October 4, 2017 - Adam Reichardt Tod Lindberg
A book review of Mūsiškiai (Ours). By: Rūta Vanagaitė. Publisher: Alma littera, Vilnius, 2016.
What makes Rūta Vanagaitė’s Ours (Mūsiškiai) very different from all other Lithuanian books on the Holocaust is that it was from the start written as a bestseller. Written by an experienced public relations professional as an appeal to the Lithuanian public, the book raises the painful issue of historical responsibility. The author does not refrain from giving a personal twist to the story (it would be impossible otherwise, as the Holocaust is an issue of individual position and individual responsibility). The author is piercingly direct and uses black comedy. She approaches the topic with composure and a sense of supremacy. These two features may irritate the reader. However, she is entitled to it as she aims to confront the reader, which she so eloquently achieves.
October 3, 2017 - Linas Vildžiūnas
An interview with Sijbren de Jong, a strategic analyst at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. Interviewer: Małgosia Krakowska
MAŁGOSIA KRAKOWSKA: When the Chinese president announced the One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR), it was hailed as the “project of the century”. A report that you co-authored for the Hague Centre on Strategic Studies sheds much less optimism. What raises your concerns?
SIJBREN DE JONG: The answer is hidden in the modus operandi of the project. “The One Belt” refers to the land, economic belt, while the “One Road” refers to the maritime corridor. Under the scheme, Chinese financial institutions issue loans to countries in which the proposed OBOR related infrastructure will be constructed. Countries with a poor trade balance, for example in the Western Balkans, may benefit from the Chinese loans but also see their debt burden increase as a result.
September 27, 2017 - Małgosia Krakowska Sijbren de Jong
Sunday September 10th did not start well for Mikheil Saakashvili. The former Georgian President, former governor of Odesa and now former Ukrainian citizen and persona non grata in his adoptive home chose Sunday for his great return to Ukrainian soil. Already in the early morning hours, however, it appeared that nothing was going as planned and few actually believed that Saakashvili would make it across the border.
September 12, 2017 - Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska and Kaja Puto
When on July 26th 2017 it was declared that Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, decided to rescind his previous decision of granting Ukrainian citizenship to the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, political commentators in Ukraine all agreed that this was one of Poroshenko’s most irrational decisions since assuming office. Now, when the Ukrainian authorities have detained Saakashvili's brother, David, who has been living in Kyiv, the case looks even more bizarre, where state institutions are being used as tools to stop potential political competition.
September 6, 2017 - Example Author
September 5, 2017 - Example Author
While anyone would expect a documentation of the disaster and the destruction that took place and is still threatening the northern part of Ukraine and Belarus, the installations in the museum's four rooms looks more like an impressive memorial, where memories of the tragic events that injured this part of Ukraine are collected and preserved, to give the deserved dignity to this human tragedy.
April 25, 2016 - Giacomo Manca
Strictly political democratisation (free elections and the establishment of a multi-party system) was the fastest process to take shape in East-Central Europe, with the most visible effects; however, it was not without obstacles. For Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, in the spring and summer of 1990 the free parliamentary elections established a new political setting and the same happened in the Baltic states, after the fall of the USSR.
April 30, 2014 - Heloisa Rojas Gomez
It starts at the moment of passport control on the Belarusian side. A disbelief and suspicion on the border officer’s face when hearing a foreigner replying in Belarusian to routine questioning in Russian is priceless. Soon it becomes apparent that this is a state bilingualism à la Belarus.
April 29, 2014 - Paula Borowska
The Department of Eastern Europe of the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and New Eastern Europe cordially invite you to participate in the International Conference “Colour Revolutions in the Perspective of the Past Decade: Multidimensionality of the system transition in the post-Soviet area”, which will take place on June 27th 2014.
April 25, 2014 - New Eastern Europe
There is a Russian saying Не бей дубьем, бей рублем (ne bej dub'em, bej rublem), which means that if one wishes to bring harm to an opponent, the most effective way to do it is to apply economic, not physical, measures. Russia, despite the recent quasi-military intervention in the Ukrainian Crimea, seems to instinctively understand the gist of this phrase.
April 25, 2014 - Michał Romanowski
April 25, 2014 - New Eastern Europe
The consequences of Russia’s invasion are visible not only in Ukraine. The Kremlin has set off or exploited a series of crises that face most European countries.
Subscribe to NEE
New thinking is needed in policies towards Russia, in whatever form it will take after the war.
Subscribe to NEE
Ukraine’s suffering goes well beyond the front line.
Subscribe to NEE
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we now see our western values under siege, whether we consciously recognise it or not.
Subscribe to NEE
The invasion by Russian forces of Ukraine from the north, south and east – with the initial aim to take the capital Kyiv – has changed our region, and indeed our world, forever.
Subscribe to NEE
The situation with Russian threats towards Ukraine once again illustrates the high level of instability in our region.
Subscribe to NEE
Only a year ago we witnessed the second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It took at least 5,000 lives and significantly shifted the geopolitics in the South Caucuses.
Subscribe to NEE
This special issue aims to honour the plight of Belarusians whose democratic choice made in August 2020 was shamelessly snubbed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Subscribe to NEE
From the social, economic and political points of view, a lot of work still remains for this country. And this is why Ukraine’s story is incomplete.
Subscribe to NEE
Our societies are more polarised than ever before, which makes them more susceptible to disinformation, untruth and conspiracy theories.
Subscribe to NEE
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed limitations and weaknesses in nearly all countries around the world.
Subscribe to NEE
Uncertainty, volatility and the relationship between Russia and the West.
Subscribe to NEE
The Black Sea region is quickly becoming a geopolitical battleground which is gaining the interest of major powers, regional players and smaller countries – and the stakes are only getting higher.
Subscribe to NEE
This issue is dedicated to the 10 year anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership as well as the 30 years since the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe.
Subscribe to NEE
The consequences of the emerging multipolar world.
Subscribe to NEE
This issue takes a special look at the role and responsibility of the public intellectual in Central and Eastern Europe today.
Subscribe to NEE
In the eastern parts of the European continent, 1918 is remembered not only as the end of the First World War, but also saw the emergence of newly-independent states and the rise of geopolitical struggles which are felt until this day.
Subscribe to NEE
It often seems, at least from the outside, that Belarus remains isolated from the West and very static in its transformation. Yet, despite its relative isolation, Belarus is indeed changing.
Subscribe to NEE
The Summer 2018 issue of New Eastern Europe tackles the complexity of para-states in the post-Soviet space.
Subscribe to NEE
