Alex Gendler / 03 Jun 2023

Aryan Aztlan

The Bizarre World of Aztec NSBM

When eight people were gunned down at a Texas outdoor mall in May by a guy with a swastika tattoo and a social media account full of racist rants, it seemed like a pretty clear-cut case of far-right terrorism.(...)
Natalie Sarkic-Todd / 09 May 2023

Getting the Balkans Wrong

The Foreign Coverage Crisis

The Western Balkans are notoriously difficult to fathom. The evolving regional map of countries, borders, ethnicities and faiths is so complex that it requires more preparation to cover than other parts of Europe.(...)

Charlie Bertsch / 05 May 2023

The Long 1980s

Molchat Doma in America

When Belorussian dark wave band Molchat Doma began to play their viral TikTok hit Судно at their recent Tucson, Arizona show, I looked out over the tightly packed crowd filling the floor in front of me and was struck by how happy and how diverse it was, from race to age to fashion.(...)

Charlie Bertsch / 12 Apr 2023

Fear of Fascism

Carl Dreyer’s Vampyr

Carl Dreyer’s 1932 film Vampyr is as remarkable for what it leaves out as what it puts in. Although full of shots that linger in memory like a bright light does after you close your eyes, the film’s greatest achievement is its refusal to follow the rules of its genre.(...)

Bad and worse. Poland, 2012.
Karolina Zbytniewska / 07 Oct 2019

The Promise of Populism

Iron Curtain Lessons

A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of populism. Frequently used as a synonym for fascism, it is not as consistent as the press would have it. Especially behind the former Iron Curtain.(...)
The Battleground / 10 May 2019

The God That Survived

Identity Politics in ex-Soviet Europe

Few areas of news coverage are as new to religion as it is to Europe. Particularly for journalists from the United States and the Middle East, where faith and politics are ineluctably intertwined.(...)