Author: Arina YANGANAEVA

Russia-anti-plague-institute-death-media-panic

Death In The Lab, Panic In The Media, And The Old Demons Of Biothreats

In early October 2026, 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, died in Russia’s Irkutsk Region. The official wording from Rospotrebnadzor was pneumonia of undetermined etiology. No microorganisms linked to her professional activities were found in the samples. Two commissions […]

Serbia-EU-Russia-balancing

Serbia’s Balancing Game: Between Moscow And Brussels

The European Commission for the sixth time since December 2021 issued a recommendation to open negotiating Cluster 3 for Serbia, covering competitiveness, inclusive growth, and access to the EU single market. In its information note of July 3, the Commission stated that Serbia had met key requirements: it repealed controversial […]

Tony-Blair-Central-Asia

The Price Of ‘Expert Support’

Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Tony Blair have met three times now—most recently in April 2025. The first two were in Dubai and Baku, during COP summits. Sherzod Asadov, Uzbekistan’s presidential press secretary, says the cooperation with Blair’s institute is “systematic“. Tashkent frames it as a push for investors, digitalisation, and clean […]

Serbia-Mladic-funerals

General Returned Home

On the twenty-seventh of August, Trebinje buried one of its own. The column moved slowly, VRS veterans in formation, alongside them mothers and widows. At the memorial in Priedor by evening there was no room left for candles: people placed them directly on the stone. In Zvornik portraits and flags […]

Canada-EU-Carney-von-der-Leyen-associate-partnership

European Union: Where Is Canada, And Where Is Europe?

On Wednesday, 16 September 2026, something happened in Strasbourg that would have seemed pure fantasy just a few years ago. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, delivering her annual State of the Union address, formally proposed that Canada become the European Union’s first “associate member.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark […]

Ukraine-war-EU-money-laundering

The War As A Money-Laundering Machine

Polish MP Marek Jakubiak put it bluntly: the war in Ukraine has become a money-laundering operation. “Two hundred billion euros have simply disappeared. The European Union asks where the money is, and Zelensky replies — I don’t know.” European officials, he argued, cling to Zelensky not out of ideological conviction, […]

France-Macron-Europe-nuclear-umbrella

Nuclear Umbrella At The Gates Of The Northern Fleet

Europe is looking for insurance. After 2022, American guarantees no longer look ironclad, and northern capitals began searching for a substitute closer to home. On 2 March 2026, at the Île Longue submarine base, Emmanuel Macron announced the most significant shift in French nuclear doctrine in three decades. For the […]