Two peace proposals now frame the future of Ukraine . Washington's draft plan focuses on concessions and neutrality, while Brussels has unveiled a new framework built around the principle that "borders cannot be changed by force" . At first glance, they seem to represent different strategies. In reality, they reflect two competing ways the world has thought about security for nearly a century. The first is universalism, the idea that every state, large or small, enjoys the sa

In the heat of Summer 2023, as tourists swarmed Crete’s postcard-perfect beaches, Greek police raided a fertility clinic  in the port town of Chania. What they uncovered was a sophisticated operation involving illegal surrogacy and human trafficking.  I first heard about the case through the Greek community in Melbourne. Some of the commissioning parents involved were known within those circles and word of the investigation in Crete circulated quickly. At first, the details w

Europe is sabotaging its own climate goals by prioritising the protection of its car industry over allowing affordable Chinese electric vehicles in. This turns the green transition into a trade dispute with China, whilst risking the green transformation both sides urgently need. Europe doesn’t need a trade war, it needs a strategy. Instead of raising tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles , the EU should establish a Green Trade Truce based on transparency, cooperation and fair

Cyprus seldom appears in Europe's rule of law debates. While Brussels scrutinises Poland and Hungary for dismantling judicial independence , the Republic of Cyprus quietly maintains the façade of a well-governed democracy, small, stable, and uncontroversial. Yet beneath this appearance of order lies a legal system defined by concentration of power, minimal oversight, and selective accountability. The 2025 EU Rule of Law Report commends "further progress" ,  but its diplomatic

October 4 th  saw a landslide victory for the Georgian Dream Party, securing them sixty-four out of sixty-four districts on only forty-one percent voter turnout, signalling significant corruption at work.  Over the summer, Tbilisi has been rocked by protests, but in the wake of last year's October election, it is apparent that the Georgian Dream is showing little tolerance for dissenting opposition. Strong economic performance, with GDP rising 7.9 percent  this past year, has

Though AI safety is often perceived as an overly nihilistic field of study, it has become an increasingly prevalent feature  of international policy debates ranging from its use in courts and parliaments to the defence industry. AI safety has entered public discourse in the context of spurring on unemployment, AI misuse, and the potential for critical systems failures or bias. In a European context, the EU is explicitly seeking  to develop a uniquely European approach to deve

Introduction In a country positioned at the crossroads of East and West, the battle for hearts and minds is increasingly fought not on the battlefield, but in the media. Once the frontrunner of the so-called “Associated Trio,” Georgia now finds itself among the most vulnerable to foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and broader information disorders, as media freedom and freedom of speech face growing threats. Amid ongoing protests, political unrest, and s

Czech billionaire turned populist politician and former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has won a plurality in this month's elections  in the central European country, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Petr Fiala's centrist coalition and falling 20 seats short of an overall majority. Nicknamed the ‘Czech Trump’, Babiš made his return on the back of the Czech Republic's economic woes.  The central European state had seen one of the worst inflation rates  in Europe and had borne t

In the shadows, Putin’s intelligence services have been leaving civilian casualties, sabotaged infrastructure, burnt out buildings and downed planes in their wake for over three years. A ravaged Europe lies almost completely unresponsive. For sixty heartstopping minutes, a full-to-capacity Falcon 900LX jet circles above Bulgaria in a state of panic. The pilots and security detail are frantically scrambling over paper maps and charts, desperate to plot a safe route to the grou

The EU should seize the momentum. The results of Moldova’s parliamentary elections demonstrate a decisive political shift. Pro-Russian...

Pre-election analysis of disinformation, crackdowns, interference, and oligarchic politics in the tense run-up to Moldova’s 2025...

In late July, flames tore through the mountainous region of the Limassol district in southern Cyprus, destroying more than 100 km² of...

A peaceful sky is worth fighting for, and while Ukrainian air defence has been duelling Russian and Iranian drones since the beginning of...

As the back and forth of the Russo-Ukrainian War continues to come in waves through our news outlets, cracks in the Putin War Machine are...

Grappling with persistent budget deficits and mounting public debt, France has found herself once again at the centre of a heated debate,...

The rule of law is not a decorative flourish in the European Union’s constitutional order; it is its foundation. Enshrined in Article 2...

Trump’s plans to deport migrants to third countries may yet succeed, as a divided Supreme Court recently ruled  that the Trump...

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan remain in a process of rapprochement, at the expense of Russia’s traditional dominance in the region. At the...

Myanmar’s civil war may seem distant to Europe, but it represents a crucial test of the European Union’s values and interests in the...

Central Asia, often considered one of the least integrated areas in the international system , represents perhaps the most overlooked...