Dr Hans-Georg Maaßen: Inside Germany’s Silent Turn Towards a Totalitarian Democracy

‘If current trends continue unchecked, Germany in 2030 will be a country…in which the range of acceptable opinion has narrowed dramatically. The constitutional vocabulary will still be used, but its content will have been hollowed out, rights will be conditional on democratic reliability, and whole social groups will live under a permanent cloud of suspicion.’

A woman rests beside the abandoned library ‘Luminita’ (The Glim), its name written in Cyrillic letters, in the village of Cimișeni, Moldova, 12 November 2023

On the Edge of Europe

‘For the EU, Moldova has become a litmus test for whether enlargement can be redesigned for an era of permanent instability. Successful integration would anchor the eastern flank, signal that the EU can still shape its neighbourhood, and close off a key corridor for Russian influence. Failure would expand the grey zone of uncertainty on Europe’s borders…’

JD Vance Announces Temporary Halt of Medicaid Funds to Minnesota over Fraud

US Vice President JD Vance has been tasked with leading the new ‘War on Fraud’ ininative in the counrty, as President Trump has announced in his State of the Union address. As the first step, Vice President Vance has shared that the federal government will be halting $259.5 millon in Medicaid funds to Minnesota due to concerns over widespread fraud.

Hungary Helps Hailed as Sovereign Alternative to Western Aid Programmes

Bilateral aid models took centre stage at the Danube Institute, where experts argued that direct, community-based assistance outperforms multilateral programmes burdened by bureaucracy. Hungary Helps, an aid programme launched by the Hungarian government in 2017, was presented as a sovereign, efficient alternative to global aid structures.

Charlie Kirk assassin trial

Charlie Kirk Assassin Case Update: Judge Allows Seeking Death Penalty

Judge Tony Graf rejected a motion from the alleged killer of Charlie Krik and his defence team, who had sought to have the death penalty removed from consideration. The defence argued that the prosecution faced a conflict of interest, since one of the prosecutors’ daughters was present at the scene of the assassination.