With Maggie Haberman’s new book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump generating plenty of headlines—including from President Trump himself—I decided to give it a listen on Spotify. One passing comment stuck with me. During a segment, Haberman notes how the Russia investigation impacted Donald Trump Jr.’s marriage. Later in the book, Haberman mentions former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s return to the president’s good graces after her 2025 disclosures surrounding the Russia investigation. These moments gave instant flashbacks to the Russia saga...

When President Donald Trump declared Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security in a January 2026 Executive Order, the designation was accompanied by a series of sweeping claims. Among them were accusations that Cuba “provides support” to Russia, China, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah, that it “supports terrorism,” and that the Cuban government supports actors who “seek to destroy the United States.” What began as a discussion over Cuban intelligence capabilities has now expanded into a much broader narrative that presents Havana as a link between America’s foreign...

In a moment when global attention remains fixed on conflicts in the Middle East, political turmoil in Venezuela, Sudan’s ongoing war, and Cuba’s deepening humanitarian crisis, the unfolding situation in Albania has slipped out of view. That relative silence comes despite one of the country’s largest civic mobilizations in years. In May, a section of coastline in Zvërnec—near Vlora—was fenced off and placed under private security, restricting access to part of the Vjosa-Narta protected area as bulldozers arrived on site. One of Europe's most sensitive coastal wetlands and part of the wider...

In 2026, the world’s first trillionaire—following the recent stock debut of SpaceX—Elon Musk has remained one of the most influential figures in American politics. After campaigning for Donald Trump in 2024 and initially playing a leading role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has remained a constant presence in the headlines. One of his latest political clashes came with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) over the impact of DOGE's cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Citing a 2025 Lancet study, Khanna argued the reductions were "potentially a death...

Poison once sang that every rose has its thorn. Georgia’s Rose Revolution had plenty. Eduard Shevardnadze returned to Georgia in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, stepping into a country already torn apart by civil war and ethnic divisions. He was seen early on as a stabilizing figure and had enough international credibility to hold things together. Washington quickly built ties in Tbilisi, and high-level engagement followed, including visits from Secretary of State James Baker. While Georgia leaned more toward the West, its trajectory was anything but certain. Meanwhile, the...

"Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were critically important weapons in the free world's competition with Soviet totalitarianism—and without them the Soviet bloc might even have not disintegrated." This was the assessment of Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter and one of the most influential foreign policy strategists of the Cold War era. Brzezinski’s description is notable not only because of who said it, but because of how he described the organization. He did not characterize Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as merely a U.S.-funded news...

By the summer of 2000, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević appeared firmly entrenched in power. A decade earlier, he had risen to prominence by harnessing Serbian nationalism as Yugoslavia began to fracture. Over time, he consolidated control over political institutions and much of the media while leading Serbia through wars, sanctions, and NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign. Yet beneath the surface, public frustration was growing. The economy was struggling, unemployment remained high, and many Serbians had grown weary of international isolation and authoritarian rule. When Milošević changed...