In this deeply moving essay, Alexander Thatcher describes his search for "the New Berlin"—a city with the raw energy of Weimar Berlin, attracting young intellectuals and creatives in search of tumult. From Istanbul and Belgrade to Ozurgeti and Tbilisi, he follows this allure of instability, cultural magnetism and self-discovery.

A personal account by Alexander Thatcher of what it means to be targeted and attacked by Azerbaijani trolls, a kind of harassment made possible because of the ambiguity afforded by anonymity.

While conspiracy theories and nationalist pseudohistories are a common phenomenon in the postsocialist space, something peculiar has happened in Azerbaijan; the eccentric ultranationalists, whose ideas are popular among the regime-aligned elite and are explicitly sponsored by the state, have proven triumphant.

Albanians and Armenians are different peoples with different histories. However, there is value in analyzing the conflict comparatively, both through engaging with scholarship on the region and, on a practical level, with Kosovo's experience.