News Digest

Viewing digest from:

Foreign Policy

  • Why Europe’s Approach to Defending Democracy Is Failing

    2026-03-13

    Far-right parties are surging across the continent, authoritarian powers are menacing the democratic information space. European governments have tightened their focus on foreign information manipulation and interference. The EU’s regulatory-oriented pathway amounts to ‘resilience without politics’

  • Matthew Kroenig and Trita Parsi Debate the War in Iran

    2026-03-12

    Trita Parsi: The U.S. should only go to war when it is faced with an imminent threat. Parsi says removing the Islamic Republic from the chessboard would greatly improve regional and global security.

  • Iran’s Strait of Hormuz Toolkit: Drones, Missiles, and Mines

    2026-03-12

    The Strait of Hormuz has emerged as the biggest battleground in the conflict’s second week. Iran can fire anti-ship ballistic missiles from the coast. FBI agents are set to train with Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters this weekend.

  • Iran’s New Supreme Leader Vows to Continue Blocking the Strait of Hormuz

    2026-03-12

    Iran will seek compensation from its adversaries, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei says. U.S. President Donald Trump said preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was more important to him than the price of crude. Trump also said the United States would profit from high oil prices.

  • Trump’s Last-Gasp Foreign Policy

    2026-03-12

    The U.S. has moved closer to a kind of jungle state, writes David Frum. "America First" is antithetical to an alliance-centric view of the world. After years of muscle-bound preeminence, Americans had become addicted to the prerogatives of unmatched power.

  • Trump’s Efforts to Defuse the Oil Spike Aren’t Working

    2026-03-12

    The U.S. oil that will be piped out of salt caverns in Louisiana will take until May at the earliest to reach Asian markets. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, and Iran’s new leadership remains determined to exploit its main element of leverage.

  • Iran’s Islamic Republic 2.0 is Coming—and It Won’t Be Pretty

    2026-03-12

    Frida Ghitis: U.S. and Israel should have learned long ago that people don't give up in war. She says even under a miserable government like Iran's, there is national pride, identity. Ghitis says Iran's leaders can read the financial pages and chart the West's vulnerability.

  • A Film of Unimaginable Horror and Unrelenting Humanity

    2026-03-12

    The Voice of Hind Rajab is about a dying child and the four people desperately trying to save her. Hind sat in a car surrounded by six dead family members in Gaza City while under fire from an Israeli tank. The film’s power stems from its use of real audio from actual calls recorded that day. Hind is one of roughly 21,000 children killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

  • How to (Not) Be a Pacific Power

    2026-03-12

    The United States increasingly defines its Pacific identity through strategic utility. U.S. has imposed new restrictions on Fijian immigrant visas, placed a partial visa ban on Tongans. An estimated 1.6 million Pacific Islanders, including native Hawaiians, live in the United States.

  • The War That Cracked the Postwar Order Illusion

    2026-03-12

    Andrew Hammond: Four years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, the principal actors have been radically transformed. Hammond: Russia has morphed into an openly militaristic, anti-Western country. He says Ukraine has reforged its identity as a nation fighting for survival. The search for a settlement is a fool's errand unless one side changes its demands, he says.

  • The Irresistible Urge to Invoke World War III

    2026-03-12

    A majority of respondents in Britain, Canada, France, and the U.S. believe that World War III is more likely than not to happen within the next five years. World War II involved all the great powers at the time, encompassed all inhabited continents, and had major systemic effects.

Politico

LRT

  • ICC opens probe into Minsk crimes against Belarusian opposition in Lithuania

    2026-03-12

    International Criminal Court opens probe into alleged crimes against humanity by Belarus. Lithuanian authorities have become a refuge for tens of thousands of Belarusians. Minsk authorities violently suppressed 2020 protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.

  • Populist leader calls Lithuania’s independence declaration a coup

    2026-03-12

    Remigijus Žemaitaitis described Lithuania’s March 11 Act of Independence as a coup and its leaders as ‘participants in an uprising’ Vilnius police said on Wednesday they had received a complaint from a member of the public over remarks. She asked prosecutors to open an investigation into possible public approval of international crimes and the denial or gross trivialisation of crimes committed by the Soviet Union. “In Žemaitaitis’ statements, in which he compares the proclamation of the Republic of Lithuania’s Act of Independence to a coup, one can discern the denial of Soviet crimes,” she wrote.

  • Lithuanian government to consider new Kapčiamiestis miliatry training area bill next week

    2026-03-12

    Lithuanian government expected to consider draft legislation for new military training area next week. Landowners and property owners affected by the training area will be compensated at full market value. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said independent valuers would be instructed to assess properties as if no training area were being established.

  • Lithuanian parliament speaker dismisses no-confidence motion as political theatre

    2026-03-12

    Juozas Olekas says he sees no grounds for a no-confidence motion brought against him by the opposition. The motion has been put forward by conservatives, liberals and democrats "For Lithuania" Opposition accuse Olekas of repeatedly placing party interests above the rule of law. Olekas has served as speaker since September 10, 2025. 34 opposition members backed the no-confidence motion against him. That is more than the 71 needed to remove him from office.

  • Lithuania to ban Russians who fought in Ukraine from entering country

    2026-03-12

    Lithuania is preparing to bar Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine from entering the country. Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič said on Wednesday that a list of Russian soldiers was already being acted upon. Lithuania is working alongside Estonia which has already begun implementing such a ban.

  • Moldovan president hails enduring solidarity with Lithuania

    2026-03-12

    Moldova recognised Lithuanian independence on May 31, 1990, whilst itself still a Soviet republic. Lithuania was the first country to secede from the Soviet Union, declaring the restoration of its independence on March 11, 1990. Maia Sandu spoke of a shared historical memory between the two former Soviet republics.

  • Thousands march in Vilnius to mark Lithuania's restoration of independence

    2026-03-12

    Thousands march in Vilnius to mark 36th anniversary of Lithuania's Restoration of Independence day. Participants carry Lithuanian and Ukrainian flags, tricolour banners and other national symbols. Lithuanian Armed Forces Honour Guard Company and military orchestras from all three Baltic states also featured in the procession.

  • Heating bills push Lithuania's most vulnerable to the brink

    2026-03-12

    Lithuanian Food Bank provides food assistance to 232,000 people across the country. Demand surged this winter after January's heating bills arrived. Elderly, single parents and those caring for disabled family members hardest hit. Lithuanian food aid recipients include the elderly, single working parents, and disabled people. Those renting in the shadow economy are particularly hard hit by the cold. Many still lack a sewage system entirely, with outdoor toilets their only option.

Economist

📊 VoxEU

No VoxEU articles in this digest.

FT Markets

No FT Markets articles in this digest.

✍ Blogs

Paul Krugman

  • The Billionaires’ War

    2026-03-12

    The New York Times reports that Trump officials dismissed warnings that attacking Iran could disrupt world oil supplies. The Pentagon has barred press photographers from briefings about the war after they published photos of Pete Hegseth that his staff considered “unflattering” To a large extent, billionaires bought themselves a government friendly to their interests. Trump and company have granted many items on the tech broligarchy wish list. Couldn't billionaires find political allies who wouldn’t plunge the country into a potentially disastrous and historically unpopular war without considering the risks?

Šeši Nuliai

No Šeši Nuliai articles in this digest.

Buliaus anatomija

No Buliaus anatomija articles in this digest.