Notebooks

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

A village located between green terrace fields in the barren landscape of Upper Mustang.

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Mustang: the heart of Nepal’s China dream

The Himalayan region is where Nepal’s aspirations of Chinese-backed economic development are being realised.

Amish Raj Mulmi June 2, 2023

Young people hold portraits of people who died in Ukraine between 2014 and 2022, during the Immortal Regiment march marking the 77th anniversary of the end of the Second World War on Tverskaya street in central Moscow, Russia.

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Inside Russia’s forever war with the West

Russian media propagates a militaristic vision of national identity at odds with a malicious West: but where does this story come from?

Jade McGlynn June 2, 2023

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The Stalinist who wrote the playbook for French foreign policy

The philosopher-statesman Alexander Kojève and President Emmanuel Macron make unlikely bedfellows as France tries to reshape the world order.

Angus Brown May 31, 2023

Poster for the Cannes film festival, 2023.

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Cannes: festival of freedom

The Cannes film festival remains as free spirited as ever.

Agnès Poirier May 27, 2023

President Gerald Ford and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger conversing in the grounds of the White House in 1974.

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Henry Kissinger at 100: a century of service

Henry Kissinger has served his adopted nation for more than half a century and made a significant and positive contribution to America’s role in the world.

Thomas A. Schwartz May 26, 2023

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The Ancient Forerunner of AI

The myth of Talos gave us the original AI dilemma.

Adrienne Mayor May 24, 2023

Victor Frankenstein confronting the monster he has created.

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Victor Frankenstein’s bad habits

Mary Shelley's legendary creation Victor Frankenstein symbolises modernity’s overweening ambition and potential for self-destruction.

Patricia Fara May 24, 2023

Author Martin Amis at home. Photographed by David Sandison.

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Amis the Unadaptable

A spectacularly cinematic writer, Martin Amis has only now found the screen treatment he deserved.

Alexander Larman May 23, 2023

Ukrainian Border Guard soldiers participate in a military exercise in central Ukraine.

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Learning the Ukrainian Way of War

Ukraine's approach to the offensive is likely to be intelligent and precise.

Rob Johnson May 23, 2023