Lynch's Blue Velvet.
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The upside-down world of David Lynch

In Lynch’s universe both Bedford Falls and Pottersville, Oz and Kansas exist alongside one another, always capable of bleeding into each other.

Muriel Zagha January 23, 2025

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