Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Welcome to a special POLITICO 28 edition of Declassified, a weekly humor column. So, as 2023 staggers to a close like a bloody-nosed drunk lurching down the street on the way to the all-night garage, there’s one main takeaway: Never rule out terrible people … Read more
2023 was marked by crisis, transition and conflict. As the war in Ukraine dragged into its second year, the EU was confronted with yet another conflict on its doorstep: The Israel-Hamas war, which brought fresh instability to the Middle East and exacerbated divisions between EU countries. Europe now heads into a big election year and … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. Israel’s top politicians sense a possible near-term election. And in their preparation, they have started complicating Israel’s war on Hamas, making relations with the country’s key Western ally, the United States, more difficult. In fact, currently, … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. LONDON — What’s in a word? Turns out, quite a bit. Westminster’s finest politicos found themselves frantically Googling this year as they tried to get their heads around a whole bunch of words they had never heard before. No, not “integrity,” “honesty” and “compassion” — … Read more
LONDON — Venezuela lashed out at “an act of hostile provocation” after the United Kingdom deployed a navy patrol ship to Guyana amid a simmering border dispute. The U.K. announced this week that its HMS Trent vessel had been dispatched to Guyana in what it described as a show of support for the ex-British colony, … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. LONDON — It was meant to be the year two quiet technocrats, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, brought calm to the fevered Westminster swamp. Unfortunately SW1 didn’t get the memo. Politics remained pretty much as wild in 2023 as it has been since David Cameron — back in action as U.K. foreign secretary … Read more
China picked former navy chief Dong Jun as its new defense minister on Friday, roughly four months after the last occupant of the post disappeared. Chinese state media reported the move Friday, citing a decision from the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress. Dong Jun, who moves from heading up the People’s Liberation Army … Read more
Ksenia Fadeyeva, an ally to the imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was sentenced to nine years in prison for alleged extremist activities by a Siberian court on Friday. Fadeyeva is the former head of Navalny’s local headquarters in the city of Tomsk, where she also served as city council member. On Friday, she was … Read more
Russia launched an attack on several cities in Ukraine in a “massive” assault overnight Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens across the country. Missiles and drones reportedly struck the capital, Kyiv, as well the cities of Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. Millions across the country received air raid alerts instructing them … Read more
Press play to listen to this article Voiced by artificial intelligence. This article is part of the Belgian Presidency of the EU special report. BRUSSELS — Ceci n’est pas une campagne électorale. As Belgium gears up for its six-month stint at the helm of the Council of the European Union from January 1, the country’s … Read more
