Is your phone’s battery about to explode? In this month’s issue, Raúl Guillén and Vincent Peyret analyse the problems with the European battery industry. A journey into our archives shows that the manufacture of batteries involves the exploitation of various raw materials, including lithium. In November 2022, Saša Dragojlo and Ivica Mladenović wrote about lithium mining in Serbia, and its environmental and social impact.

On 4 March, Germany announced that it would halt new aid to Rwanda in light of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels’ seizure of eastern cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But other than this, the West’s response to these shocking events has been muted — as Erik Kennes and Nina Wilén investigate in our current issue. Last year, Kennes and Wilén analysed foreign interference in the DRC, and the chaos it has engendered.

How did voting for the far right in France stop being perceived as shameful? Is Europe heading for military Keynesianism? And who is keeping Russian oil flowing? Every month, we give ‘the longer view’ on the topics explored in the latest edition of the paper, by picking through our archive.

The entire archive is available, online, to subscribers.