Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Dodging a bullet at the end of an era • Europe has all the options but one. This could be brilliant.

Dodging a bullet at the end of an era

Europe has all the options but one. This could be brilliant.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Greenland, Trump and the Europeans • A Cinderella Story. Not the kind you think.

Greenland, Trump and the Europeans

A Cinderella Story. Not the kind you think.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Almut Rochowanski • S5E31

Almut Rochowanski

S5E31

savageminds.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

What Does Europe Want? (with Almut Rochowanski) • Podcast #1

What Does Europe Want? (with Almut Rochowanski)

Podcast #1

www.lilyslynch.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Stop making the Donbas territory a zero-sum confrontation • History tells us there are a wide range of solutions that transcend 'one side gets to have it, precisely so the other side can’t' (in Responsible Statecraft)

Stop making the Donbas territory a zero-sum confrontation

History tells us there are a wide range of solutions that transcend 'one side gets to have it, precisely so the other side can’t' (in Responsible Statecraft)

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Europe’s Leaders Have No Strategy for Peace • Also, they have no grand strategy and no intent to consult citizens about one. And they want war. My latest article on Jacobin, long in the making.

Europe’s Leaders Have No Strategy for Peace

Also, they have no grand strategy and no intent to consult citizens about one. And they want war. My latest article on Jacobin, long in the making.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

The territorial question and the key to peace • The fate of as-yet unoccupied Donbas territory need not be zero-sum.

The territorial question and the key to peace

The fate of as-yet unoccupied Donbas territory need not be zero-sum.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

The Europeans have come up with a peace plan, and it's not stupid • There are outlines of a bold idea in it: shared sovereignty

The Europeans have come up with a peace plan, and it's not stupid

There are outlines of a bold idea in it: shared sovereignty

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

How to lose the Midas touch • This is the end of the age of the (foreign-funded) NGO, and it's not even me saying it. So I made a handbook for these end times: radical ideas for foreign aid policy-makers and donors.

How to lose the Midas touch

This is the end of the age of the (foreign-funded) NGO, and it's not even me saying it. So I made a handbook for these end times: radical ideas for foreign aid policy-makers and donors.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Synesthetic parallels • About the unease of experiencing oppression - any form of oppression - and having to pretend you don't notice it. About activism in times of primacy.

Synesthetic parallels

About the unease of experiencing oppression - any form of oppression - and having to pretend you don't notice it. About activism in times of primacy.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Debris of a misspent decade • The routines and rituals of the NGO-foreign aid-industrial complex, viewed from a distance in space and time

Debris of a misspent decade

The routines and rituals of the NGO-foreign aid-industrial complex, viewed from a distance in space and time

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

The way we've been doing this, it's no wonder "the age of the NGO" has run its course • My testimony at a recent Lantos Commission hearing on Laws Regulating Foreign NGOs: Human Rights Implications

The way we've been doing this, it's no wonder "the age of the NGO" has run its course

My testimony at a recent Lantos Commission hearing on Laws Regulating Foreign NGOs: Human Rights Implications

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Cold Reality Check • While Europe stays delulu, Russia is dictating the terms (published in IPS-Journal)

Cold Reality Check

While Europe stays delulu, Russia is dictating the terms (published in IPS-Journal)

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

European militarism on steroids is not good, either • Published by Responsible Statecraft

European militarism on steroids is not good, either

Published by Responsible Statecraft

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

'People-centered peace' lost a major advocate this week • About Wolfgang Sporrer, diplomat, mediator, peacemaker, expert on Ukraine and beyond, who suddenly passed away this week, and about the issues he cared about

'People-centered peace' lost a major advocate this week

About Wolfgang Sporrer, diplomat, mediator, peacemaker, expert on Ukraine and beyond, who suddenly passed away this week, and about the issues he cared about

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Western-Backed NGOs: A Hollow Version of Civil Society (published in Jacobin) • Just in time for Trump's/Musk's crushing of USAID, if from a radically different perspective

Western-Backed NGOs: A Hollow Version of Civil Society (published in Jacobin)

Just in time for Trump's/Musk's crushing of USAID, if from a radically different perspective

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

On smashing and slashing USAID

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Nowhere to go home to • Conversation with Ukrainian activists

Nowhere to go home to

Conversation with Ukrainian activists

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

My take on the turn of events in Georgia: a crisis we sowed by asking the impossible • Opinion piece on Responsible Statecraft

My take on the turn of events in Georgia: a crisis we sowed by asking the impossible

Opinion piece on Responsible Statecraft

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

The time of women's tears • "First you cry because one man was killed, then the next man makes sure you have reasons to cry." Conversation with a displaced Ukrainian activist.

The time of women's tears

"First you cry because one man was killed, then the next man makes sure you have reasons to cry." Conversation with a displaced Ukrainian activist.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Democracy promotion, soaked through with geopolitics • In Georgia, the West's most ambitious and self-enamored democratization project has ended in disruption and bitterness, amidst a region in flames.

Democracy promotion, soaked through with geopolitics

In Georgia, the West's most ambitious and self-enamored democratization project has ended in disruption and bitterness, amidst a region in flames.

discomfortzone.substack.com

February 1, 2026 at 1:09 AM

End of an age

@discomfortzone.skystack.xyz

Farida Rustamova's and Maxim Tovkaylo's reporting on the dark turn following diplomatic breakdown • How the Kursk incursion caused the Qatar negotiations on a partial ceasefire to implode and put things on a worse course