How Putin made corruption great again
Russian police arbitrarily detained hundreds of people during peaceful protests on June 12, 2017, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Human Rights Watch said today: Riot police in both cities used… Read more »
Category: Dictatorships
Time to prepare for Iran’s political collapse?
In a region littered with failed states, Iran is often mischaracterized as an island of stability, notes Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. The history… Read more »
China losing soft power edge ahead of G20 summit
Until late last month Xi Jinping was looking forward to easy “soft power” victories at this week’s meetings with Angela Merkel in Berlin and the G20 summit in Hamburg… Read more »
EU-Cuba deal betrays Cuban people and Europe’s commitment to freedom
The European Parliament voted Wednesday in favor of the first European Union trade and dialogue agreement with Cuba, promising to “expand bilateral trade, promote dialogue and economic cooperation, and provide… Read more »
Egypt’s new NGO law ‘militarizes’ civil society
Egypt’s new NGO law has militarized civil society and demonstrates how security leaders have exploited the need to counter a genuine terrorist threat as a justification to suppress political parties,… Read more »
Edward Kline, ‘silent partner’ in aiding Soviet dissidents
Democracy advocates are mourning the passing of a modest, unsung but highly effective supporter of Soviet dissidents. Edward Kline, a Yale math major who, bored with the department store chain… Read more »
China’s treatment of Liu Xiaobo condemned as ‘a moral and political outrage’
The Chinese authorities have refused permission for Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace laureate paroled from prison for cancer treatment, to go abroad for care, one of his lawyers said on Thursday,… Read more »
Liu Xiaobo’s condition ‘a blow to China’s democracy movement’
China’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo was granted his request to seek treatment for advanced liver cancer outside prison. Liu, who was sentenced to prison in 2009 for advocating… Read more »
Saudi ‘game of thrones’ consolidates autocracy
The appointment of Mohammad bin Salman, 31, as Saudi Arabia’s next king will accelerate his radical reform and further solidify the U.S.-Saudi partnership, says analyst Karen Elliott House, author of… Read more »
Helmut Kohl’s lessons for the West
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl will be remembered by many as a giant of epochal times that remade Europe’s political architecture, dismantled the minefields and watchtowers of the Iron Curtain… Read more »