Why subscribe?

The Eastern Flank is a weekly newsletter that aggregates the most important news stories from across Eastern Europe, a region that I define as all the countries east of Germany, Austria, and Italy, north of Greece and Turkey, and west of Russia, as well as Georgia and Armenia in the South Caucasus.

I am purposefully excluding Russia from this definition, both to keep Russian affairs from dominating this newsletter, but also because I believe that Russia’s politics, society, and national character have become markedly distinct from those of the countries to its west.

I am also refraining from using more localized terms like “Central Europe” or “the Balkans” in order to cast a broad net that captures the full breadth of the diverse experiences that comprise the region I am covering. You can read more about my understanding of the term “Eastern Europe” in this article I wrote for UnHerd in 2023.

In my coverage, I strive for a balance between the top stories from the region and underreported yet equally important developments that I believe warrant attention.

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