By Anton Golovko Hjälm HENRY KISSINGER died on the 29th of November 2023, at the grand age of 100. The moment the synapses of his brain stopped firing a gigantic outpouring of acclaim was triggered, as the news-media filled with politicians and statesmen praising his unparalleled genius. Secretary of State…
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By Ambassador René Nyberg René Nyberg, former Finnish Ambassador to Vienna, Moscow and Berlin, expert in Nordic security and well acquainted with the Soviet-Russian diplomatic milieu, addressed the following speech during the Ambassador Brunch held the 20th May of 2024 by the Uppsala Association of Foreign Affairs at the Uppsala…
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Av Anton Golovko Hjälm DEN EUROPEISKA UNIONEN är ett nätverk av politisk och ekonomisk natur som sträcker sig över en kontinent. Dess syften är ädla: den ämnar att föra länder närmare varandra. Öppna gränser och sänkta barriärer tillåter ett korsande och tvärsande utbyte av varor, människor, idéer. Regelbundna möten och…
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By Ludwig Nordin THE BANNER OF THE SOVIET UNION waved proudly over the cities of Central Asia only 33 years ago. By that time, the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan had been governed by Russians for over 100 years. The countries are now independent, but Russia has…
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By Simon Thernström THE FIRST TIME I heard the word “troll army” (“trollfabrik”, troll factory in Swedish) I was 15 years old. It had made its way into the yearly list of “New words” in the Swedish language curated by Språkrådet among others like “cosplay” and “mansplaining”. At first, I…
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By Amanda Hjell Löfstedt THE SHARP RING of air-raid sirens fills the silence as I stare out through the window at the empty square. It had previously been a place filled with movement and life, but now that is all gone. Grey clouds float by, colouring the world in a…
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By Gabriele Scalise Keeping it real AS THE MONTHS GO BY, I find myself walking the streets of Brussels in the morning, alongside thousands of others dressed in business casual and headed for either an EU job, a lobby or an NGO. Click-clack-click-clack. Here and there, when the sunrays hit…
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By Viktor Hellblom “THE PENGUINS are so lazy so the zoo makes them walk in a parade in the autumn and winter time”. I was listening to our guide giving us a tour of the penguins at a zoo near the Japanese coastal city of Otaru, while showing panorama views…
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By Eric Axner-Norrman THERE IS NO COUNTRY in the world like Costa Rica. In the case of this small Central American nation, the uniqueness is in fact striking. With a size of a little more than 50,000 km² and a predominantly Spanish-speaking population of a bit more than 5 million…
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Av Anton Golovko Hjälm TURKIET HAR EMELLANÅT beskrivits som en bro mellan öst och väst, ett land som ligger i både Europa och Asien, som är både muslimskt och sekulärt. Detta är bilden som Turkiet själva har målat, och som Europeér sedan länge gärna har trott på. Men med Erdogan…
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