The best New Statesman Ideas essays of 2023
Our pick of the finest writing from the past year.
ByUkraine
What Putin learned from Hitler
The two dictators considered themselves engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Western imperialism – and retaliated with their own plans…
By
History offers Ukraine slender hope for a decisive victory
The wars between Finland and Soviet Russia in the 1940s hold lessons on how peace might be achieved today.
By
Death of a warlord
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s assassination won’t help Russia’s flailing war effort in Ukraine.
By
Casualties of the counteroffensive
In the summer’s vicious fight for territory, Ukraine is suffering heavy losses. But wounded soldiers are determined to return to…
By
Why the EU cannot admit Ukraine as a member
Until the European Union undergoes deep structural change, the door will remain shut.
By
What realists get wrong about Ukraine’s counteroffensive
Critics such as John Mearsheimer are wrong to present the war as a simple artillery duel in which the advantage…
By
The truth about Nigel Farage’s bank accounts
What’s behind the apparently sinister de-banking of the Reform UK president – and why is the Prime Minister involved?
By
It is naive to think that Vladimir Putin’s fall is imminent
Failed coups often have few major consequences, and the Wagner Group’s mutiny may not alter the Ukraine war’s outcome.
By
Mutiny of the mercenaries
Prigozhin’s putsch has cast doubt on the future of Russia’s war.
By
Old Europe is dead
The war in Ukraine has broken the Franco-German axis that once defined Europe as the UK and Poland take charge.
By
The fake tsar
The truth is out there: there is no Russian state.
By
Russia plan to blow up Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been “drafted and approved”
Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine’s military intelligence, warns of a dangerous escalation.
By
Lindy Cameron: “You can’t retrofit security into AI – it needs to be built in at the start”
The CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre on the dangers of rapid tech development, data-sharing and TikTok.
By
Fear and loathing in Armenia
The prospect of losing the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan has Armenians bracing for another humanitarian catastrophe.
By
Partner content
Sustainable finance can save us from the energy crisis – with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange
A special podcast from Spotlight, the New Statesman’s policy supplement.
From the war in Ukraine to the life of Roger Deakin: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Anna Metcalfe’s Chrysalis and Octavia Bright’s This Ragged Grace.
By
What is at stake in Ukraine’s counter-offensive?
Bolstered by Western weapons and training, Ukrainian forces are about to begin their most important fight.
Putin on trial
Will efforts to put Russia in a Nuremberg-style trial for the Ukraine war succeed?
By
Zelensky is fighting two wars – against Russia and to win over the West
Ukraine’s coming counter-offensive is the best chance to prove to its supporters it can still win.
By