Putin plays Western media as much as Trump. Media reports fake negotiations rather than real suffering Putin causes in Ukraine. More war isn't news but peace is. So Putin pretends to negotiate and the media falls for it. Photos: Ukrainian school where Russian missiles killed children in 2022.

A year's end message from "At the Edges" on Substack: "We provide this service because the world needs critical, hopeful storytelling." marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/the-next-t...

Mark Carney announces Canada will provide $2.5 billion in economic aid to Ukraine - aimed on rebuilding Ukraine. Another major economic commitment.

The latest from “At the Edges, with Marc Loustau:” A conversation about climate denialism and the far right, featuring Prof. Lee Medovoi, Senior Fellow at the Central European University’s Institute for Advanced Studies. marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/the-far-ri...

Am I alone in discovering that spiked, thanks to the #60minutes scandal, is jargon for both journalists and football players?

“The idea of collective blessing in scripture is a direct critique of the way power is being wielded to punish in our country. Collective punishment in politics has become normalized, but it does not have to be so.” – @revdrmichaelwoolf.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

“Our Christian hope is that God will one day step in decisively to disrupt all our timelines. No calendar can prepare us for that day.” – Brandon Ambrosino www.christiancentury.org/online-colum...

Update on Hungary child abuse scandal: Independent Hungarian public opinion research group reports that pro-government voters disagree with government PR campaign slandering the victims as criminals. telex.hu/belfold/2025... My own coverage on Substack: open.substack.com/pub/marcrosc...

Hungarian PM Orbán claims he prevented a “declaration of war on Russia” by blocking the use of frozen assets and refusing to back the EU’s €90B loan for Ukraine. Poland’s FM Sikorski responded with sarcasm, posting an image of the Soviet Union’s Order of Lenin medal.

“FanDuel and DraftKings contribute money (however paltry) to anti-addiction efforts, while also steadily deepening fans’ dependence on betting … It’s moral laundering reminiscent of the tobacco companies that once insisted they weren’t encouraging teens to smoke.” – Peter W. Marty

“The fascism debate is evidence that we don’t have a clear picture of our terrifying authoritarian and racial-nationalist present.” – Mac Loftin www.christiancentury.org/features/fas...

“A properly apolitical nativity scene, we’re led to believe, would tastefully decorate lawns and mantles, signifying nothing other than the common faith that transcends conflict over things like war and oppression … But what could possibly be more political than that?” – Mac Loftin

“The potluck is an act of faith. You don’t think you bring it all, but you also don’t think you have nothing to do with it. You bring something.” – Amy Frykholm www.christiancentury.org/features/the...

“Gossip tends to work like a bad novelist. It smooths everything out. It turns complex actions into simple, legible ones and cuts ambiguities down to a single dimension.” – @philipchristman.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/voices/pover...

Crops shrink and sizzle in pernicious heat it’s fine I’ve stacked enough energy drinks in my caves for you to ride at dawn – read the complete new poem from Heidi Neumark: www.christiancentury.org/poetry/king-...

After watching Die My Love, columnist Kathryn Reklis considers just how dismal the state of motherhood in popular culture has become. www.christiancentury.org/screen-time/...

“In Humans: A Monstrous History, British historian @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social offers a scholarly exploration of monsters and monster-­making through the ages.” – review by A. Trevor Sutton www.christiancentury.org/books/monste... @ucpress.bsky.social

Photos from this weekend's #Hungary protests over child abuse in state care and correctional facilities.

“The sages see in Nimrod’s deeds the necessity of a constant check against the arrogance of power. Yet they also offer a warning to his followers: You follow a bad king at your peril.” – Mordechai Beck www.christiancentury.org/features/bad...

“Wherever we situate Bethlehem, let’s be clear that it’s far away from the corridors of power. God shows up in profound humility, taking up very little oxygen in that cattle stall.” – Peter W. Marty www.christiancentury.org/first-words/...

A weekend of protests in Budapest after videos surfaced showing child abuse in a state facility. Read more in "At the Edges, with Marc Loustau." marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/fathers-ou...

An editor at a magazine I write for said to me yesterday, "Marc, you're on our 'grim beat.'" I have to agree.

Horseheads, diabolical femininity, and giving the middle finger. All in today’s edition of “At the Edges, with Marc Loustau” on Substack. With thanks to @AndreaPeto and @VeraJonas marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/the-gender...

Új magyar nyelv tanulási kudarcom: Kérdeztem a bevásárlóközpontban, az információs póltnál. Fülbevalót hol lehet keresni? Fülhallgatót akartam. 😆 Sejtettem hogy valami nem stimmel amikor az információs hölgy erre azt válaszolta: Ezüst vagy arany?

To grasp how the players in the #ukraine war use religious toleration to gain strategic advantage, first we need to shed our sentimentality about churches, politics, and especially geopolitics. "America's Christian left has a geopolitics problem." open.substack.com/pub/marcrosc...

“At the Edges” is grateful to its engaged and dedicated subscribers!

This month, Hanna Szenes, a Hungarian Jewish paratrooper who fought behind Nazi lines, finally got a Times obituary; but the article has little about Hungary's Jewish community today. What do Hungarian Jews think about a famous native daughter? marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/hanna-szen...

Hungary's PM jets off to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, today November 28. Why? @euobserver.com quoted my analysis in today's issue. euobserver.com/eu-and-the-w...

Trump ambassador pick for #Hungary has close ties to Israeli extremists. Nominee Benjamin Landa says far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, once convicted of supporting terrorist groups, should be Prime Minister. What does Hungary's Jewish community think? balkaninsight.com/2025/11/26/t...

Stay or go? Intellectuals in 1930s Germany faced this question. Czech dissidents faced it from behind the Iron Curtain. Now it’s the US’s turn. What is life in exile like today? See the latest edition of "At the Edges, with Marc Loustau." marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/wanna-get-...

In the face of the pandemic of angst and anxiety, is there an example of an individual’s search for consolation that might inspire and guide us today? “The search for what heals us,” in today’s edition of the “At the Edges” newsletter on Substack. marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/the-search...

#adorno didn't like #mahler's 8th: "The tone of strained gaiety no more actualizes joy than the word gaudeamus; the thematic fulfillments announced too eagerly by the gestures of fulfilling do not materialize.” Add a self-affirmation T-shirt slogan instead of gaudeamus, it's a powerful critique.

Writer Tom Montgomery Fate chats with Jon about the peaceful protests at the ICE facility in Broadview, IL, where several faith leaders were recently arrested. youtu.be/bKGNh_WmvGY

“The occupation is best understood as Christians punishing Christians who refuse to say the Russian invasion is divinely sanctioned.” – @attheedges.bsky.social www.christiancentury.org/features/pas...

My article about Ukrainian pastors who fled Russian-occupied territory and the apps they use. Not only do these ministers do pastoral care with people still behind the front line, they also taught me about resisting #authoritarianism. New in the @christiancentury.bsky.social: "Pastors in exile."

Listening to Mahler 9, the first movement. This feels accurate: "But Mahler's movements, in their entirety, are streams on which is borne whatever is caught in them, yet without its particularity being entirely absorbed." Theodor Adorno, Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy.

"Here we go again..." Ukrainian Catholics react to Pope Leo's interview with Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse. It's for the best, they say, that Ukrainian media mostly ignored the interview. In "At the Edges, with Marc Loustau" on Substack. marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/do-you-kno...

I am a fellow at Central European University’s Institute for Advanced Study. The IAS coordinated my media appearances about the Trump-Putin Budapest summit. Now they’ve put the coverage my comments received on one site: ias.ceu.edu/article/2025... It’s a pleasure to be at @iasceu.bsky.social!

My friend and former Ukrainian teacher Maria Kosiychuk is organizing this exciting program. It'll be fun as well as educational. For anyone even just a little bit curious about Ukrainian, I highly recommend! www.instagram.com/soft.sign.ua/

My commentary about the not-so-summit in regional news: Bosnian TV and a Slovak newspaper, Denník Sme. Trump said a meeting is a waste of time. The only waste of time is Trump, and any effort by Europe to deal with him as a reliable ally. n1info.ba/svijet/video... svet.sme.sk/c/23558945/v...

The Budapest summit is off. Trump's reaction: He says a meeting is a "waste of time." The only waste of time is Trump himself, and Europe's attempt to deal with him as a conventional, reliable ally. My commentary in The Conversation UK. theconversation.com/trump-putin-...

I was on TV last night commenting about the Trump-Putin Budapest Summit and why the EU needs to show some backbone in response. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fzz...

The Trump-Putin summit in Budapest is a threat to European unity. It could also seriously damage Hungary-Ukraine relations. But Viktor Orbán's real challenge will be finding a place for these strongmen to have a good time. “At the Edges, with Marc Loustau.” open.substack.com/pub/marcrosc...

New York Times says President Trump will meet with Putin in **Budapest** to discuss Ukraine. It's really strange to make a prediction and actually be right, but here we are. "Hungary’s ICC Exit Could Make Budapest a More Welcoming Place for Russians." By Marc Loustau, Balkan Insight, 4/30/2025.

For more than a year, a memorial to Russian dissident Alexei Navalny sat across the street from the Russian embassy in Budapest. Last week, vandals tore it down. Who did it? More importantly, who came together to put it back again? open.substack.com/pub/marcrosc...

Ukrainian pastors, who fled cities now occupied by Russia, still keep in touch with church members who stayed behind. But why, when Russian police have threatened to arrest worshippers? From “At the Edges”: “Where Mother Mary is on the terror list.” marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/where-moth...

When does public Christianity become controversial? The latest addition to #Budapest's skyline is a test case. My article in Balkan Insight: balkaninsight.com/2025/09/17/h...

This New York Times article about Charlie Kirk is bad. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/u... “At the Edges” newsletter today: "Political violence isn't uniquely American." Let's look outside our borders to understand what’s at stake in political violence. marcroscoeloustau.substack.com/p/political-...

"But to look at it from another angle - one can’t forget everything, however great one’s wish to do so; the plague was bound to leave traces, anyhow, in people’s hearts." A. Camus, The Plague, p. 227

Why does a self-reflexive, anti-imperial leftist sign up for a foreign war that, if we’re completely honest, he doesn’t really understand? The author George Orwell (Animal Farm, 1984) posed this question to himself in 1938. I ask myself the same question today. open.substack.com/pub/marcrosc...