Rioting, masked protestors, buses set alight, attacks against police officers and journalists—scenes that were once all too familiar have become a reality once again on the streets of Northern Ireland. Is a return to violence an inevitable reality?

Exactly five years ago, Vít Jedlička created his own state: Liberland. It’s located between Serbia and Croatia and designed to be a minarchist state—with as minimal government as possible. Listen to President Jedlicka speaking of his philosophy and bold plans.

Kyiv has raised the alarm over a buildup of Russian forces near the border between Ukraine and Russia, and over a rise in violence along the line of contact separating Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbass region.

Russian photographer Valery Melnikov is nominated with this image for the World Press Photo of the Year 2021. He documented the people that left areas that were to return to Azerbaijani control following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: this Armenian family is just about to leave their home.

Today in Europe there are 6.5 million people living in countries that, according to the rest of the world anyway, do not exist. These would-be republics’ borders, born out of the chaos of the fall of the Soviet Union, are unrecognized by the international family of nations, as is their legal right to dictate the shape of their futures.

What does it mean to be a citizen of Abkhazia, South Ossetia or any other de facto state? Are the people living in such territories stateless? What are some of the precarious situations they are faced with? An interview with our esteemed explorer Ramesh Ganohariti, a PhD student from Dublin City University.

Loyalist paramilitary groups have told the British and Irish governments they are withdrawing support for the Good Friday agreement in protest at Northern Ireland’s Irish Sea trade border with the rest of the UK.

Even if you don’t know much about the Balkans, you might know that borders and maps are a rather sensitive issue there. But Miroslav Lajčák, the EU’s top official for the region, seemed caught by surprise when a map in his office sparked a storm of criticism from Kosovo and further afield.

Separatist parties in Catalonia have boosted their parliamentary majority in the regional elections, held amid a third wave of coronavirus. The pro-union Socialist Party, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, won the most votes to claim a narrow victory, but will struggle to form a government.

Voters in Kosovo will cast their ballots in snap parliamentary elections—the sixth such poll in 14 years—which analysts have predicted will be a much tighter race than usual. Stay tuned for all the latest developments, election results and reactions as Kosovo citizens head to the polls to elect a new government.

Elections in Catalonia this week are poised to change the political landscape of the region as the ultranationalist party Vox is set to enter its parliament for the first time. Vox is campaigning on a hardline anti-separatist ticket.

A brewery in Vietnam has waded into one of the most contentious maritime disputes in the world by naming craft beers after islands claimed by China in a hops-flavored act of patriotism guaranteed to irritate Beijing.

The maritime law tribunal of the United Nations has ruled that Britain has no sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. It criticized London for its failure to hand the territory back to Mauritius. The judges’ decision confirms a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and a vote in the UN General Assembly.

Many Hong Kong citizens and opposition politicians look to Taiwan as a place to escape China’s growing influence. However, there is less desire for independence or to become a new Taiwan. The crux of Hong Kong’s issues lies in its confused identity and awkward geopolitical position. A long read from our new explorer Jonathan Casewell.

Only shortly after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, both parties issued postage stamps depicting the conflict from their own perspective. Hence, the propaganda war continues.

Since 1833 the Falkland Islands have been part of the British Overseas Territories. Argentina has always protested against this claim, also via philately. Stamps as actors in a “postal war”.

Gibraltar is moving towards a new era after the UK and Spain reached a preliminary post-Brexit deal to avoid a hard border on the south of the Iberian peninsula. This agreement would allow Gibraltar—officially a ‘British Overseas Territory’—to join the Schengen zone that guarantees passport-free travel and freedom of movement to more than 400 million EU citizens.

Their stadium is still in ruins due to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, but FK Qarabag, the ‘Barcelona of the Caucasus’, cannot wait to play its first home game again. A feature by Jarl van der Ploeg with pictures of Freek van den Bergh (in Dutch).

Antarktikos is a printed magazine, published once a year and it is looking for contributions. This annual journal combines artistic and scientific exploration within the inspiring and thought-provoking context of Antarctica. All disciplines are welcome to contribute. Antarktikos is an initiative by artist Esther Kokmeijer.

Habib Chaab, founder of the Iranian separatist group ASMLA, was kidnapped in Turkey after a ‘honeytrap’ by Iran. Sky News published a detailed reconstruction of the audacious cross-border kidnap plan carried out in Istanbul. Two days after his abduction the founder of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz appeared on Iranian state television ‘confessing’ to terror acts.

‘Today, I signed a proclamation recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara’, President Trump wrote on Twitter, dramatically reversing U.S. policy on one of the world’s longest running and most neglected conflicts. What is going on here?

Lithuanian photographer Tadas Kazakevičius’s visual love letter Between Two Shores captures the peace and idiosyncrasy of the Curonian Spit—a unique and spectacular geographical formation, barely a mile wide across, that extends for over 60 miles from the coast of Lithuania into the Kaliningrad oblast of the Russian Federation.

One week ago, on November 10, a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement was signed by the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia, ending six weeks of warfare over disputed territory in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. As the handover date approached last weekend, some villagers set their own homes on fire before fleeing to Armenia.

The leader of a pro-independence group in Western Sahara declared war on Morocco, shattering a three-decade-long cease-fire and threatening a full-blown military conflict in the disputed desert territory in northwest Africa.

With the election of the conservative Turkish Cypriot Ersin Tatar, many anticipate a hardening of Turkish Cypriots’ position in negotiations over the final status of the island. An analysis by the Glasgow University lecturer Adrian Florea.

The president of Azerbaijan has said his troops have captured the strategically important city of Shushi—a claim refuted by Armenia. At least 1,000 people have died in Nagorno-Karabakh since fighting broke out.

De Facto is looking for an intern who can join our team. Specifically, we are looking for someone with a background in Political Sciences. As the internship will be remote due to covid-19, the student can do his/her work from all over the world.

A rightwing hardliner who has long advocated closer ties with Turkey has won a presidential runoff in the Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus. ‘We are the voice of Turkish Cypriots, we are fighters, we are fighting to exist within the TRNC,’ the newly elected leader said after his victory.

The long-term reasons for the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh are well known. But what caused such an extensive military intervention as the one we are seeing these days, over 25 years after the ceasefire? And what can and should be done now? An analysis by Giorgio Comai.

An area of eastern Ghana has declared itself a sovereign state. The region known as Western Togoland has had secessionist attempts in the past.