Grozny 2000: the Start of Putin’s 25 Years of War
This post is an extract from an article published earlier this week by The New European . I wrote it to mark the 25th anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s first victory in a Russian presidential election. The day of the vote, I was reporting for the BBC from Grozny, a...
By Train Through Former Battlefields In A Newly Troubled Europe
War memorial at the Gare de L’Est, Paris. This post is an extract of my latest article in The New European. It’s published in the current issue, and reflects on a train journey through some of Europe’s former war zones at a time of fears for the future of...
Chechnya: 30 Years Since The Start of Modern Russia’s Wars
The centre of Grozny, Chechnya, Russian Federation, spring 1995 © James Rodgers Thirty years ago this week, the Russian army began its assault on Grozny at the start of the Chechen War. In a world currently suffering several wars, including Russia’s war on Ukraine, it is not surprising this...
My article in this week’s New European ‘Denmark’s Sounds of War’
An abandoned Second World War fortification, Fanø, Denmark © James Rodgers For this week’s New European, I wrote about a concert where the music brought echoes of Europe’s war-torn past. There’s an extract here, and you can read the full article here. FANØ, A TINY ISLAND off Denmark’s west...
A European Journey 80 years after D-Day
AS I LEFT my house in London that morning, I passed the door of another: a house where once I heard the stories of an old soldier. He came to live in my street for what became the last years of his life. Victor Syborn was part of the...
To Germany by train: a journey through European history
A railway bridge over the Rhine in Mannheim, Germany © James Rodgers For this week’s New European, I wrote about travelling from London to Germany by train, and about the railways’ history in European culture, commerce, and conflict. TIRED OF DELAYS and of all those onerous, if necessary, security...
Crimea 2014: the West’s ‘terrible mistake’. Was it the first? War in Ukraine, two years after 2022
A hoarding opposite the Russian embassy in Berlin, February 2023 © James Rodgers This latest post is an article I wrote for a special issue of Baltic Rim Economies, published in February 2024 to mark the second anniversary of the escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine. You can read...
Gaza, Israel, Peace and War in the Middle East
Over the Christmas and New Year holiday, I took the opportunity to reflect on the war in Gaza. Based on my experience of being there as a correspondent from 2002-2004, and on my subsequent research and writing, this new post is the result of that reflection. EVEN WHEN I...
Denmark: F-16’s to Ukraine for war with Russia; on holiday beaches, scars from WWII
The corner of a World War II German military bunker on the island of Fanø, Denmark, August 2023 My latest post is from Denmark, where I have been on holiday, on its decision to send F-16 warplanes to Ukraine, and on its own history of being occupied during World...
Assignment Moscow: new edition out on May 18
THE NEW EDITION OF ‘ASSIGNMENT MOSCOW: REPORTING ON RUSSIA FROM LENIN TO PUTIN’ will be published in the U.K. and U.S. on May 18. It includes new material covering the Covid-19 pandemic; the jailing of the Russian opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, and, of course, Russia’s escalation of its war...