Natalie Sarkic-Todd / 06 Sep 2022
Life Under Gorbachev
The End of the USSR
When Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR in 1985, I was studying Russian at university.(...)
Communism
Charlie Bertsch / 06 Jul 2022
Working Through History
Folk on Acid, by OOPUS
If you stumbled upon Estonian band OOPUS at a festival, where many different acts are on the schedule, it might take you a few minutes to realize how special they are.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 16 Jun 2022
Re-Composing Poland
Regards / Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer, by Matmos
With their latest release Regards / Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer, American duo Matmos further close the gap between what is still classified, however anachronistically, as “classical” music and the pop idiom to which their brand of experimental electronica remains indebted.(...)
Natalie Sarkic-Todd / 07 May 2022
How to Read Russia
First Person Lessons
The sudden reset in Russia relations has thrown everything up in the air.(...)
Duncan Simpson / 20 Dec 2021
East Meets West (Slight Return)
China’s Social Credit Model, Part II
The most frequent misconception around China’s Social Credit System (SoCS) is to conflate it with their massively more advanced and covert surveillance and security state.(...)
Duncan Simpson / 15 Dec 2021
Pandemic Politics Anxieties
China’s Social Credit Model, Part I
As winter descends across Europe, fears over a new surge in infections, driven by the latest Coronavirus variant, are reviving authoritarian anxieties. (...)