A trip to Latvia reveals how the Baltics still have much to tell Europe regarding defense spending, technological advancement, strategic autonomy, and relations with Russia.

First comes greater confidence and courage, then comes stability as Europe looks ahead to 2026.

It is in Poland’s east that the next stage of reconciliation and unification will happen in Europe, guided by Sybir and the need to once again make this borderland whole.

Amid mounting airspace violations on the alliance’s eastern flank by Russian drones and jets, it’s time for NATO to respond on its own terms, rather than the Kremlin’s.

President Trump and his team may be eager to get a deal in Ukraine, but what the Ukrainians, and most of Europe, want is an enduring peace, and this will ultimately hinge on the issue of security guarantees.

Europe can learn from Lithuania and other small states, whose existence is never quite guaranteed.

Amid the recent history of grand if empty pronouncements of impending European strategic autonomy, Poland actually delivers. Berlin, Paris, and London: take note.

There is now a clear recognition that Trump is not an aberration and cannot be treated as such. Where European leaders go from here will define the next historical phase of transatlantic relations.

Gdansk, much like Poland as a whole, embodies a living history that continues to shape the balance of power in Europe and the broader geostrategic landscape.

Elections in the United States will be crucial in determining the diplomatic endgame for the Ukraine war, along with where post-war Ukraine falls in the emerging global order.