Foreign Correspondence, Vol 74
The real reason behind Poland's controversial new 'Russian Influence Law'
Hello, and happy Friday! This correspondence is coming to you all the way from sunny London, where temperatures have finally topped 70°F (no, I still haven’t bothered to learn Celsius). That can only mean one thing.
I’ll be keeping the top of this correspondence relatively short this week as it’s been quite a busy one dominated by Turkey, Poland, and *checks notes* Ted Lasso.
What I’ve written
Once seen as a European problem child over its rule of law violations, Poland appeared to turn a new leaf. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the eastern European country rebranded itself as the standard-bearer of European solidarity with Kyiv, as well as a staunch defender of democratic values. In a speech in Warsaw earlier this year commemorating the anniversary of the war, President Joe Biden spoke warmly of Poland’s role in maintaining Western resolve against Russian autocracy. “We’re seeing again today what the people of Poland and the people all across Europe saw for decades,” said the U.S. President. “Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased. They must be opposed.”
But as the Polish government’s passage of a new “Russian influence law” this week made clear, that makeover was only ever skin-deep. I explain why here
The Recep Tayyip Erdoğan era lives on after the longtime Turkish leader won the May 28 presidential runoff against opposition challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. I wrote about what Erdoğan’s victory means for Turkey—and the world.
With a further five years at the helm, it’s unlikely that Erdoğan will choose to change tack on his domestic agenda. If anything, he is likely to go even further. “When autocrats face an unstable domestic context, they double down on repression,” says Gönül Tol, the author of Erdoğan War: A Strongman’s Struggle at Home and in Syria. Keep reading here
Plus:
My Q&A with Turkish journalist Nevşin Mengü on why Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is an electoral powerhouse
Why the architect of Swiss neutrality thinks it’s time for his country to take sides
What I’ve read
This story on the Financial Times’s decision to spike a big #MeToo story and the reckoning in British journalism that never was (The New York Times)
The British news media is smaller and cozier than its American counterpart, with journalists often coming from the same elite schools. Stringent libel laws present another hurdle. And in a traditional newsroom culture of drinking and gender imbalances, many stories of misconduct go untold, or face a fight.
This interactive piece on the notorious Russian jail holding American journalist Evan Gershkovich (The Washington Post)
Former inmates and lawyers who visited Lefortovo describe it as a Soviet time capsule, with shabby floors, thick oil paint on the walls, portraits of Felix Dzerzhinsky, who created the Soviet secret police apparatus, and the smell of dust and old papers.
Lefortovo served as one of the main sites used by the secret police during Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge in the 1930s. It became a place of violent interrogations, torture and executions.
This wonderful recap of the Ted Lasso finale (The New York Times)
No spoilers from me!
What I’m thinking about
The Ted Lasso season (and, presumably, series) finale was this week. I loved this show, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of how it gave me one of my all-time favorite moments in television: the darts scene. Thanks, coach.
Until next time,
Yasmeen