Anne Applebaum's Blog, page 30

FBI director got it wrong on the Holocaust

James Comey, the director of the FBI, in arguing for more Holocaust education, demonstrated just how badly he needs it himself.

Jeremy Corbyn’s dangerous appeal

The policies of the British opposition party’s new leader are not based in reality.

Europe’s multi-layered hypocrisy on refugees

The E.U. seems at a loss — at best — in its response to the growing wave of Syrian refugees.

Donald Trump: Spokesman for birthers, truthers, and Internet trolls

We underestimate the ways in which Internet vitriol has broadened the parameters of political debate.

Robert Conquest and the need for the courage to illuminate the truth

At least 40 years ago, back when the Soviet Union still existed and the Berlin Wall still stood, the KGB searched the apartment of a Russian friend of mine. Inevitably, the agents found what they were looking for: his large collection of samizdat, illegally printed magazines and books. They pounced on them, rifled through them — and then one held up my friend’s contraband copy of Robert Conquest’s most famous book, “The Great Terror.” “Excellent, we’ve been wanting to read this for a long tim...

Helping Russia’s sidelined and exiled journalists tell their stories

When I first met Yevgenia Albats, it was the 1990s, the Soviet Union had just ceased to exist and she was a rising star in the new Russian journalism — one of many. The explosion of creativity in Russian media in that era is one of the post-Soviet miracles that no one has ever quite explained. The gray and mendacious Soviet press suddenly collapsed beneath the weight of its own tedium. Into the vacuum stepped witty writers, serious columnists and dedicated journalists such as Albats, one of t...

Greece is a turning point for the E.U.

On July 20, the government of Greece is supposed to pay 3.5 billion euros to the European Central Bank. Writing now, more than a week before that debt is due, I am loathe to predict what will happen. Clearly, the government of Greece doesn’t have 3.5 billion euros. An emergency meeting of European leaders on Sunday might come up with a solution, but it might not. The consequences of a failure could include the collapse of the Greek banking system and a disorderly Greek exit from the euro curr...

It’s the Greek politics, stupid

Default, bankruptcy, Grexit, crash: If you feel you’ve read before that these things were about to happen in Greece, that’s because you have. Every debate about Greece’s financial crisis deteriorates rapidly into a discussion of deadlines: repayments, refinancings, meetings of the International Monetary Fund or the European Central Bank. Until now, these deadlines have always resulted in further delay. Another one is coming on June30. That’s when Greece owes another $1.7billion it doesn’t hav...

America’s foreign policy recovery

LONDON Several times lately — often enough for it to have become a distinct pattern — I’ve found myself part of a heated discussion, somewhere in Europe. Maybe it’s at a dinner or a conference; maybe the topic is Russia, Libya or the economic crisis in Greece. But at some point, someone looks up in wonder. “Isn’t it odd: We haven’t mentioned the United States once!” Yes, everyone agrees, it’s odd! And then the subject changes again.Read full article >>

The end of Britain as we know it

LONDONThis election will be remembered as the one that rescued the career of David Cameron, the British prime minister, who was publicly contemplating his own exit from politics only two months ago. It will also be remembered as the election that abruptly ended the career of the Labor Party leader, Ed Miliband, who had confidently carved his electoral promises onto a large piece of limestone only last week. Above all, it will be remembered as the election that every single major pollster got...