Dear Reader, if this week’s headlines felt like they were snagging on the same thread, it’s because they were. There is no such thing as a localized crisis anymore. Whether the high-stakes rooms in Tehran or a tense interception in the Mediterranean, the news this week has seemed to circle on one uncomfortable question: How quickly can a fire in one corner of the globe set the rest of the world ablaze? The answer, as we’ve seen over the last seven days, is: instantly. We are now looking at a...

In our ever changing society, we have fallen in line with viewing the Middle East through a very narrow lens. This lens is deeply problematic. Governments, particularly U.S.-backed states like Israel, have long shaped policies directly impacting the lives of citizens in the region. Additionally, Western outlets tend to portray citizens as enemies and reduce lived human experiences to mere statistical numbers. As students, we are introduced to a variety of perspectives of the U.S- Israel...

As the war in Iran is now into its fourth week, concerns are growing that this could pull Europe and in particular the Netherlands, into economic instability. According to a report by the Atlantic Council , Europe’s decision to move away from using Russia’s pipelines for oil following the war on Ukraine in 2022 is now putting pressure on Europe to find other means of refilling their reserves. Even though the war unfolding in Iran might seem distant to students in Maastricht, its consequences...