SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " defeat " 1,676 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Islam Makhachev trolls Conor McGregor following UFC 329 injury
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Islam Makhachev poked fun at Conor McGregor following the Irishman’s anticlimactic defeat to Max Holloway.
iPhone 18 Pro Release Date: Apple’s Strategic Decision To Defeat Android
Apple’s September launch of the iPhone 18 Pro allows it to learn from its Android rivals. Samsung and Google will take the pain as Apple reaps the benefits.
Brennan calls on GAA to employ video technology
Dublin manager Ger Brennan calls on the GAA to introduce video technology to assist officials make key decisions following his team's All-Ireland SFC semi-final defeat by Kerry.
Orlando Magic's D.J. Bakker Reacts to Summer League Win
Orlando Magic Summer League head coach D.J. Bakker talked with the media after his team defeated the Miami Heat.
UFC 329 post-fight press conference video
Max Holloway defeated Conor McGregor in UFC 329 main event
Max Holloway defeats Conor McGregor in minute with injury stoppage at UFC 329
Waianae native Holloway improves to 28-9
iPhone 18 Pro Release Date: Apple’s Strategic Decision To Defeat Rivals
Apple’s September launch of the iPhone 18 Pro allows it to learn from its Android rivals. Samsung and Google will take the pain as Apple reaps the benefits.
Graham Platner submits notice to formally withdraw from Maine Senate race
Maine is considered a key state for control of the narrowly divided Senate, and Democrats were desperate for a candidate capable of defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Thousands of ‘Pokémon Go’ Players Descend on Times Square to Defeat Mewtwo
A surprise 10th-anniversary event saw Niantic fulfilling a promise teased in the original 2016 launch trailer for its popular mobile game.
Victor Marx defeats Barb Kirkmeyer as Colorado’s Republican gubernatorial primary crosses finish line
Republican Victor Marx won Colorado’s Republican gubernatorial nomination on Thursday after maintaining a razor-thin lead over state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer for more than a week as county clerks finished reporting final, unofficial vote totals. Marx, a missionary leader and first-time candidate, will face Democratic nominee Attorney General Phil Weiser in November for the office held […]
Scrimmage Recap: Sporting KC plays to 3-2 defeat at Atlanta United
Sporting Kansas City fell to a 3-2 defeat against Atlanta United in a 90-minute tune-up scrimmage at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground on Thursday morning. Sporting started brightly and took the lead in the 14th minute when Dejan Joveljic was brought down inside the penalty area before stepping up
Tom Brady Recalls Super Bowl Victory Against Seattle Seahawks
When the New England Patriots led by Tom Brady defeated the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, the result began the possibility of one dynasty and ended another. The Seahawks were looking like the next franchise to win back to back Super Bowls. Meanwhile, the Patriots were looking to get back on top of the […] The post Tom Brady Recalls Super Bowl Victory Against Seattle Seahawks appeared first on HEAVY.
The curse of Donald Trump: where he goes, sporting defeat follows
The USMNT’s World Cup crashout is the latest episode to suggest the support and intervention of Donald J Trump brings bad luck
‘It had no impact’: USMNT insist Balogun political circus did not affect World Cup exit
The US had big problems in their last-16 defeat, but Mauricio Pochettino and his team said that the discourse around the red-card ban reversal wasn’t one of them
Belgium Ends Team USA’s World Cup Run After Political Firestorm
Folarin Balogun returned to the lineup after an intervention by President Trump. But he couldn’t carry the Americans to their first quarterfinal since 2002 as the U.S. slumped to a 4-1 defeat.
Kings Improve to 2-0, Late-Game Defense Stifles Warriors
Viktor Lahkin’s dominant interior presence and Emanuel Sharp’s clutch scoring erased a double-digit deficit, keeping Sacramento undefeated following a gritty defensive stand in the California Classic.
Naomi Osaka sends Aryna Sabalenka out of Wimbledon with stunning serve performance
Osaka defeated Sabalenka in their fourth meeting of the year.
Opinion: Science Under Attack, But Undefeated
The latest Russian attack damaged the historic Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, but Ukrainian science will remain strong
Morocco Return to the World Cup Last Eight
Morocco are going back to the World Cup quarter-finals after defeating Canada in a Round of 16 tie that confirmed their status as one of the most formidable sides in international football outside of Europe and South America. A goal from Amine Ouahbi was enough to separate the teams on Friday in what proved to…
For Cape Verde, there’s victory in defeat
An archipelago off the coast of West Africa with a population of about 500,000, it was making its first World Cup appearance with a team cobbled together from a diaspora of players.
Defending champion Swiatek & Rybakina out in Wimbledon shocks
Elena Rybakina becomes the highest seed to fall at Wimbledon so far in a straight-set third-round defeat by Elise Mertens.
Max Holloway predicts 'fireworks' against Conor McGregor
Thirteen years ago, at UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston, future legends Conor McGregor and Max Holloway fought in a featherweight bout on the preliminary card. McGregor defeated "Blessed" via unanimous decision. It was the Irishman's second octagon appearance. The two will rematch in the UFC 329 main ...
How Roberts led a fractured Supreme Court to wins for the right and defeats for Trump
In President Trump's second year back in the White House, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court punctured his claim to have power with no limits.
How first-time candidate Melat Kiros upended Denver politics by defeating one of its biggest figures
“To overcome the millions of dollars in dark money, we were able to have real conversations with folks across the city, and I think that made a real difference,” Kiros spokeswoman Annie Orloff said.
Too Big? Jones Explains Poatan’s ‘Perfect Storm’
Jon Jones has a bit of experience with moving up to Heavyweight. “Bones” ruled the 205-pound roost for many, many years before finally making the leap in 2023. He teased a Heavyweight jump for much of that span, but Jones has always been a careful decision-maker in regards to his MMA career and (nearly) undefeated […]
Raskin helps Belgium stage comeback to book last-16 place
Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin helped inspire Belgium to a dramatic fightback from 2-0 down to defeat Senegal and book a place in the last 16 of the World Cup. The Belgians were trailing to goals from Diarra and Sar when Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia threw on Raskin and Dodi Lukebakio for Kevin de Bruyne and Jeremy Doku after 55 minutes at Seattle Stadium.
Colorado’s Diana DeGette concedes defeat to Democratic socialist Melat Kiros
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette — the dean of Colorado’s congressional delegation — conceded defeat in the race for the 1st Congressional District a day after losing to Democrat rival Melat Kiros in their party’s primary contest. “I want to congratulate Melat Kiros for her victory last night, and I want to wish her all the […]
A Colorado primary defeat highlights a dangerous political environment for Democratic incumbents
Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated Rep. Diana DeGette in Denver on Tuesday night, the latest in a string of results heralding big change for the party in Washington.
WATCH: Obama, Harris advisor warns ‘betrayed’ Black voters could be Texas Senate candidate's kryptonite
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is facing a problem of Black voter enthusiasm in Texas after defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett, according to party insiders.
Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeats longtime House incumbent in Colorado primary
Kiros, a 29-year-old lawyer turned doctoral student, is the latest candidate to rise from the party's left flank and boot establishment-backed candidates.
How a new super PAC formed to counter AIPAC is fueling democratic socialists’ wins
American Priorities, which started just six months ago, has quickly emerged as an influential force in House Democratic primaries, spending at least $5.6 million to boost Democrats who are fiercely critical of Israel. It helped democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeat Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette on Tuesday.
Weiser wins Colorado Democratic governor primary race over Bennet
NBC News projects that Weiser will move on to the general election after defeating Bennet, who has served in the Senate for 17 years.
Allen wins Republican primary for attorney general
Michael Allen has defeated David Willson in the Republican primary for attorney general, according to The Associated Press. Allen received just over 60% of the vote, according to the secretary of state’s website. Allen will face Democrat Jena Griswold in November. Allen, the district attorney for the 4th Judicial District, brings more than two decades […]
Phil Weiser defeats Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary
Attorney General Phil Weiser took an early lead over three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary and held onto it, defeating the state’s longest-serving senator in more than 50 years to win a nomination that’s likely to land him in the governor’s office. Weiser led Bennet 55% to 45% just before 8 […]
Melat Kiros shocks 15-term incumbent Diana DeGette, winning Colorado’s 1st CD Democratic primary
In the equivalent of a political earthquake, 29-year-old Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated 15-term U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s Denver-based 1st Congressional District primary, according to unofficial election results Tuesday night. The Associated Press called the race at 10:03 p.m., with Kiros leading DeGette by just under 6 points with 78% of the vote […]
Trump shifts strategy after major defeat on birthright citizenship
Trump calls on Congress to end birthright citizenship after court defeat
The Supreme Court's ruling in the birthright citizenship case poses a political challenge for President Donald Trump.
Magomed ‘Chanco’ Zaynukov finally books UFC debut for next month
Magomed Zaynukov faces off against a fellow undefeated prospect at UFC Abu Dhabi
The Supreme Court handed Trump an election case defeat. Is a bigger win for him coming?
The Supreme Court’s ruling letting more than a dozen states keep their post-election grace periods for mail ballots is a defeat for President Donald Trump and Republicans ahead of the midterms, but the GOP can still capture significant victories in major election-related cases coming farther down the pipeline.
The Ken-ification of Hungarian Politics
June 29, 2026 | What does Orbán’s defeat reveal about the limits of performative masculinity in populist politics?
U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, endorsed by Trump, wins the GOP primary for Senate in Louisiana
Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump, defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in the two-candidate runoff after they finished ahead of Cassidy in the GOP primary May 16.
Democrats Wrestle With Race, Populism and Ideology in Clashes With Lawmakers of Color
WASHINGTON (AP) — After democratic socialist Claire Valdez defeated an establishment-backed candidate in New York's congressional primary last week, her elated supporters quickly turned their attention to a new target. “You're next!” they chanted when an image of House Democratic leader Hakeem ...
Kerry loss 'will take a while to get over'
Tyrone midfielder Conn Kilpatrick says the 2-25 to 0-27 All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat by Kerry will "take a while to get over".
Julia Letlow defeats John Fleming in GOP Senate runoff. Jamie Davis wins Democratic nod.
Letlow staved off a tough challenge from Treasurer John Fleming, while Davis overwhelmingly one his party’s nomination.
Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana Senate primary runoff
Letlow defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in the GOP runoff, NBC News projects. Incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy did not make the runoff.
📸 Where’s he pulled that from?!?!? Uzbekistan score a stunner
Although progressing is almost impossible for the Uzbeks purely because of their poor goal difference after the heavy defeat to Portugal, the Central Asians have by no means given up here. Eldor Shom...
Spain's Williams hits out at Uruguay over World Cup injury
Spain winger Nico Williams said suffering a latest injury setback was "one of the worst days of his life" as he criticised Uruguay for lashing out in a 1-0 defeat that ended their World Cup."Today is one of the worst days of my life.
Trossard, De Bruyne score and Belgium defeats New Zealand 5-1 to advance at the World Cup
A flurry of late goals helped secure Belgium’s place in the knockout rounds, while New Zealand are heading home without a win.
Muslera blunders, sets unwanted Cup record, and socials pounce
In Guadalajara, Mexico, Spain is leading Uruguay 1-0 this Friday (26), in the third round of the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.La Celeste’s partial defeat, in fact, is securing Cape Verde��...
TST Images: Aces defeat the Wings, 99-84, at Michelob ULTRA Arena
LAS VEGAS, Nev.
Heastie brushes off growing DSA influence, defeat of incumbents in Albany
Heastie sought to put the results into context while speaking with reporters at an unrelated event in Schenectady on Thursday.
Supreme Court sides with big business in Roundup cancer risk fight
The ruling is also a victory for the Trump administration and a defeat for the Make America Healthy Again movement.
Supreme Court sides with big business in Roundup cancer risk fight
The ruling is also a victory for the Trump administration and a defeat for the Make America Healthy Again movement.
FDA-approved drug may finally help immunotherapy defeat rare liver cancer
Researchers found that a rare liver cancer evades immunotherapy by luring immune T cells away from the tumor and trapping them in nearby fibrous tissue. An FDA-approved drug called AMD3100 freed those T cells to attack the cancer, significantly improving the effectiveness of immunotherapy in tumor samples.
Trump-endorsed de la Espriella declared winner of Colombia presidential election
He defeated progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda by 1 percentage point
Trump-endorsed de la Espriella declared winner of Colombia presidential election
He defeated progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda by 1 percentage point
Winners and losers emerge after socialist earthquake rocks NYC primaries
Mayor Zohran Mamdani's socialist slate swept NYC Democratic primaries, defeating incumbents like Reps. Espaillat and Goldman in a major shift.
Even in Defeat, a Democrat Showed the Upside of Angering the A.I. Industry
Alex Bores’s close loss in New York could pave the way for other Democrats to take political advantage of being attacked by the increasingly unpopular A.I. industry.
Analysis | AI interests win, and lose, in one New York district
Democratic Assembly member Micah Lasher defeated fellow assemblyman Alex Bores in a race that became a proxy for how AI should be regulated.
After clashes, Senate Republicans prepare to talk it out with Trump
Trump’s relationship with some members has deteriorated — not least because he helped to defeat two of them in GOP primaries.
Chevalier celebrates projected New York primary win
Democratic candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier celebrated her projected win in the Democratic primary in New York's 13th District after defeating incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat. Chevalier was joined by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani who she was endorsed by.
Senate President J. Stuart Adams — burdened by data center fallout
After more than 20 years in the Legislature, Senate President J. Stuart Adams lost his bid for reelection Tuesday, conceding defeat to Stephanie Hollist.
Mamdani slate sweeps Democratic primaries in New York, ousts 2 incumbents from Congress
Top allies of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have defeated establishment-backed Democrats in New York's congressional primary elections.
Bill Ferguson wins Maryland state Senate primary after opposing Democratic redistricting plan
Incumbent Bill Ferguson defeated activist Bobby LaPin in the state legislative race in Baltimore, The Associated Press projected.
Goldman loses House seat after NY-10 Democratic primary defeat to Lander
NBC News projects that Lander, a progressive backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won the Democratic nomination in the 10th District.
The Sports Report: Dodgers defeat the Twins but lose two players
The Dodgers edge the Twins, but Kyle Tucker leaves the game with back spasms and Dalton Rushing with a possible concussion.
TST Images: Padres defeat Braves, 1-0, at Petco Park
SAN DIEGO - The Padres defeated the Braves, 1-0, at Petco Park on June 22, 2026.
“Criminal Approach to Politics”: Trump Ally Abelardo de la Espriella Wins Colombian Presidency
Right-wing Trump ally Abelardo de la Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in Sunday’s runoff presidential election in Colombia, defeating leftist Senator Iván Cepeda, an ally of current President Gustavo Petro. De la Espriella ran a fearmongering, “tough-on-crime” campaign, promising to build mega-prisons inspired by El Salvador’s authoritarian President Nayib Bukele, to bomb “narcoterrorist camps” and to abandon Petro’s peace efforts. His reported victory is also a win for U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration is waging an intensifying “war on drugs” across Latin America, targeting left-wing leaders like Petro with false allegations and threats of military intervention. “De la Espriella clearly represents a criminal approach to politics: lying, propaganda, coordination and collusion with criminal narcotrafficking, restriction of rights, and money laundering,” says longtime Colombian activist Manuel Rozental. With his victory, says Rozental, “We expect to have military operations and a U.S. intervention within the country. We expect to have human rights abuses. We expect to have militarization. And it’s all for the extraction of resources and the link of drug trafficking to the U.S. government, U.S. interests and global mafia.”
Scotland can 'go far' in World Cup
The Scots sit on one win and one defeat so far and face Brazil on Wednesday (23: BST). "If we just get that 10% more out of the group and that's all it is for me, I think we can go deep in this tournament," former Hearts, Motherwell and Rangers midfielder Halliday told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.
TST Images: Sparks defeat Liberty, 98-97, at Crypto.com Arena
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Sparks defeated the New York Liberty, 98-97, at Crypto.
At Atlanta church, Ossoff casts Senate race as test of faith, character and democracy: "Georgia's spirit of tolerance will overwhelm and defeat bigotry"
Speaking at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, Sen. Jon Ossoff urged voters to look beyond campaign rhetoric and examine the records of candidates seeking public trust.
What have we learned from Scotland's World Cup so far?
After a win over Haiti and a narrow defeat by Morocco, BBC Sport Scotland assesses what we have learned from Scotland's World Cup so far.
England vs New Zealand: Matt Henry ends hosts' miserable fortnight
England's miserable fortnight ends with a crushing defeat in the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval - setting up a high-stakes decider at Trent Bridge.
Seattle waterfront businesses feeling a boost in foot-traffic with World Cup crowds
A day after Team USA defeated Australia in a big World Cup match played at Seattle Stadium, fans are still riding the victory high and packing fan zones scatter
TST Images: Dodgers defeat Orioles, 6-5, in Los Angeles
Jessica Cryderman - The Sporting TribuneLos Angeles Dodgers infielder Mookie Betts' (50) son warming up for first pitch before an MLB baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles on June 19th, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA.
EAST TEXAS POLITICS: Tyler’s next mayor and his defeated opponent reflect on election, weigh in on data center debate
Blake Holland's guests this week include Stuart Hene, John Nix, and Smith County GOP Chairman David Stein.
Derry City slump to away defeat against Galway
Derry City fall to a 2-1 defeat away to Galway United to mount pressure back on boss Tiernan Lynch.
Battle ramps up over WA ballot measure to bar transgender students from girls’ sports
Opponents of conservative-backed initiatives officially launched their campaign to defeat the Washington ballot measures this week.
Islam Makhachev’s next UFC opponent revealed after Ilia Topuria’s defeat
An Islam Makhachev-Ilia Topuria dream fight was dashed after Justin Gaethje's upset win at UFC Freedom 250.
MCWS 2026: How UNC, Oklahoma are looking to remain undefeated in Omaha
In the end, the numbers were on North Carolina's and Oklahoma's side as they advanced to the MCWS championship.
The price tag of overcoming a Trump endorsement, and other takeaways from Tuesday's primaries
Rick Jackson's campaign spent more than $100 million, largely out of his own pocket, to defeat Trump-endorsed Burt Jones in the Republican runoff for Georgia governor.
Collins defeats Dooley for GOP U.S. Senate nomination in Georgia
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins will face U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November after winning the Republican runoff in Georgia's Senate contest.
Billionaire Rick Jackson defeats Trump-backed Burt Jones for the GOP nomination in Georgia governor’s race
NBC News projects that Jackson has won the primary runoff and will move on to the general election in the battleground state against Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.
NZ on the brink after shock defeat by Sri Lanka
Defending champions New Zealand suffer back-to-back defeats at the Women's T20 World Cup after another woeful performance in the field.
TST Images: Diamondbacks defeat Angels, 4-3, at Chase Field
PHOENIX --The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Los Angeles Angels, 4-3, on June 15, 2026 at Chase Field and The Sporting Tribune's Robert Sloter was there to capture the following TST Images.
Indian women's hockey team defeat USA in FIH Nations Cup: Indian Sports LIVE, June 15
Here are all the updates from Indian sports on June 15, 2026.
Carolina Wins Stanley Cup: Hurricanes 3, Golden Knights 0
The Carolina Hurricanes put on a clinic as they defeated the Las Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0 on Sunday night to win the 2026 Stanley Cup Championship. The Hurricanes had a dominating playoff season as they finished with a 16-3 record. Taylor Hall started things off this night much like he did throughout the postseason as […]
Hurricanes defeat Golden Knights to win Stanley Cup Final
The Carolina Hurricanes won their first Stanley Cup championship in 20 years on Sunday night, using a suffocating defense in Game 6 to shut down the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 and winning three straight games of a thrilling final filled with momentum swings and spectacular offense.
Hurricanes defeat Golden Knights to win Stanley Cup Final
The Carolina Hurricanes won their first Stanley Cup championship in 20 years on Sunday night, using a suffocating defense in Game 6 to shut down the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 and winning three straight games of a thrilling final filled with momentum swings and spectacular offense.
One that got away - Van Graan rues Bath exit
Bath boss Johann van Graan calls their Prem semi-final defeat by Exeter "one that got away" as they miss out on a return to Twickenham.
82-0 but make it all Penguins
A recent trend has inspired several different websites to pop up in order to create a team that can go undefeated. The premise is getting a random team and decade to select a player, locking in that position once it is taken out, making the strategy to blindly make one selection before the next possibility […]
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
Spencer Pratt Concedes Defeat in Los Angeles Mayoral Race
Spencer Pratt conceded that he will not be L.A.'s next mayor in a video taunting the winning candidates.
See photos of Muskego vs. Appleton North WIAA state softball semifinal
Muskego defeats Appleton North, 6-2, in a WIAA state softball semifinal to advance to the Division 1 championship game.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation Lets You Reach Level 99 as You Enjoy the Game’s Massive Endgame and Defeat Weapons Bosses
Final Fantasy VII Revelation's Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed that the level cap is much higher, and the endgame includes the Weapons bosses.
Mike Greenberg Rips 'Disgraceful' Fan Behavior During NBA Finals
Mike Greenberg is a lifelong fan of the New York Knicks, but make no mistake, he doesn't condone everything the fan base has done during this year's playoff run. After the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit to defeat the Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, a fan chucked an object at Victor Wembanyama ...
After divisive U.S. Senate runoff, Texas Republicans seek unity at state convention in Houston
Now that the party's nominees are set for the general election, Texas Republicans are shifting their focus to defeating Democrats in November. The 2026 Republican Party of Texas State Convention runs through Saturday.