Contents Values under Siege

48 Central European sensitivity

7 Ukraine and its discontents

Samuel Abrahám The outcome of the war in Ukraine will be determined by three key actors – Ukraine, Russia and the West. However, all three operate as if they are in different time dimensions. One of the features of this “totally new era” is that clocks are ticking on all sides, but the speed seems different.

15 Germany’s Russia policy must change Rebecca Harms While Germans are slowly learning that Ukraine is a nation with a unique language and culture now threatened with annihilation by Russia, the country’s traditional longing for accommodation with Moscow is already starting to re-emerge in national discourse.

21 For our freedom and yours

Mykola Riabczuk Ever since 2014 the war in Ukraine has often been thought of as a local conflict, wholly separate from wider issues. If Putin’s full-scale invasion has proven anything, however, it is that Kyiv now finds itself on the frontline of a battle to defend liberal democratic values against authoritarianism.

towards Ukraine Kinga Anna Gajda

53 The power of local diplomacy

Cristian Cantir

58 In the footsteps of Viktor

Orbán’s invincibility Szabolcs Vörös Viktor Orbán’s thoughts about the Hungarian people almost always appear in his speeches. If you search for the term “Hungarian people” on Orbán’s personal site, a peculiar universe unfolds in front of your eyes. Certainly, his target is not the liberal Budapest intelligentsia, but rather ordinary Hungarians, a group that Orbán knows best – and grants him victory.

Local perspectives: What has (not) changed since the war in Ukraine

73 Germany still struggles to understand its Eastern neighbours Mattia Nelles

77 The war in Ukraine as a test for “Global Britain” Alex Nice

29 How a free Belarus can join the anti-Putin coalition Paweł Kowal The Belarusian nation is not the dictator’s property. It continues to fight for its freedom and independence and could be a vital force in ending Russian imperialism once and for all.

36 Macron’s Eastern Europe rethink

Cyrille Bret

41 Overcoming imperial trauma

Piotr Augustyniak

80 The borders of solidarity

Paulina Siegień

83 The ghosts of Poltava

Matthew Kott

87 As Russia invades Ukraine, Israel walks a diplomatic tightrope Sam Sokol

89 The war that brought back the eternal Bulgarian dispute Krassen Nikolov