What do we mean when we talk about freedom?
When the Yale historian and bestselling author Timothy Snyder was 14, his parents took him to Costa Rica, a country…
The new alliances dedicated to destroying democracy
Despite their diverse ideologies, autocracies in China, Iran, Russia and Latin America are increasingly collaborating to sabotage a rules-based international order
Why are the German authorities so reluctant to believe in neo-Nazi attacks?
When two fascist skinheads were seen fleeing from the murders of several Turkish shopkeepers in Nuremberg, the police continued to blame the ‘Turkish mafia’
The freedom fighters who dared to take on a communist superpower
Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin describe the courage of the youthful protest leaders in Hong Kong who sacrificed so much for the cause of democracy
The conman who duped thousands with a patently absurd story
Promising his investors dazzling riches with his tale of hidden Ghanaian gold, the charismatic John Ackah Blay-Miezah pulled off one of the most brazen scams of the past century
The agony and frustration of reporting from the Middle East
For 25 years, Abed Takkoush assisted foreign reporters like Jeremy Bowen when they arrived to cover the chaos and conflicts…
Abolishing slavery was no cause for smugness
When the 13 colonies of the United States declared independence in 1776, the first country to recognise the new nation…
America sees red: how fury prompted the slide into Trumpism
After leaving college more than two decades ago, Evan Osnos landed a job on the Exponent Telegram, one of two…
The scandal of OxyContin, the painkiller that caused untold pain
The Sacklers’ callous greed has unleashed a tsunami of pain, says Ian Birrell
Sacrificing to the false god of gold
Deep in Peru’s Amazon rainforest sits a desolate zone, stretching for miles and pockmarked with chemical-tainted water that glistens orange…
The courage of a madman: Maurice Wilson’s doomed assault on Everest
Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb all 14 of the planet’s peaks higher than 8,000 metres, is probably the…
Trump’s autocratic antics risk becoming the new normal
It is easy to forget the abnormality of Donald Trump’s presence in the White House. Before his election it would…
A dark journey into a fanatical underworld
Two years ago, the counter-extremist analyst Julia Ebner decided she needed to delve deeper into the extremists trying to disrupt…
Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination was one of the century’s blackest farces
The story of Jamal Khashoggi’s death is well known. A prominent Saudi journalist, he walked into his nation’s consulate in…
The tragedy of Syria: how protest spiralled into savagery
The fateful day five years ago began like any other for the family. A pot of black tea with cardamon…
Further dispatches from Syria’s maelstrom
The mechanic, blinded in one eye by shrapnel, spent three days searching for his family in the destroyed buildings and…
The war on drugs is stupid and counter-productive
Rosalio Reta was 13 years old when recruited by a Mexican drug cartel. He was given a loyalty test —…
Crimean notebook: ‘They’ll have to break all my bones to make me a Russian citizen’
Vladimir Putin still swears that there are no Russian troops in Crimea, so their mission is to say as little…
