We are approaching the centenary of the First World War. A hundred years ago this year, Europe was thrown into a bloody conflict that could have been avoided through a political solution. Imperial diplomacies had failed the peoples of Europe, who paid for it with the lives of a whole generation.

Ukraine has a new government and prime minister. The people have perceived these new appointments ambiguously. Some Ukrainians want a full reboot of the authorities, while others understand that the new ministers must be experienced professionals as the country is now in a very difficult condition.

New Eastern Europe, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Polish PEN Club and the Ukrainian PEN Club invite you to the "Celebratory Evening of Ukrainian Poetry" dedicated to Taras Shevchenko on the 200th anniversary of his birth. The lecture will be held on Friday March 14th at 5.00 PM at the Concert Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

The events that took place on February 20th 2014 in Kyiv will be forever remembered as a moment when the price of liberty, democracy and human life itself were questioned. In fact, this moment marks the end of post-Soviet Ukraine, for now the history of a new Ukraine has begun. What it will be nobody knows, but certainly this country will not follow the Soviet type of post-colonial existence.

When Jacek Kuroń died ten years ago, his Polish friends put next to his coffin a yellow thermos bottle filled with an extremely strong tea. It was the one thing he always carried with him, even to official ministerial meetings. A few months later, when the Orange Revolution broke out, students from Ukraine hung an orange scarf on the cross on his grave. They knew that if he had been alive, he would have stood at their side.

On November 22th 2007, a new monument was unveiled in Tbilisi. It was a statue of the Greek mythological hero Prometheus. Surprisingly, the presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Georgia attended this event. This was not a coincidence, but for historical reasons Lech Kaczyński, Valdas Adamkus and Mikheil Saakashvili – the then-presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Georgia, respectively – participated in this event.

Celebrating independence with foreign flags and military camouflage. On Monday February 17th, just two days after Serbia’s National Day, the youngest European state, Kosovo, was celebrating the sixth anniversary of its declaration of independence from Belgrade.

As the situation in the Crimea become more critical, NEE provides a fact sheet so you understand the basics of the region.

On February 10th 2014, New Eastern Europe along with the Casimir Pulaski Foundation hosted a discussion in Warsaw focusing on Belarus and the current situation in the country as well as promoted the current issue of New Eastern Europe: Unmasking Belarus.

Keeping in mind that last week we witnessed several unexpected changes of events in the country by the Dnieper, it is worth asking what will happen if Poland – or, more broadly, the European Union and other states – will have to choose between two rival governing camps in Ukraine, those of Viktor Yanukovych and Oleksandr Turchynov?

On March 13th-14th, the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw will turn into a space for debate about the use of new technology in politics. Politicians, local activists and activists from Poland and East-Central Europe will arrive in Warsaw. This all will be part of the Second Edition of hte Personal Democracy Forum, the most important event devoted to open government in Europe. The conference is co-ogranised by the Polish NGO Fundacja ePaństwo, the publisher of Sejmometr.pl and the initiator of the project Koduj dla Polski.