economist

AS A YOUNGnaval fighter pilot operating from a French carrier during the Kosovo war in 1999, Lieutenant Pierre Vandier would pore over surveillance photographs developed from celluloid film. Now an admiral, the French officer isNATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, one of the alliance’s two most senior commanders. His job is to work out, among other things, how to useartificial intelligenceand human skill to make sense of the mass of surveillance imagery and data that the alliance collects. He is, in effect, in charge of bringingNATOinto the 21st century.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “NATO’s race against Russia”

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After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

“WE WOULD BEsafer if we had our own nuclear arsenal,” Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, told his country’s parliament on March 7th. The reason he gave was the “profound change of American geopolitics”, a euphemism for Donald Trump’sdiplomatic arson, which also required Poland to expand its conventional armed forces.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Eurobombs”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

WHEN ENVOYSof President Donald Trump travel the world making promises, demands and threats, do they speak for America’s national interest? Or are they travelling partisans, representing the ambitions and prejudices of the 47th president, and—to be generous—of the 77m voters who returned him to office?

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Trump’s whims are overriding the national interest”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

IN HIS FIRSTfew months, President Donald Trump has shredded the transatlantic alliance and damaged the trust of America’s allies. He has suspended arms shipments and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, and then restored both when Ukraine accepted a proposed 30-day ceasefire. All this has sparked doubts across Europe about the wisdom of relying on American arms for security.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Satellite warfare”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

ON MARCH 2NDTulsi Gabbard, America’s director of national intelligence, accused Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, of seeking a third world war “or even a nuclear war”. Ms Gabbard has a long history of conspiratorial and pro-Russian views. Her former aides say she routinely read and shared propaganda published byRT, a Kremlin mouthpiece.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Donald Trump v the spies of Five Eyes”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

MANY HAVEtried to stifle the Voice of America (VOA) in the eight decades since its hurried birth as a wartime broadcaster in 1942. These days China blocks its website and jams its signals. In 2017 Russia declaredVOAto be a “foreign agent”. Yet it isPresident Donald Trumpwho may silence it for good.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Voicelessness of America”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

EIGHT DECADESafter the event, Janis Cecins cannot know whether the Soviet train guard who transformed his family’s destiny was being kind or dim. Either way, the soldier allowed Mr Cecins’s parents—a young Latvian couple being forcibly transported to the Soviet zone in occupied post-war Germany—to leave his train one night, on a promise to return in the morning. Mr Cecins’s parents skipped that appointment, and eventually found their way to an Allied-run camp for displaced persons (DPs). The pair were among a million or so civilians with no wish to return to their pre-war homes. The fate of thoseDPs led in time to the creation of the modern asylum system, including the Geneva convention of 1951, which bars states from returning refugees to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The right way to fight nativists”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

Correction (April 1st 2025): The introduction to this article suggested that the absence of Italy’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Portolano, from a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” reflected Italian misgivings over Europe’s response to President Trump. We now understand the general was not expected at the meeting, which was for more junior officers.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Wing women”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

IN THESE VERTIGINOUStimes, America’s allies are taking a new look at their relations with China. In recent years, politicians in Europe and elsewhere in the West have talked boldly and clearly about the economic, geopolitical and ethical risks posed by China, an autocratic giant with plans to reshape the world. Now, though, their willingness to speak out may become more selective.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Zipping its lip on China”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

EACH TIMESlawomir Mentzen speaks, the crowds seem to get larger. In a matter of weeks the 38-year-old far-right firebrand has leapfrogged to second place in Poland’s presidential contest. Mr Mentzen once said his party opposed “Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxation and the European Union”. Now, he has a powerful new message: thinly veiled antagonism for Ukraine. A recent poll suggests that one in five Polish voters supports him.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The sorcerer’s apprentice”

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young

Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now?

MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief