Anne Applebaum
She is also a senior fellow at the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where she co-leads a project on 21st-century disinformation. Her books include Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine; Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956; and Gulag: A History, which won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Her most recent book is the New York Times best seller Twilight of Democracy, an essay on democracy and authoritarianism. She was a Washington Post columnist for 15 years and a member of the editorial board. She has also been the deputy editor of The Spectator and a columnist for several British newspapers. Her writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, among many other publications.
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Photograph by Alexander Chekmenev Zelensky Has an Answer for DeSantis
In an interview, the Ukrainian president makes a pragmatic case for continued American support.
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Luis Antonio Rojas / The New York Times … How Do You Stop Lawmakers From Destroying the Law?
Mexico’s president is destroying democracy from the inside.
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Porzycki / NurPhoto / AP Biden’s Hope vs. Putin’s Lies
The U.S. president’s optimism about Ukraine creates the expectation that everything is possible—and commits him to a Ukrainian victory.
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Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP / Getty Biden Went to Kyiv Because There’s No Going Back
The president’s surprise visit sent a message to Moscow—and to European leaders.
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Ben Shmulevitch; The Reckoning Project; Alexander Nemenov / … ‘They Didn’t Understand Anything, but Just Spoiled People’s Lives’
How Russian invaders unleashed violence on small-town residents
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The Atlantic; Jamie Squire / Getty Another Putin Foe Meets a Grim Soviet-Era Fate
As former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s health worsens in prison, so do prospects for democracy in Georgia.
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Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters What the Rioters in Brazil Learned From Americans
Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters showed that antidemocratic revolutions can be contagious too.
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Evgeniy Maloletka / AP The Brutal Alternate World in Which the U.S. Abandoned Ukraine
Ukrainian resistance and American support prevented a wide range of horrors.
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Tyler Comrie / The Atlantic China’s War Against Taiwan Has Already Started
How Beijing tries to make a democracy submit without putting up a fight
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Kacper Pempel / Reuters What Really Caused the Missile Explosion in Poland
The disturbing incident was the direct consequence of Russian aggression.
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Danielle Del Plato The Russian Empire Must Die
A better future requires Putin’s defeat—and the end to imperial aspirations.
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic; Getty Fear of Nuclear War Has Warped the West’s Ukraine Strategy
Leaders shouldn’t give in to Putin’s nuclear rhetoric.
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Axel Heimken / AFP / Getty Germany Is Arguing With Itself Over Ukraine
The fight over which weapons to give Ukraine is really a disagreement about Germany.
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Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Putin’s Newest Annexation Is Dire for Russia Too
His baldly illegitimate claim to four Ukrainian provinces shows contempt for the global order—and his own subjects.
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Getty The Kremlin Must Be in Crisis
Putin’s erratic actions are not those of a secure leader.
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Metin Aktas / Anadolu Agency / Getty It’s Time to Prepare for a Ukrainian Victory
The liberation of Russian-occupied territory might bring down Vladimir Putin.
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Illustration by Joan Wong. Source: Raúl Moreno / … ‘Lukashenko Is Easier to Unseat Than Putin’
A band of Belarusians is resisting the threat of a neo-Soviet empire by taking up arms in Ukraine.
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Jim WATSON / AFP / Getty Biden Gambles That ‘We the People’ Still Exist
Countering Trump’s antidemocratic movement isn’t a normal political challenge.
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Paul Spella / The Atlantic; RUSSEIL CHRISTOPHE / … Gorbachev Never Realized What He Set in Motion
Almost nobody has ever had such a profound impact on an era, while understanding so little about it.
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Laetitia Vancon / The New York Times / … The Country That Suffers Whenever Russia Schemes
Moldova’s president has high hopes. Putin has other ideas.
