The Heat of Meat
Brazil’s beef industry and global warming.
Why the world’s production and consumption of beef and dairy products are at the core of the fight over climate change.
13 Apr 2023
Georgia's Tough Choices
How the Ukrainian war is forcing the South Caucasus nation of Georgia to choose between West and East.
8 Dec 2022
Moldova: Next in Line?
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, could Moldova be next?
Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the citizens of neighbouring Moldova have been looking anxiously over the border.
17 Jun 2022
Bosnia: Testing the Peace
The scars of Bosnia's devastating civil war have never fully healed but, for years, this divided country has kept a fragile peace. Now, with Ukraine on fire and Europe on high alert for Russian meddling elsewhere across the continent, the mood is increasingly uneasy.
Apr 14, 2022
The Battle for Belarus
Thousands of refugees are stranded on the border between Belarus and the European Union in an emergency engineered by Belarus's authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. But to many of his battle-weary political opponents, the president's latest departure from international norms is just another example of his cavalier attitude to human rights.
Dec 2, 2021
Bulgaria: At the Crossroads
In 2020, public fury at alleged corruption among Bulgaria’s political elite erupted into widespread protests. Since then, the crisis has seen two inconclusive elections, various prominent officials mired in scandal, and a three-term prime minister, Boyko Borissov, forced from office.
19 Aug 2021
Poland's Church and State Alliance
Poland is widely regarded as Europe's most socially conservative country, so it is not especially surprising that its current right-wing government and its Catholic Church enjoy a mutually supportive relationship. But critics say the Church has stood by while the government eroded democratic norms, and that both have drawn strength and popularity from the demonisation of others - migrants, the LGBTQ community and, most recently, campaigners for women's rights.
Apr 8, 2021
Romania: Rape of the Forest
It is getting dangerous in Romania’s vast ancient forests. The figures are stark: Six rangers killed (two in 2019 alone) and a further 650 attacked with axes, knives and guns.
So what is at stake?
For the criminals this is easy: Many hundred millions of euros a year; but for others it is incalculable – put simply, this is Europe’s most important ecosystem.
26 Nov 2020
Western Thrace, Contested Space
Greece has a proud reputation as the birthplace of democracy, of government by the people, for the people.
But to the ethnic Turkish minority of Thrace in the country’s northeast, who say they have suffered decades of discrimination from the state, that is not how it often seems.
9 Apr 2020
Beyond the Wall
Last November, celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall were overshadowed by a palpable sense of unease in parts of Europe. To be sure, the events of those weeks through late 1989 and beyond were hugely significant. Many Europeans felt that a new age of peace and prosperity and democracy beckoned. But in the years since, some of those dreams have turned sour amid rising xenophobia and nationalism in nations that once lay behind the Iron Curtain. Heady enthusiasm has been replaced by growing uncertainty, the world has somehow become darker and more menacing than many ever believed it would be. Things, in other words, didn't quite turn out as the optimists expected.
Jan 9, 2020
Hungary: Europe’s Bad Boy
In his youth, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was hailed as a champion of freedom, a key figure in the generation of pro-democracy activists who stood up to the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.
These days he is routinely characterised as an authoritarian, far-right nationalist figure, a demagogue whose migrant-bashing agenda poses a significant threat to Western democratic norms.
11 Jul 2019
Moldova and the Puppet Master
His critics say he’s a secretive oligarch who pulls all the strings in a country caught between Europe and Russia, while his supporters say he’s a just a successful businessman-turned-politician with his country’s best interests at heart.
Who is the man whom many call Moldova’s “Puppet Master”? And what lies behind allegations of blackmail, hitmen, and a billion-dollar bank fraud?
14 Mar 2019
Armenia: Mining Out the Leopard
In 2018 a new government came to power in Armenia, amid widespread optimism that its leader Nikol Pashinyan would end decades of corruption and economic and industrial mismanagement.
But now his administration faces a major dilemma – whether to proceed with a hugely divisive, multi-billion dollar mining project at Amulsar in the mountainous south of the country.
31 Jan 2019
Ukraine: Roma Repression
Eastern Europe’s Roma community has frequently been the victim of discrimination and prejudice, so xenophobic assaults are nothing new. But recent events in Ukraine are on a different scale to anything seen for years; stabbings, shootings, communities raided, homes burned to the ground, even a young Roma woman having her throat cut – all bearing witness to an epidemic of racial assaults that evoke memories of the dark days of World War II.
22 Nov 2018
Kosovo: Murder in Mitrovica
Two decades ago, the small Balkan state of Kosovo was fighting to secede from neighbouring Serbia, which was resisting the final break-up of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This has since been recognised by a majority of nations in the world, but not Serbia, which still claims sovereignty over the state. What does the killing of a Kosovo Serb politician reveal about the deep fault lines running through the Balkan state?
31 May 2018
Defiance of the Mapuche
The Mapuche of Argentina and Chile have been pushed to the brink of insurrection in defence of their ancient lands. Increasingly forceful Mapuche activists, determined to establish their rights through direct action, have clashed with correspondingly belligerent security forces – the latter egged on, say protesters, by right-wing, pro-business governments in both countries. After occupations, demonstrations, security raids, a rash of arson attacks on timber estates, the murder of activists by police, matters are beginning to spiral out of control.
11 Jan 2018
Russia: The Orthodox connection
What lies behind the close relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and President Vladimir Putin?
Under communism the Russian Orthodox Church was suppressed – its property confiscated, its followers ridiculed, harassed and imprisoned.
But these days, a resurgent and muscular church is central to President Vladimir Putin‘s ideas of Russian identity – an echo chamber, say critics – to Kremlin policies at home and abroad.
19 Oct 2017
A Belarusian Spring
For more than two decades Alexander Lukashenko has governed the Republic of Belarus with an iron fist – earning himself the sobriquet of “Europe’s last dictator.” But earlier this year opposition voices finally managed to make themselves heard. Over just a few weeks, protests against a new tax to be levied on the unemployed became an anti-government movement led by a charismatic opposition figure. These spread from Minsk, the capital, to other towns and cities across Belarus. So would these demonstrations strengthen or weaken the regime’s hold on power?
1 Jun 2017
A Very Montenegrin Coup
Last October, the prime minister of Montenegro announced that an election day plot to overthrow his government had been foiled; that pro-Russia conspirators had planned to assassinate the country’s leaders.
But was this a genuine coup attempt – a sinister effort to topple a democratically elected administration and take over the country by force? Or was it, as some claim, a carefully choreographed “fake news” event, designed to win sympathy for a controversial and allegedly corrupt politician on the verge of losing public support.
2 Mar 2017
Armenia: Divided Within?
Could a faltering economy, corruption and public disaffection over its relationship with Russia lead to an uprising in Armenia?
After a government crackdown on nationalist dissent and simmering tension with volatile neighbours, will recent changes to the constitution of Armenia enhance the future stability of this South Caucasus nation, or just help cement its president’s hold on power?
27 Oct 2016
The Odessa File
Over the past decade Ukraine has been battered by insurrection, economic crises, and the loss of Crimea to Russia. Now, with tension in the east continuing and millions driven from their homes by war, a new battle is under way – against deeply entrenched corruption and over mighty oligarchs, who still exercise such power and control over the country’s assets that many fear Ukraine’s very existence is under threat.
11 Aug 2016
Poles Apart
Once a communist dictatorship, Poland is generally considered a successful democracy. But are those freedoms now at risk?
With its new nationalist government caught in a deepening constitutional crisis and xenophobia and racial intolerance on the rise, some fear that the country’s widening divisions could prove fatal to its future stability. Even some of its European Union neighbours are now deeply concerned.
7 Apr 2016
Belarus: Europe’s last dictatorship
In October 2015 a presidential election was held in Belarus.
It wasn’t a convincing contest and few thought that victory would go to anyone other than the man who had ruled the country for the past two decades. With an economy in tatters and a chilling charge list of human rights violations against his name, Alexander Lukashenko has long presided over Europe’s closest equivalent to North Korea.
21 Jan 2016
Romania: War on Corruption
Last December Klaus Iohannis was sworn in as President of Romania. No one expected such a rank outsider to beat Prime Minister Victor Ponta who was seeking to consolidate his hold on the country by moving on to higher office. But in the wake of mounting corruption scandals Iohannis was swept to power on an anti-sleaze ticket. Among his first words to Parliament were: "The whole political class must understand there is no way forward for Romania except that of a country rid of corruption." It's had some high profile successes, but will it ultimately make a difference?
Oct 22, 2015
The Baltic and the Bear
For months, NATO has been building up its military presence in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania amid fears that, after the Russian sponsored separatist conflict in Eastern Ukraine, their turn may be next.
But have these nations, part of the Soviet Union until the early 1990s, been adding to the tension by discriminating against their large ethnic-Russian minorities?
29 Jul 2015
Macedonia: Behind the Facade
Macedonia’s government has been accused of wanting to rewrite the nation’s history along ethnically divisive lines. Its Albanian minority fear the possible consequences.
Against a background of increasing tension caused by a controversial inter-community murder case, the government’s opponents have also weighed in with allegations that conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has been behind a massive state surveillance and wire-tapping programme, aimed at suppressing dissent and clinging onto power.
18 Mar 2015
Georgia: Corridor of power
Can the Republic of Georgia remain aloof from Russian expansionism or will internal division drag it towards conflict?
Despite its favourable geographical situation at the gate of both Europe and Asia, 23 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Georgia still struggles to assert itself as a modern democracy.
17 Dec 2014
Moldova: Under the influence
The central European Republic of Moldova is divided along many of the same political fault lines similar to that of its eastern neighbour Ukraine, of which it has witnessed a descent into violence in recent months.
Now, with the conflict between Moscow-backed separatists and the government in eastern Ukraine getting bloodier by the day, there are increasing fears that Moldova could be next.
17 Jul 2014
Bulgaria: Wrestled to the ground
For over a year now Bulgaria, a modern EU member state, has been struggling with its troubled history and torn over where to go next. But what lies behind these divisions, and can they ever be reconciled? Are they really, as many Bulgarians seem to think, the consequence of a toxic legacy from its communist years?
24 Apr 2014
Under Northern Lights
In northern Scandinavia, locals are taking on mining giants in a bid to save an ancient environment and way of life.
Europe’s far north is a place of spectacular beauty, of mountains and forests, lakes and rivers, illuminated in winter by the ethereal glow of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.
It is also home to an astonishing array of plants and animals which have survived largely thanks to the indigenous people of the area – the Sami.
28 Nov 2013
Hungary: Towards the Abyss
Investigating why critics of Hungary’s authoritarian government believe it is leading the country towards fascism.
22 May 2013
Argentina’s Bad Seeds
The country’s soya industry is booming, but what is the impact on Argentinians and their land?
For much of the past decade Argentina has seen a commodities-driven export boom, built largely on genetically-modified soy bean crops and the aggressive use of pesticides.
Argentina’s leaders say it has turned the country’s economy around, while others say the consequences are a dramatic surge in cancer rates, birth defects and land theft.
14 Mar 2013
Romania: Lifting the Lid
Do the much-feared communist-era Securitate still control the country from the shadows.
15 Nov 2012
Panama: Village of the damned
Away from its busy capital city and famous canal, Panama is one of the world’s most ecologically diverse nations.
Yet huge new hydroelectric dam projects now underway are seeing pristine rivers damned and virgin rainforest flooded.
The government says it is vital for economic growth, big business is cashing in and even the UN has awarded carbon credits on the basis that the resultant energy will be ‘sustainably’ produced.
14 Apr 2012
Germany’s Records of Repression
Decades after the Berlin Wall was erected, the spectre of the Stasi continues to loom over Germany.
23 Aug 2011
Latvia’s pulp fiction
The Baltic nation of Latvia is blessed with some of the most beautiful forests in the world, millions of square kilometres of pristine woodland that support a complex biodiversity of rare species of animals and plants.
But with the Latvian economy in difficulties and the need for money pressing, those trees are being cut down at an alarming rate. Overseas demand for the timber is high, particularly in the UK, which takes almost two-thirds of Latvia’s exports.
3 Feb 2011