| Donald Trump's imminent return to power in Washington throws the war in Ukraine and the strength of NATO into fresh question. In our lead piece this week, international security expert Stefan Wolff writes that Trump could push through a ceasefire deal acknowledging all of Russia's territorial gains since its 2022 invasion – and its 2014 annexation of Crimea to boot. This would put pressure on NATO to accept Russian demands that Ukraine be barred from joining the transatlantic alliance. For a look at how Trump crafted an outsider versus establishment narrative, classics researcher Loren D. Marsh analyses what critics have described as the president-elect's chaotic, meandering speaking style through the lens of Aristotle's seminal Poetics. Trump's election win comes as Europe is also grappling with issues including climate change, data security and migration flows. This week, we offer a slate of articles on recent developments in these areas. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has said the floods that have killed more than 200 people in the eastern Valencia region are the second deadliest in Europe this century. Applied physicist Antonio Ruiz de Elvira Serra explains how burning fossil fuels has warmed sea surfaces year-round, one factor behind the torrential rains, and proposes that Spain use "massive reforestation … and rainwater harvesting systems" to prevent future disasters. Far above Earth, the European IRIS² satellite constellation, which is scheduled to be fully operational by 2030, will aim to provide EU member states with secure government communications. According to France's interministerial coordinator for IRIS², Jean-Pierre Diris, the programme will be "indispensable" for civil protection amid natural disasters and will improve search and rescue operations at sea. Human Rights Watch recently reported that authorities in the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state, have pushed back Syrian refugees attempting to arrive by the sea. The pushbacks are part of the island's complex migration dynamics, which migration researcher Fanny Christou connects to the 1974 war that divided it and decades of nearby conflict in the Middle East. Finally, if you happen to forget at least some of what you read this week, it may not be so bad. According to researchers in neuroscience, various forms of forgetting help our brains function and aid human survival, as Sven Vanneste and Elva Arulchelvan explain. Go ahead and savour that word on the tip of your tongue. | 
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