A truly dystopian description from the New York Times of the Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov's job.

I just fed Claude AI a list of all the books I've read over the past 6 years and asked it to tell me which of them were written in first person.

I'm sure everyone's heard about the Bosnian tattoos by now. I explored the story for the @newlinesmag.bsky.social, and if you’re curious about Ottoman Bosnia, Catholic women, and the stakes of turning complicated histories into myths, take a look: newlinesmag.com/essays/the-o...

Turkey and Armenia will formally resume trade relations after a 33-year freeze as part of a rapprochement between the two countries, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. www.euractiv.com/news/turkey-...

A planned Sudeten German congress in the Czech city of Brno is reopening wartime wounds and triggering a public clash between Czech and German far-right parties, usually close allies in Brussels. ww.euractiv.com/news/back-to-bohemia-sudeten-german-gathering-sparks-czech-german-nationalist-row/

Christian Schmidt, the UN high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, was forced to resign in a policy clash with the US, seemingly complicated by the commercial interests of a firm linked to Donald Trump Jr. that is seeking to invest in the region. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

This weekend’s elections in Spain’s southern Andalusia region are expected to deliver a sweeping victory for conservatives, wrapping up a major regional electoral cycle before Spain heads to the polls in 2027. www.euractiv.com/news/andalus...

This weekend’s elections in Spain’s southern Andalusia region are expected to deliver a sweeping victory for conservatives, wrapping up a major regional electoral cycle before Spain heads to the polls in 2027. www.euractiv.com/news/andalus...

Christian Schmidt, the UN high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, was forced to resign in a policy clash with the US, seemingly complicated by the commercial interests of a firm linked to Donald Trump Jr. that is seeking to invest in the region. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

A planned Sudeten German congress in the Czech city of Brno is reopening wartime wounds and triggering a public clash between Czech and German far-right parties, usually close allies in Brussels. ww.euractiv.com/news/back-to-bohemia-sudeten-german-gathering-sparks-czech-german-nationalist-row/

Turkey and Armenia will formally resume trade relations after a 33-year freeze as part of a rapprochement between the two countries, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. www.euractiv.com/news/turkey-...

Poland expects to receive €300 million from the European Peace Facility to reimburse part of its military support for Ukraine, as Hungary’s new government is set to lift the country’s long-standing veto. www.euractiv.com/news/hungary...

Albania won’t extend its migration deal with Italy beyond 2030, Albanian Foreign Minister Ferit Hoxha told @euractiv.com in an exclusive interview. www.euractiv.com/news/exclusi...

"Die Trump-Administration erscheint in den Videos als inkompetent, verzweifelt, dysfunktional, korrupt und politisch angezählt." In der Tat muss sich der Iran für seine "Slopaganda" über die Trump-Regierung kaum etwas ausdenken. Es genügt, einen Tag Truth Social zu paraphrasieren.

Putin’s suggestion that former German Chancellor Schröder mediate between Moscow and Kyiv has reopened divisions inside Germany’s coalition government – w/CDU taking a pro-Ukraine line while sections of the centre-left SPD remain more open to engagement with Moscow. www.euractiv.com/news/putin-t...

You couldn’t invent a bigger loser than this dude

Poland’s former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, facing criminal charges at home and sheltered by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government last year, has fled Hungary for the US. www.euractiv.com/news/polands...

Now this has got to be one of the odder Duolingo phrases I have encountered.

Poland’s former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, facing criminal charges at home and sheltered by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government last year, has fled Hungary for the US. www.euractiv.com/news/polands...

Now this has got to be one of the odder Duolingo phrases I have encountered.

Now on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, Georgia. #EuropeDay and day 528 of nonstop protests.

The internet is weird www.euractiv.com/news/the-unl...

The European Parliament on Wednesday urged the European Commission to consider freezing EU funds for Slovakia, as concerns grow over rule-of-law backsliding under Prime Minister Robert Fico. www.euractiv.com/news/europea...

The European Commission says it has not halted funding to Serbia, contradicting remarks made days earlier by Marta Kos, the enlargement commissioner, who had suggested payments had been stopped over concerns about judicial backsliding. www.euractiv.com/news/eu-back...

House Democrats are urging the Trump admin to publicly acknowledge Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program, a move that would abandon decades of U.S. policy but confirm what has been an open secret among intelligence officials since the late 1960s. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that the ongoing war has not significantly changed Iran’s nuclear timeline, which remains roughly up to a year to build a weapon if it chooses to do so. www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Russians are increasingly returning to Europe for holidays, even as the EU has some of the world’s toughest sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Confidential figures seen by Euractiv show that Schengen visa issuance to Russian nationals rose in 2025. www.euractiv.com/news/eu-coun...

Russians are increasingly returning to Europe for holidays, even as the EU has some of the world’s toughest sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Confidential figures seen by Euractiv show that Schengen visa issuance to Russian nationals rose in 2025. www.euractiv.com/news/eu-coun...

U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that the ongoing war has not significantly changed Iran’s nuclear timeline, which remains roughly up to a year to build a weapon if it chooses to do so. www.reuters.com/world/middle...

House Democrats are urging the Trump admin to publicly acknowledge Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program, a move that would abandon decades of U.S. policy but confirm what has been an open secret among intelligence officials since the late 1960s. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

The latest newsletter, with a dispatch from Montreal open.substack.com/pub/lazolett...

The European Commission says it has not halted funding to Serbia, contradicting remarks made days earlier by Marta Kos, the enlargement commissioner, who had suggested payments had been stopped over concerns about judicial backsliding. www.euractiv.com/news/eu-back...

The latest newsletter, with a dispatch from Montreal open.substack.com/pub/lazolett...

The European Parliament on Wednesday urged the European Commission to consider freezing EU funds for Slovakia, as concerns grow over rule-of-law backsliding under Prime Minister Robert Fico. www.euractiv.com/news/europea...

US President Donald Trump is considering reducing the American troop presence in Germany after comments by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz opposing the war in Iran. www.euractiv.com/news/us-may-...

Italy’s plan to outsource part of its migrant management to Albania received backing from an advocate general at the EU’s top court, who said European law does not prevent member states from establishing return and detention centres outside their territory. www.euractiv.com/news/melonis...

The Trump administration plans to add firing squads, electrocution, and gas asphyxiation as alternative methods of executing people convicted of federal crimes. www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...

Immigrants can now be denied a green card for expressing political opinions, such as participating in pro-Palestinian campus protests or posting criticism of Israel on social media, according to internal DHS training materials reviewed by the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/u...

Immigrants can now be denied a green card for expressing political opinions, such as participating in pro-Palestinian campus protests or posting criticism of Israel on social media, according to internal DHS training materials reviewed by the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/u...

The Trump administration plans to add firing squads, electrocution, and gas asphyxiation as alternative methods of executing people convicted of federal crimes. www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...

Italy’s plan to outsource part of its migrant management to Albania received backing from an advocate general at the EU’s top court, who said European law does not prevent member states from establishing return and detention centres outside their territory. www.euractiv.com/news/melonis...

A new spin on the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire. Bonus points if they relocate the Sandtoft Trolley Bus Museum.

In recent months, Ukrainian negotiators floated the informal idea of naming a contested part of the Donbas region “Donnyland” during peace talks to appeal to Donald Trump and encourage stronger U.S. support against Russia. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/u...

The Serbian government recently began construction of what could be the first metro system in the Western Balkans. But the project highlights how Belgrade is increasingly using China as a counterweight to the EU. www.euractiv.com/news/china-n...

Some reflections after a long weekend in Perugia. lazoletters.substack.com/p/is-journal...

Russia plans to halt the flow of Kazakh oil through the Druzhba pipeline to a refinery in eastern Germany starting May 1 www.euractiv.com/news/russia-...

Montenegro moved one step closer to EU membership on Wednesday, as the bloc’s countries agreed to start work on an accession treaty. www.euractiv.com/news/montene...

I'm sorry, but I love em dashes, and that does not make me a robot.

I have recently reached an age at which key memories from my early adulthood – for example, I remember the first time I visited Rome, or I remember when Montenegro held a referendum to gain independence from Serbia – routinely took place 20 years ago.

Montenegro moved one step closer to EU membership on Wednesday, as the bloc’s countries agreed to start work on an accession treaty. www.euractiv.com/news/montene...