(L-R) French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk join hands at a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on 15 March 2024.

Macron and the Dangers of Strategic Uncertainty

‘Strategic uncertainty is not a universal elixir, but merely one of the tools in a politician’s and a strategist’s toolbox. It is important to know when to use it, but it is perhaps even more important to know when not to. For strategic uncertainty to be an effective tool, serious kinetic action must sometimes be added to the bluffing and the show of force.’

Jan Brueghel the Younger, Allegory of War (1640s). Private collection

How Democracies and Autocracies Fight Wars

‘For material, political, and geopolitical reasons, democracies trend towards long-duration, remote, low-exposure, naval, air, and space warfare. An absent-minded reading might leave a reader with a sense of dissonance between democratic tendencies and democratic victories in two world wars. In fact, the world wars were distant and long-lasting for the few democracies that won in the end.’

Júlia Szendrey (Sára Mosolygó) and her husband, Sándor Petőfi (Nándor Berettyán) on the evening of 15 March, the first day of the 1848–1848 revolution.

‘Now or Never’ — The Ambitious 15 March Epic that Brings the Revolution to Life

The film is a valuable contribution to keeping the spirit and memory of the 1848 revolution and freedom fight alive by transforming distant historical figures into flesh and blood people in a credible and compelling way. It deserves merit also because, in a brave move, it attributes a prominent role in the events to Júlia Szendrey, Petőfi’s wife, paying tribute to this tragic-fated woman who became a renowned poet, writer and translator in her later life.