Cristina Maza

Freelance Journalist at Freelance

Journalist at National Journal

Writer at Lazo Letters

Covering foreign policy & defense @nationaljournal email: [email protected] Better on Substack: https://t.co/rQw4pVsFcr

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Articles

'Now or never': Trump launches new nuclear talks with Iran

1 week ago | nationaljournal.com | Cristina Maza |Lauren Green |Erika Filter

The Trump administration launched its first round of nuclear talks with officials from Tehran over the weekend amid concerns that Israel could take out Iran’s nuclear facilities and potentially pull the U.S. into a war to defend its Middle East ally. Trump’s goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Leading the talks is his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who is also the administration’s leading negotiator to end the wars between both Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas.
Q+A with Arancha González Laya

2 weeks ago | nationaljournal.com | Kirk Bado |Hannah Thacker |Cristina Maza

Arancha González Laya, Spain’s former minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union, and Cooperation, has also served as United Nations assistant secretary-general and as the executive director of the International Trade Centre, the joint trade-development agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
On the last masters of Afro-Colombian machete fencing.

2 weeks ago | lazoletters.substack.com | Cristina Maza

I am a huge nerd who fenced throughout high school. My 16-year-old self loved lunging and whipping my opponent with a flexible foil. During the tail end of the pandemic, when group activities were slowly reentering society, I took up fencing again, this time in the form of Historical European Martial Arts. That required a more hefty sword replica, often made of wood.
Q+A with Don Maston

3 weeks ago | nationaljournal.com | Ledyard King |Savannah Behrmann |Erin Durkin |Cristina Maza

Don Maston is president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, which has more than 130,000 members delivering mail to rural and suburban communities throughout the U.S. Maston spoke with Ledyard King about President Trump’s push to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, his thoughts on recently departed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and why he thinks rural America needs its letter carriers more than ever. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Deal or no deal? Confusion surrounds Russia-Ukraine pact

3 weeks ago | nationaljournal.com | Natalie Jackson |Cristina Maza |Erika Filter |Ledyard King

The Trump administration has claimed it convinced Russia and Ukraine to enter a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea, a crucial body of water for grain shipping. But almost a week after the announcement, no one seems to know when the ceasefire will begin or how it will be implemented. The White House announced the Black Sea deal on March 25 after teams from all three countries met in Saudi Arabia.
My favorite Signalgate memes

3 weeks ago | lazoletters.substack.com | Cristina Maza

By now, everyone has heard the one about the global superpowerâs top national security officials planning a secret military operation with emoji-laden language via a commercial messaging app and then accidentally adding a journalist to the text thread. If you havenât, youâve been living under a rock or, at the very least, in a secluded Internet-less monastery. I envy you if thatâs the case. Itâs been a week for national security reporters everywhere.
Listening to Radio Free Europe while brewing espresso.

1 month ago | lazoletters.substack.com | Cristina Maza

One evening, I was doing what I usually do before bed: boil a massive pot of espresso so it’s ready for me in the morning. I’m not a person who can wait 10-15 minutes each morning for coffee. I need caffeine immediately. So, I puttered around the kitchen, washing dishes, putting away plates, and doing the usual things one does while waiting for the espresso to boil. Typically, if I’m alone in the kitchen, I like to listen to something.
'A pivotal moment'? Developments in the Middle East could usher in a new era of stability for the Kurds

1 month ago | nationaljournal.com | Erin Durkin |Cristina Maza

New alliances and calls to lay down arms in a decades-long dispute could dramatically reshape power dynamics in the Middle East. Earlier this month, Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group that has been fighting an insurgency against Turkey for decades, called on his followers to lay down arms once and for all. Loyal to their long-imprisoned leader, the group declared a ceasefire with Turkey.
Europe's new London?

1 month ago | lazoletters.substack.com | Cristina Maza

I was lucky enough to spend a good chunk of my young adulthood in pre-Brexit London. At the time, most of my friends, neighbors, housemates, and colleagues came from outside the United Kingdom. Often, those people came from somewhere in the European Union, and their native language wasn’t English. According to some of the most recent data, the number of students from EU member states choosing to study in the UK has dropped by half since Brexit.
The New London: Immigration Is Making This Tiny Country Even More Multilingual

1 month ago | lazomagazine.com | Sydney Baker |Cristina Maza

In some ways, the tiny country of Luxembourg looks like a land from a fairytale. Many of its government policies, especially regarding multiculturalism, also sound idyllic. Officially, the country is trilingual. But after living in the country for a year, I realized that the lived reality is a bit more nuanced. I’m originally from the United States, and in 2021, I moved to Luxembourg to complete a master’s degree in multilingualism.