About me and this site

I am Derek Brien. I write about war, peace, development, and the politics behind them.

This site is my weekly roundup of events in Ukraine. It curates frontline reporting and primary sources. It connects and looks for patterns.

I encourage you to support the journalists and creators at the source. If you are a journalist or creator featured here and want corrections or context, please get in touch. I aim for transparency and clear attribution.

I was born in Ireland. My family moved to Australia when I was seven or eight. I travelled through the 90s. I worked in international development, on efforts to include peace in the Sustainable Development Goals. Then conflict returned to the centre of global politics, and the development agenda gave way to security.