Opinion: Georgescu’s rise exposes the fragility of Romania’s pro-European consensus
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Opinion: Georgescu’s rise exposes the fragility of Romania’s pro-European consensus

The meteoric rise of hardcore nationalist Călin Georgescu in Romania’s first-round presidential election over the weekend is nothing short of remarkable. Georgescu surged from just a few percentage points in polls weeks before the vote to claim over 23% of the electorate, defeating candidates from the country’s two most established parties. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel […]
Opinion: With soaring interest rates and stagflation risks, Russia will
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Opinion: With soaring interest rates and stagflation risks, Russia will face deep economic crisis regardless of war’s outcome

The recent hike in Russia’s key interest rate to 21% by the Central Bank in late October has stirred renewed debate among media and economists about the Russian economy’s outlook and how economic trends could influence Kremlin policies. Today, few predict an "imminent collapse" of the Russian economy. However, signs of deteriorating trends and economic […]
Opinion: The central bank can't solve Russia's economic crisis in
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Opinion: The central bank can't solve Russia's economic crisis in the face of war and sanctions

Almost three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the West’s financial sanctions have finally started to bite, triggering fierce infighting within the Kremlin over control of Russia’s central bank. Russia’s business community has remained largely silent over the past two years, even as Western sanctions triggered a surge in real interest rates. […]
Opinion: Handshaking Putin and hugging Lukashenko, UN head Guterres undermines
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Opinion: Handshaking Putin and hugging Lukashenko, UN head Guterres undermines the ICC

While the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently expressed “high appreciation” for the United Nations’ cooperative relations during the commemoration of UN Day, a troubling incident unfolded 3,000 kilometers away from The Hague in Kazan, Russia. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, smiling and bowing his head, shook hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the […]
Opinion: Gogol, the Ukrainian Kafka that Russia couldn’t claim
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Opinion: Gogol, the Ukrainian Kafka that Russia couldn’t claim

The question of Nikolai Gogol’s “belonging”—especially now, as Ukrainian and Russian cultures, long bound by an imperial past, are severing their ties before our eyes—remains a deeply painful issue for Ukrainians. Gogol, one of the most gifted writers ever born on Ukrainian soil, loved Ukraine profoundly as a civilization, was Ukrainian-speaking by origin, yet chose […]
Opinion: Rigged elections have stolen Georgia's European future
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Opinion: Rigged elections have stolen Georgia's European future

In Georgia’s 2012 election, then-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s pro-Western party was defeated by Georgian Dream, a party led by the Russian-backed oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. Though widely hailed at the time as a democratic triumph, astute observers warned against celebrating. One such observer was Georgia’s former economy minister, the late Kakha Bendukidze, a businessman and philanthropist who […]