SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " drama " 1,256 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Priced out: The growing cost of live entertainment
Summer tours are trying to fill seats while keeping up with growing ticket prices. Tickets for the Ed Sheeran concert at U.S. Bank stadium are BOGO through the 4th of July, and the Mystic Lake Amphitheater is doing an offer of four tickets for $99 for select concerts. Meanwhile shows like Noah Kahan are having no problem selling tickets with high ticket prices. Music critic for the Star Tribune Chris Riemenschneider joins All Day to talk about the drama around concert tickets.
Trump admin blasts Machado's "grotesque political opportunism" after Venezuela quakes
Machado's attempts to return to Venezuela have saddled the State Department with "extra needless drama," an official said.
Anthropic Launches Claude Science AI Workbench for Scientific Research
June 30, 2026 — AI has the potential to dramatically accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and the development of healthcare interventions. Since launching efforts in the life sciences last fall, […]
The End of Independent Federal Agencies Will Change Your Business
For executives, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Slaughter v. Trump will likely lead to less certainty and consistency for the regulated aspects of their businesses, with federal rules and their enforcement increasingly determined by political expediency rather than expert analysis. Specifically, there are five ways in which all U.S. businesses will be affected: regulation will become more informal and less transparent; consistency across administrations will disappear; oversight by Congress and the federal courts will be diminished; expert advice will be devalued; and politically-connected lobbyists will drive decision-making. In this environment, business leaders will need to plan accordingly, honing their ability to shift strategy, perhaps dramatically, after every election—and perhaps even during administrations.
“The Invite”'s Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde talk hot air balloon rides with Diddy and other awkward celebrity encounters
The stars of the upcoming drama face off in EW's "Lie vs. Lie" game.
World Cup 2026: Netherlands 1-1 Morocco (2-3 on penalties) - Mohamed Ouahbi's side set up last-16 clash with Canada
Match report as Morocco beat Netherlands to reach the World Cup last 16; Cody Gakpo had given Netherlands the lead but Issa Diops stoppage-time header sent the tie to extra time and penalties; Morocco triumphed in a dramatic shootout to set up a last-16 clash with co-hosts Canada
The 'Love Island' drama, allegations and when a friend group implodes
After JaNa Craig dumped fellow islander Kenny Rodriguez, the famous friend group of "Love Island USA" Season 6 took sides.
Supreme Court says Fed's Lisa Cook can keep her job for now, but it upholds other Trump firings
The Supreme Court on Monday dramatically expanded presidential power, upholding President Donald Trump’s firings of the heads of independent federal agencies with one important exception, the Federal Reserve.
Kevin Pollak says Jack Nicholson would mess with Tom Cruise on 'A Few Good Men'
'A Few Good Men' star Kevin Pollak says that Jack Nicholson would often play around and mess with Tom Cruise while they were shooting the Rob Reiner-directed courtroom drama.
Kakao Entertainment Announces Genre-Spanning Lineup
Kakao Entertainment enjoyed a highly successful first half of the year, with its Netflix series “The WONDERfools” and “Boyfriend on Demand” hitting global home runs with their distinctive narratives. Also building on the recently released suspense drama “Notes from the Last Row,” Kakao Entertainment’s genre-spanning 2026 slate features the upcoming action-comedy “A Bona Fide Killer” and the thriller “Mousetrap,” cementing - Read our full Pop Culture on The Outerhaven .
Moving ‘Casey and Diana’ plumbs the messy layers of hope
Nick Green’s dramatization of Princess Diana’s visit to an AIDS hospice is darkly funny and life-affirming, onstage at American Players Theatre through Sept. 24.
India's Yash Raj Films Backs Rusk Media in Vertical Entertainment Push
Bollywood studio Yash Raj Films invests in Rusk Media to build original vertical microdramas and animation IP for Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences.
‘Color Book’: An exquisite character piece
Strong performances anchor this memorable indie drama
4 Takeaways From A Dramatic Ending Between Austria And Algeria In The Group J Finale
In what was the most dramatic ending to a group-stage match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Austria and Algeria played to a wild 3-3 draw at Kansas City Stadium on Saturday night.
Ann Blyth, Oscar nominee for 'Mildred Pierce,' dies at 98
LOS ANGELES — Ann Blyth, who was nominated for an Academy Award for playing the wicked, manipulative daughter in the 1945 noir melodrama "Mildred Pierce," has died at age 98.
World Cup collides with religion, politics in Seattle
Pride Match turns into dramatic game as Iran and Egypt settle for 1-1 draw
Austrian GP: George Russell takes controversial pole as Max Verstappen crashes in dramatic qualifying
State Sen. Ben Gilmore’s latest move shows politics is more chess than checkers
Politics is full of exits. Some are dramatic. Some are unexpected. And then there are the ones that remind you politics is less like a race and more like chess—
Hollywood gets into the microdrama race as mobile-first storytelling draws stars and major studios
Mobile-first serialized storytelling is rapidly becoming one of entertainment's fastest-growing businesses.
Hollywood gets into the microdrama race as mobile-first storytelling draws stars and major studios
While much of Hollywood was consumed by the streaming wars, Issa Rae was studying a different mode of entertainment thousands of miles away: microdramas. No stranger to creating a successful online s...
This Is Probably Your Last Chance to Buy a Cheap MacBook for a While
Apple has dramatically jacked up the price of MacBooks, making the current Prime Day pricing that much more enticing.
Following Apple, Microsoft Dramatically Hikes Xbox Prices, Again
Just hours after Apple increased its hardware prices across the board, Microsoft is doing the same with its Xbox consoles. For the third time.
Sports and Dramas Drive April Viewing Patterns in Nielsen’s Latest Gauge Reports
Cable Gains Share for Second Consecutive Month in Six-Month-High Finish, Boosted by NCAA Tournament Final Four...
Here's where you can stream “Gilmore Girls” once it leaves Netflix after 12 years
Netflix previously revived the beloved drama with a miniseries.
The tea in your kombucha changes more than just the taste
Scientists discovered that kombucha’s flavor, chemistry, and antioxidant activity vary dramatically depending on the tea used to make it. Green and oolong tea kombuchas emerged as the most biologically active, while fermentation transformed each tea into a distinctly different beverage.
Casagrande: The summer dramas that divide, unite college sports
An offseason like no other is dripping in summer drama.
Who are the new 'Love Island USA' bombshells? 6 stars dumped in major Casa Amor twist.
This year's Casa Amor challenge brought a record number of bombshells to the villa — and a dramatic elimination that sent six hopefuls home.
Meteorite reveals a lost moon-sized world from the dawn of the solar system
A rare meteorite has revealed evidence of a massive lost world that once orbited the young Sun before being destroyed in a catastrophic collision. The discovery suggests some early planets formed from dramatically different materials than Earth and Mars, rewriting part of the solar system’s origin story.
Will New York Swing Further to the Left? Here’s a Preview of Tuesday’s Primaries.
The city’s high-drama, high-spending primaries will offer clues of progressive momentum and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s influence.
'The View' uses Barbara Walters in on-air ad urging viewers to push back against FCC: 'Use your voice'
'The View' used Barbara Walters in a new commercial urging audience action against the FCC amid legal drama: 'Use your voice,' an ABC spot advised.
Giants downplay Rafael Devers incident late in third consecutive loss
MIAMI — Once again, Rafael Devers is stirring up drama. This time, the Giants first baseman, who refused to play the position with the Red Sox, again tried to stand...
2026 NBA Mock Draft: Giannis Antetokounmpo trade would create chaos; Wizards select Darryn Peterson at No. 1
There is bound to be drama on draft night and in this mock draft, we project trades that could happen -- including the Giannis blockbuster
3 team NBA blockbuster trade involving Giannis Antetokounmpo gaining momentum
The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors are heating up once again, and the latest reports suggest the race for the two-time MVP may be taking another dramatic turn. For weeks, speculation surrounding Antetokounmpo’s future has dominated NBA headlines off the court.…
The first primates may have evolved in the cold, not the tropics
A surprising new study suggests the earliest primates didn't originate in tropical forests but in cold, dry parts of North America. Some may have even survived seasonal Arctic conditions by slowing their metabolism or hibernating. Researchers found that dramatic climate shifts, rather than warmth, played a major role in driving primate evolution and expansion. The discovery reshapes our understanding of how our own lineage began.
This simple twist could bring quantum computers closer to reality
Researchers found that twisting layered sheets of hexagonal boron nitride can dramatically change the light produced by quantum emitters embedded within the material. The technique offers an unexpected new level of control over components that could power future quantum computers, communications systems, and sensors.
‘The Pitt’ Season 3 Filming Has Begun. Find Out Which Cast Members Are Returning
A look at what’s ahead for the new season of HBO Max’s hit medical drama.
World Cup brings political issues to the surface: 5 takeaways
The first week of the FIFA World Cup has been underscored by tensions over geopolitics, U.S. immigration policy and dramatic group stage action that is priming viewers around the world for what pro…
🎥 World Cup highlights: What drama, Paraguay knock Turkey out
You couldn’t make this up! Having gone into the World Cup as something of a dark horse, Turkey already has to bow out after just two group-stage matches. The 0–1 loss to Paraguay sealed their earl...
From Toy Story 5 to The Bear: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Pixar’s enduring animated favourites battle a rogue tablet, and Disney’s anxiety-inducing kitchen drama returns for a final series
Double endorsement drama: Trump backs second candidate in red state’s GOP gubernatorial runoff
Trump endorses both Wilson and Evette in South Carolina's GOP gubernatorial runoff, hedging his bets ahead of the high-profile Tuesday contest.
Packers feud with Wisconsin congressman over Sports Broadcasting Act changes
The NFL world is currently trying to figure out how to maneuver through a complicated web of political traps when it comes to negotiating their next rights deals. And no franchise has more at stake than the Green Bay Packers. At the center of the drama is a looming battle between the NFL and the…
New movies to watch this weekend: See 'Toy Story 5' in theaters, rent 'Pressure,' stream 'Project Hail Mary' on MGM+
The "Toy Story" franchise still holds up, but Brendan Fraser's World War II weather drama is ho-hum.
John Early and Kate Berlant on 'Maddie's Secret,' alt comedy, and the female orgasm
How does earnest melodrama and offbeat humor make Early's directorial debut a stunner?
For once, Cowboys enter NFL summer break free of contract drama
After years of offseason contract battles involving stars like Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons, Dallas heads into the summer with rare peace and quiet
Indonesia's MD Entertainment Bets on IP and Microdramas
MD Entertainment CEO Manoj Punjabi outlines plans for cross-border IP development, microdrama expansion and global partnerships at APOS.
Indonesia’s MD Entertainment Bets on IP and Microdramas for Global Push
As Indonesia’s entertainment industry gains greater international visibility, MD Entertainment, one of the country’s top studios, is increasingly looking beyond local success and toward global partner...
Trump switches support in Oklahoma congressional race as formerly endorsed pastor candidate suspends campaign
Trump withdrew his endorsement of Oklahoma GOP congressional candidate and pastor Jackson Lahmeyer to back rival Mark Tedford in a dramatic 2026 midterm reversal.
Albertsons Media Collective unveils industry-first branded entertainment model
The Minivela drama Rico’s Tacos launches June 23
COL Group, Virtue Asia Team for Southeast Asia Microdrama Brand Push
V47 Entertainment’s specialist agency Virtue Asia has struck a deal with China-listed microdrama company COL Group to develop and distribute brand-funded entertainment across Southeast Asia, the compa...
World Cup 2026: Austria nabs win over Jordan after handball and own-goal drama
Austria had a go-ahead goal taken away, then got another one minutes later.
“The Pitt” cast officially clocks back in for start of season 3 production
The HBO Max drama's next batch episodes will be set in November.
'House of the Dragon' season 3 reviews: What critics are saying
The first reviews are in for 'House of the Dragon' season 3, with many critics applauding the HBO series' epic battles and dramatic character developments.
Miguel Rojas' pinch-hit homer lifts Dodgers past Rays
LOS ANGELES — The crowd of 53,911 at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium has seen its share of dramatic moments over the years, but on Monday night, Miguel Rojas added another memorable chapter to his growing collection of clutch performances.
“Love Island USA” is bringing Casa Amor to movie theaters
Peacock's popular dating competition will soon offer one of its most drama-packed episodes, Casa Amor, in 28 theaters.
Your cheat sheet to Anthropic's White House drama
Anthropic is at the center of another showdown with the Trump administration, this time over the company's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models.
George Pickens to reportedly attend Cowboys minicamp amid contract drama
George Pickens will make $27.3 million next season.
‘Ponies’ merges comedy with a gritty spy story in TV dramedy
The Peacock series “Ponies” starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson blends comedy and drama as widows of CIA operatives become intelligence assets in the 1970s Soviet Union.
'Ponies' merges comedy with a gritty spy story in TV dramedy
The Peacock series “Ponies” starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson blends comedy and drama as widows of CIA operatives become intelligence assets in the 1970s Soviet Union | KMBZ
'Ponies' merges comedy with a gritty spy story in TV dramedy
The Peacock series “Ponies” starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson blends comedy and drama as widows of CIA operatives become intelligence assets in the 1970s Soviet Union. Despite its
“Disclosure Day ”lands out-of-this-world opening weekend with $93 million at global box office
While Steven Spielberg's extraterrestrial drama invades the world, 24-year-old Curry Barker's low-budget horror "Obsession" achieves a rare domestic feat.
'Sweet Magnolias' Needs To Focus On What Made Us Fall In Love With It In The First Place
The Netflix drama is a sprawling look at friendship and family life in the South.
Yellowstone wolves may not have reshaped the national park after all
One of the most celebrated claims about Yellowstone’s wolves is facing a major challenge. Scientists say the study behind the famous trophic cascade story relied on flawed methods that overstated the ecological impact of wolf recovery. Their reanalysis found no evidence for a dramatic, park-wide surge in willow growth. Instead, the effects appear smaller and vary from place to place.
UC Berkeley computer science students fail in large numbers, professors cite AI dependence
A dramatic spike in failing grades among computer science students at the University of California, Berkeley has alarmed faculty, who are pointing to an overreliance on artificial intelligence tools and a stark decline in foundational math skills as the primary culprits.
In Retrospect: Poland, Russia, Europe
In April I spent a few days with Zryw, a Polish non-profit organization that recruits young people to enter politics and public life. Their aim is to build a new generation of civic leaders in Poland. I’ve followed their evolution from the beginning; my son is one of the founders. (“Zryw” means “impulse” or “burst of speed” in Polish). Julie Chmielewska, one of Zryw’s leaders, interviewed me at the event. Here is the conversation, lightly edited for grammar and context: Julia Chmielewska: Assuming that culture shapes institutions, could we conclude that some cultures are more prone to authoritarianism? Anne Applebaum: I don’t think so. Every culture, every nation, and every country has the potential for change. When we look at history, we can see that nations do change. Poland has changed, for example, from the 1980s to today. There’s a completely different mentality here than the one I encountered when I first visited, in 1988. The current generation sees the world through a different frame. So no, I don’t believe that certain nations are doomed to authoritarianism, or to anything. Of course, there are political and cultural traditions, but they can always be challenged. JC: So do you think there’s something intrinsic in human nature that pushes people to democracy, freedom? AA: I think there is something in human nature, a deep instinct, that pushes people towards freedom, yes. People who live in authoritarian countries – and I’ve heard this from them over and over again – sooner or later find themselves angered by a feeling of helplessness. They can see the unfairness of crooked courts, irrational political decisions. They naturally dislike the fact that somebody has all the power while they have none. In those circumstances, people who have no political background at all sometimes are politicized just by that frustration. I’m thinking of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, for example, who was a Belarusian housewife, until the circumstances of her husband’s arrest forced her to become a politician. I met a woman who is a Uyghur from China, and who had come to live in Turkey. After several of her family members were arrested, she too was propelled into a political role. These kinds of experiences make people interested in democracy or political reform, even if they thought they didn’t care. I also think that the opposite is true: some people instinctively prefer homogeneity, order, hierarchy. They don’t like the confrontation of opinions or the noise of debate, and they lean towards a single leader or a unified regime. I think that most of modern history is shaped by the clash between those two different sides of human nature. JC: Which force do you find more powerful today? AA: I think they both have a lot of power and there’s no way of predicting who wins. Even in countries that seem very shut off or stuck in an authoritarian system can change. We’ve seen that happen. And vice versa, I think democracies can also begin to fail and slide into authoritarianism. So it’s very important not to be complacent in either direction. JC: I want to go into your history and your experiences. You’ve lived in Russia during a time of incredible change in the late 80s, and then you came back to do research in post-Soviet Russia. AA: I was a student in Russia just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. I then traveled and worked there extensively in the 1990s, and I met people who really were full of hope. They hoped that Russia could become a democracy, or at least a place that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of the press. These weren’t ideas that came from Washington. Although now the narrative in the Kremlin is different, I met many people who were working towards exactly that kind of transformation. A friend of mine ran a series of seminars – once a year, and then later several times a year, in cities all over Russia – designed to get people to discuss politics in new ways. She invited young politicians and journalists, as well as foreigners. I went to many of them, in Moscow as well as Volgograd and Novosibirsk. Over two decades, hundreds of people came to these seminars, and all of them wanted Russia to be different. I remain convinced that many Russians still want Russia to be different. It’s just that the old system, in the form of Putin, a representative of that system, returned. The KGB reimposed their power. And this wasn’t because of something to do with culture, this was to do with money and politics, and who was in charge. JC: You’ve partially answered my question... I wanted to ask whether that excitement of the 1990s was an exception from the Russian historical norm which has been rather authoritarian? AA: Of course, if you look at the history of Russia since the 18th century, there have always been liberal groups, reformers and revolutionaries. There were the Decembrists, in the early 19th century, and the rural populists later on, who tried to organize the peasantry. A significant group of liberal Russians appeared at the turn of the 20th century, people like the father of the writer Vladimir Nabokov, who was a Russian politician before the revolution. These groups were small in number, but sometimes had a broader significance. The Russian dissident movement in the 1950s and 1960s actually invented the modern human rights movement. It was their idea to hold the leaders of the Soviet Union accountable for the language they used, to remind them of the treaties they had signed and the promised they had made. They created the Helsinki group, for example, that held Soviet leadership to the language of the Helsinki Treaty, which formally ended the Second World War and which contained guarantees of human rights, at least on paper. That idea spread to Eastern Europe, and similar tactics were used here in Poland. (Benjamin Nathans recently wrote a great book about the Soviet dissidents, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause) JC: But seemingly, even if they do ever get power, they could never hold on to it. AA: We don’t know, because they have never really had power. But in any case, we also don’t know what will happen in the future. There is no reason to assume that Russia will forever be condemned to totalitarianism. Even during the first fifteen years of Putin’s regime there was some form of democratic politics. Only when the full-scale war began did he bring everything to an end: he shut down all remaining independent organizations and killed his most important opponent, Alexi Navalny. But does that mean he is popular, that he enjoys legitimacy? Even now, we don’t really know what Russians think about him, or about the war. There is no way of doing real polling in Russia because nobody will answer an independent pollster over the phone. JC: Do you think that the flock of young people, especially young men, who fled Russia after the start of the war represent a continuation of liberal movements that refuse to partake in the authoritarian state, or do you think they are moving for the sake of self-preservation – “I don’t want to go to the army, so I leave”? AA: I’m sure it’s both. I actually know many people who left Russia for political reasons either in the very last years before the war, or else just after the war began. JC: And do you see a change in the young generation versus the old one that have fled? AA: It’s hard for me to say because the people who I know were mostly already politicized. I do know some younger people who left, but most of them were already either active in the opposition, or working as journalists. Many of them very self-consciously think of themselves as maintaining Russian culture abroad, just as in the 20th century the Soviet dissidents or the anti-communist White Russians once thought of themselves as people who maintained the true Russian culture, outside of Bolshevik Russia. JC: Let’s move on to Poland. One of your first experiences with Poland was reporting on Margaret Thatcher’s first state visit, in the autumn of 1988. You followed her around the farmers’ market. AA: She was making a symbolic gesture. She wanted to welcome free markets, but the only one she could really visit was the farmers’ market at Hala Mirowska. JC: And I want to talk about this area because today you can look out of any window in that district, Mirów, and see rows and rows of skyscrapers. How does it feel to see a country built from the ground in such a short time, both politically and economically? AA: You know, when you’re living in a period of dramatic change, it’s always hard to know whether the change is positive or negative. The transformation in Poland created winners and losers, as well as new classes of people, new political movements of different kinds. At the time, it sometimes just felt like turbulence. Now, we can look back at the 1990s and early 2000s in Poland and see in retrospect that the country was headed in towards prosperity and European integration. In around 2009 or 2010, I remember speaking to a woman who worked cleaning government offices, and who asked me if her daughter should study in Amsterdam or in London. This seemed to me to be a real transformation, and it happened very fast: within a few years, Poles stopped feeling like second-class Europeans, and a generation of younger Poles appeared who had no qualms about crossing borders. JC: We again live in turbulent times. Do you think we’re heading towards positive outcomes? AA: I can’t make predictions, because everything that happens tomorrow depends on what people do today. Also, history doesn’t have a trajectory. It doesn’t move in a particular direction. You only think it does afterwards. As I said, you can look afterwards at Poland in the 1990s and you could say this was a period of great progress. But not everybody at the time saw that. Sometimes people are very wrong about a given country’s trajectory. I remember people writing about Ukraine in the 1990s, about how dangerous it was that Ukraine was independent, that this was going to be an anti-semitic state, that Ukrainian nationalism was going to come back... and although you can say many bad things about Ukraine, the country made many bad choices, actually it became a pretty tolerant state which now has a Jewish president and until recently a Muslim defense minister. JC: In the 1990s Poland’s and Ukraine’s GDP were roughly similar. Ukraine was even a bit richer. So the starting point was similar for both of these countries, but they’ve turned out very, very differently. Even if we stop in 2014. Why do you think Ukraine “chose East”? Was it external influence? AA: No, I think Ukraine was in a different position. First of all, central and eastern Ukraine had been part of the Soviet Union since the 1920s, and had therefore experienced a longer period of occupation, repression, Sovietization and even Russification. Ukraine did not have, as Poland did, an alternative elite: a large cadre of economists and politicians, who already had some experience in opposition politics and in independent thinking. In Poland, the transformative finance minister, Leszek Balcerowicz, had already thought about how an economy might be decentralized before he took office. We can argue about how successful he was, but at least he was prepared to try something new. In Ukraine, people weren’t prepared. For one, there hadn’t been much space even for an illegal opposition in the previous couple of decades. Ukraine was also in many ways still emerging from colonial occupation. For the previous couple of centuries, many of the most capable Ukrainians had moved to Russia, and the first generation of leaders in independent Ukraine tended to be former Soviet apparatchiks. They didn’t immediately seek to become closer to western Europe. Instead, they looked for some kind of economic and political “third way” and an accomodation with Russia. Ukraine became stuck in this position, half-in, half-out and became pretty profoundly corrupt. JC: The Polish alternative elite had a vision of where they wanted the country to go. I think the general perception now is that this vision ends with the next election, right? Is this a natural process of gaining power? AA: Their vision, and it was shared by the time by politicians who now call themselves both left and right, was that Poland should join the EU and NATO, as fast as possible. My husband (Radek Sikorski) was in the very first government that said it wanted to join NATO. At the time this was taken very badly in Washington: the demand for NATO membership absolutely came from Poland, not from the US. But even then, in the early 1990s, many Poles already understood that the Russian sphere of influence would grow once again, that it was important to become part of the transatlantic alliance and an integrated Europe as fast as possible: NATO, the EU, the Council of Europe, all of the trading and security alliances. That consensus lasted through several different governments and over many years, even governments containing former communists. For twenty years, right, left and center disagreed about many things, but they all agreed on the direction that the country should go. In retrospect, that consensus created the basis for prosperity in Poland. JC: And regarding the Polish-Ukrainian relations. We know that antagonisms, e.g. the myth of Wołyń [a massacre of Poles that took place in what is now Western Ukraine, in 1943] are increasingly used in Polish political discourse today. In Ukraine, nationalist historians make heroes out of UPA, the Ukrainian revolutionary army, which is held responsible for this tragedy. Where do you see a start for burying the hatchet? Is the reconciliation of our nations possible? AA: So here’s a strange thing: For more than a decade after they both gained independence, Poland and Ukraine participated in a number of projects that were designed to solve exactly these kinds of Polish-Ukrainian differences. Books were published that were jointly written by Polish and Ukrainian historians, monuments were built. These projects were successful: If you’d asked me this question in 2010, I would have said that there are no real historical issues between Poland and Ukraine, that the two countries had mostly reconciled. For a number of reasons, this began to shift. In Poland, children and grandchildren of victims of the Wołyń massacre felt their tragedy hadn’t been fully recognized. In Ukraine, nationalist groups wanted the UPA partisans who had fought against the Soviet Union recognized for their heroism, despite the fact that some in this broad and not well-defined group were also linked to Wołyń. In both eastern Poland and western Ukraine, the memory of the ethnic cleansing that took place there in the late 1940s - Poles were moved West, Ukrainians East - to accomodate new borders has left feelings of displacement and bitterness. The wave of Ukrainian immigration, which started before the war, may have provoked some of this. But don’t underestimate the role played by Russia, which has always wanted to create discord between Poland and Ukraine, and pumps out propaganda to that effect in both countries. Vandalism on both sides of the border, damage done to cemeteries and monuments, is sometimes carried out by provacateurs working for Russia, just to create bad feelings. The Polish-Ukrainian conflict also hides a different reality: although there are real grievances and bad memories, the truth is that the biggest tragedies both nations experienced in the twentieth century were inflicted by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. That should unite these two countries, not divide them. JC: This week (19.04.2026 – Ed.) in Hungary we saw that using historical narratives to create grievance has no longer worked. Are you optimistic about the direction after Orban’s loss? AA: The Hungarian election was really important because it shows that people can actually resist powerful, dominant propaganda. The ruling party Fidesz controlled all of the TV, 90% of the newspapers, the constitutional court, the bureaucracy... and yet people had the nerve to vote against it and resist it. It’s also an important election because Hungary created a huge network of well-funded think tanks and foundations that were funding other far right groups and projects. So that loss is going to have a knock-on effect in other places too, maybe even in Poland. JC: What you’ve said about resisting propaganda reminds me of one of the interviews you did about talking to Russians in the post-Soviet era who claimed that people knew that the system was lying. Why do people choose to believe in these regimes anyway? AA: Because it’s useful. Stephen Kotkin, an American historian, once described how people would learn how to “speak Bolshevik”: It was just a language that you needed to use in order to get by in society. If you didn’t talk the way the regime wanted you to talk, then you might have problems, or lose your job, or your kids would not get into university. It was a way of getting along. Communist Poland was similar, at least in the early years. When I was writing a book about the Sovietization of Eastern Europe after World War II, I met a lot of people who wanted to talk a lot about the war, when many of them had done really heroic things. But almost nobody wanted to talk about the decade afterwards, between 1945 and 1956. This was when you had the short period of terror, violence and Polish Stalinism. To stay safe, people felt the need to just go along with what others were saying, or stay out of politics, or use communist jargon without necessarily believing it. I don’t judge them for it, and I wouldn’t describe all of those people as collaborators. It’s easy to feel moral certainty in retrospect, because we know that communism ended. But if you were living in 1949, it might not have been clear to you that communism was going to end. In very repressive societies, maybe about 10% of people who are really evil – collaborators, torturers. Maybe 10% of people are really brave and who find ways to resist. And then around 80% of people have kids, they have parents, they have to have jobs and they’ve had to get through it somehow. Strange though it may sound, I’ve found that the work I did on that book is now very useful in explaining some of what’s going on in the United States today. There are plenty of members of the Republican Party in Congress who know perfectly well that Donald Trump says many things that aren’t true. But they avoid criticizing him because it’s inconvenient, because they would get in trouble, because someone would attack them on the internet. So actually you don’t even need mass terror to get people to conform. JC: Is Gen Z reinventing agency? AA: We’ll see. In any generation you can find groups of people who want agency. If you live in a society that’s unfair, for example where a tiny number of people have captured most of the wealth, then at a certain point people rebel. This is always easier for younger people, who have you have less to lose. The question now is how the internet will affect the relationships between citizens and the state, and how it will change organizations. The “Twitter revolutions” people spoke about as early as 2008-9, mass protests organized online, have often proved to be very superficial. Although you can easily join something just by clicking, the work of creating a real movement requires physical participation. Successful mass movements of the past, for example the Civil Rights movement in the United States, were built by people who had spent many years together. They had participated in non-violent workshops together. They practiced and prepared. Just using the you can get everybody to show up at a certain moment, but then when the protest is broken up, nothing happens. It’s also true that the repressive regimes have more recently learned how to use the internet to undermine leaders and movements. Most of all, they now understand how to make people cynical. The form of propaganda that most modern authoritarians use - and I think the Russians really pioneered this - deploys sneering cynicism. Instead of praising the rulers, the regime propagandists mock the opposition movement leadership for being supposedly corrupt or sexually degenerate, with the goal of undermining any kind of idealism. JC: MAGA grew on the internet? AA: MAGA is a real grassroots movement. They had symbols, red hats, they showed up at rallies. But you’re right that the cynicism, the sarcasm and the distrust that the movement embodies came originally from the internet, and this is different. Fifty years ago, most European political parties had a social base in real organizations, in trade unions for Social Democrats, in church groups for Christian Democrats. As people stopped going to church and as the trade unions became smaller, the social base of these parties disappeared. Now people who wouldn’t have known one another in the past meet on the internet and create new movements, many of which don’t last. JC: Is history ending? Going in stale circles? AA: History never ends. In truth, human beings want contradictory things at the same time: order and freedom, stability and change. These things are never resolved, and when a society swings too far in one direction, people always push it the other way. But each time that happens, the result is different. Certainly it is true that we are now in a period when old philosophers and ideas from the 1930s are undergoing a revival. Carl Schmitt, who was a philosopher who was very influential on the Nazis, is back as an influence on both the far left and the far right, once again inspiring people to think that all politics has to be existential, that all politics is about defining and defeating enemies. In the US, some are also bringing back dominionism, the idea that we need a Christian and not a secular state. It’s also true that we are living through a more fundamental shift. The old left-right divide, which was mostly about the size of the state, is much less important now. Instead, we are arguing about more fundamental things: what are our rights, what protects our freedom. Or how much power do we want to give small elites, versus how much power to give ordinary people. In America a small group of very wealthy people now control information, because they control the social media platforms and AI, which means they determine what people will read and learn. Finding a way to preserve preserve zones of autonomy and independent thinking, this is going to be the main task for the next generation. JC: What is the one book that a person interested in Central Europe should read? AA: You could read my book “Iron Curtain: the Crushing of Eastern Europe” which tells the story of how the Soviet Union imposed its culture on the region. Or read Tim Snyder’s history of the region, “The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999.” And everyone should read “The Captive Mind” by Czesław Miłosz, which describes exactly the phenomenon we were talking about: why do people collaborate? I joined Scott Galloway and the brilliant Fiona Hill in a discussion about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the future of global power, and what these conflicts reveal about America's role in the world. Scott told us that this was the 400th edition of his podcast, which is quite a number: My friend Francesco Chiamulera runs a brilliant series of literary events, Una Colline di Libri, A Hill of Books, in the Prosecco Hills, a region of vineyards and elegant hill towns in the Veneto, north of Venice. We did an event in Vittorio Veneto and also drove and biked around the countryside. Buy Autocracy Inc Buy Iron Curtain Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
From Olivia Rodrigo to The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
The multiple Grammy-winner muses tunefully on love’s ups and downs, while Peter Mullan stars as a local historian in a new comedy drama
Exclusive: Iran sealed uranium cache and placed mines amid fears of US operation to seize material
In recent weeks, Iran has dramatically escalated efforts to seal off its cache of near bomb-grade uranium, deliberately collapsing tunnels and booby-trapping entrances with explosive mines, according to five sources familiar with US intelligence.
Blake Lively scores partial victory over Justin Baldoni in latest 'It Ends With Us' ruling
Blake Lively got favorable and unfavorable rulings in the latest installment of her and Justin Baldoni's epic 'It Ends With Us' legal drama, which began in December 2024.
Spurs join a growing list of notable collapses in sports history
The San Antonio Spurs have plenty of company in being on the losing end of a dramatic comeback. Matt Ryan and the Falcons losing a 28-3 lead against New England in the Super Bowl.
Netflix's New #2 Series Is a Crime Drama with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes Score
A new British true-crime drama is climbing Netflix’s Top 10 and earning strong reactions for its intense, emotional retelling of a devastating real-life case. Get all the details here.
Why better AI doesn't always mean better outcomes
Users who adapt their prompting strategies can capture dramatically more value when generative AI tools improve, especially on tasks that require precision and control.
AI-Generated Microdramas Are Real — and Thriving Under Our Noses
Vertical-first platforms are proving that human-assisted AI production is a commercially viable engine for mobile entertainment
AI-Generated Microdramas Are Real — and Thriving Under Our Noses
Vertical-first platforms are proving that human-assisted AI production is a commercially viable engine for mobile entertainment
Opinion: Risk Aversion in Science Stifles Innovation
The scientific enterprise must be willing to reflect on and dramatically overhaul its processes if they do not work.
Sydney Sweeney reacts to 'Euphoria' 'cast drama' rumors after final season
Sydney Sweeney responded to 'cast drama' rumors after 'Euphoria' ended with a heavily maligned final season, and spoke about 'clickbait' that's written about her.
Sydney Sweeney hopes cut “Euphoria” pole-dancing scene is released: 'I put a lot of hard work into that'
The actress played Cassie on the HBO drama for all three seasons.
Earth's first animals barely evolved until sex changed everything
Earth’s earliest animals may have held evolution back because they reproduced asexually, creating low-competition communities that changed very little over time. When environmental pressures pushed them toward sexual reproduction, biodiversity exploded and evolution accelerated dramatically.
Preventable infant deaths on the rise in Allegheny County
Allegheny County has seen a dramatic increase in infant deaths over the last several years — nearly all of them preventable. Public health officials...
Matthew Rhys and Dave Annable tried to make a “Brothers & Sisters” holiday special happen
The "Widow's Bay" star hasn't given up on bringing back the ABC family drama.
Sophie Cunningham's 'business mode' look aged perfectly after Fever win
The Fever guard kept things simple before Monday night's matchup in Washington, then helped Indiana leave town with one of its most dramatic victories of the season.
'The Last of Us' fans can breathe easy, the series isn't canceled
'The Last of Us' fans had a scare when online rumors spread that the wildly popular HBO post-apocalyptic drama had canceled filming.
Seattle’s first Summer Asian ArtsFest showcases more than 30 performers
The festival, running June 16-20, will feature performances from artists in music, drama, stand-up comedy, dance and more.
Seattle’s Asian American performers take the spotlight in first Summer Asian ArtsFest
The festival, running June 16-20, will feature performances from artists in music, drama, stand-up comedy, dance and more.
NBC Cancels 9 TV Shows: Full List and Ratings
From crime dramas to daytime TV, NBC is clearing space for a revamped 2026-27 lineup.
Hugh Laurie slams writer for criticizing 'House' 14 years after its finale: 'Wasn't meant for you'
Hugh Laurie channeled Dr. Gregory House himself when responding to criticism of the medical drama on which he starred for eight years: 'It wasn't meant for you.'
Best British crime series old and new to watch
Here are 15 British crime dramas, new and old, to watch. The genre is varied, the casts inevitably fine and justice almost always prevails.
I grew up in California. Don't follow its lead.
Hollywood's home state is hosting a dramatic primary election. Here's what readers said about California's political moment.
All The Drama From The Red Carpet Of The Tony Awards
The theater world's biggest award show was also a marquee night for fashion.
Iran fans dismayed by team's World Cup visa quarrel
Iran's national football team was greeted Sunday in Mexico by a small group of supporters eager to give them a warm start to the World Cup, despite visa problems facing some staffers.The visa controversy is the latest chapter in the drama surrounding Iran's team at this unusual World Cup, jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
French Open: Alexander Zverev wins maiden Grand Slam title after dramatic five-set win against Flavio Cobolli
Alexander Zverev wins elusive Grand Slam title after fourth attempt at final with dramatic five-set victory against Flavio Cobolli in the French Open; watch the ATP and WTA Tours live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app
Monaco GP: Kimi Antonelli wins fifth F1 race running with Lewis Hamilton second after dramatic, chaotic finish to Grand Prix
Confessions of political liveblogger: ‘I enjoy it professionally – but, as a citizen, you can think the country’s going to hell in a handcart’
Andrew Sparrow has been writing the Guardian’s daily political live blog for more 15 years. How does he cope with the relentless psychodrama of British politics?
"Unfinished Business" | Dayton Tockey's Mom Talks Sooners' Omaha Dream
After Dayton Tockey's dramatic game-winning home run helped send Oklahoma to the Super Regionals, his mother, Kristi Gilpin, sat down with Evan Kamikow to discuss the unforgettable moment, the emotional roller coaster of the season, and the Sooners' quest for Omaha.
"Unfinished Business" | Dayton Tockey's Mom Talks Sooners' Omaha Dream
After Dayton Tockey's dramatic game-winning home run helped send Oklahoma to the Super Regionals, his mother, Kristi Gilpin, sat down with Evan Kamikow to discuss the unforgettable moment, the emotional roller coaster of the season, and the Sooners' quest for Omaha.
Golden Knights regain Finals lead despite late flair for the dramatics
The only word that could properly describe the 2026 Stanley Cup Final so far would be unhinged and Game 3 was easily the craziest game of a classic series.
ENTERTAINMENT: ‘Heights’ onstage in SoMa; ‘Onegin’ moves to Ozarks
TheatreSquared is putting “Eugene Onegin: A Bluegrass Musical,” a new adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s drama by Obie Award-winner Sarah Gancher, onstage in its West Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through June 28.
Pair of performances set for Holbrook Island Sanctuary
Multitalented artist and dramatic performer Firefly the Hybrid will perform a free show at the Holbrook Island Sanctuary State Park on Saturday, June 20, at 3 p.m.
A tiny atomic shift gives scientists powerful control over metals
A team at the University of Minnesota discovered that changing a metal film's thickness by just a few nanometers can dramatically alter how it behaves electronically. The finding reveals a surprising new way to control metals and could help power future advances in electronics, catalysis, and quantum technology.
How to live stream Royals vs Twins: MLB, TV channel
AL Central rivals meet Friday night again in Minneapolis as the Royals look to build on a dramatic series-opening win over the Twins at Target Field. MORE: 5 MLB players who should be traded during the 2026 season How to…
Tom Hardy's 'Mobland' drama tops Hollywood's most notorious on-set meltdowns and feuds
From Tom Hardy to Christian Bale, Hollywood's biggest stars have faced accusations of difficult on-set behavior, leaked meltdowns and public feuds.