Consensus grows on North Korea’s human rights-security nexus
Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov once said, a “country which does not respect the rights of its own citizens will not respect the rights of its neighbors,” note Victor Cha… Read more »
Category: Dictatorships
Labor unrest surges in China
China’s ruling Communist Party is facing an upsurge in labor militancy and social unrest, notes China Digital Times: Amid an economic downturn and a plan to streamline the state-owned sector, the Chinese… Read more »
US envoy condemns Cuba rights record: Obama playing a long game
Deputy US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today condemned a surge in arrests of activists in Cuba, three weeks before President Barack Obama’s historic trip to the Communist-ruled island: Addressing… Read more »
Cuba: a nation in search of a state
When the Castro regime comes to an end, the Cuban people will face the monumental task of building a new political and economic system out of the remnants of the… Read more »
Is the age of Middle East ‘regime change’ over?
With the tragic consequences of America’s role in the overthrow of Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya added to the failures of U.S. intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, the policy of regime change is being more… Read more »
Five things China’s censors cut from Fukuyama’s book
At the American Interest, Francis Fukuyama provides a list of cuts made to the Chinese edition of his latest book, “Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to… Read more »
Chinese labor unrest tests Communist Party authority
An upsurge in industrial militancy in China is presenting a challenge for a Communist Party that bases much of its legitimacy on its ability to manage the economy, Simon Denyer… Read more »
The enduring appeal of ideological necrophilia
Populism, Peronism and Maoism are all forms of ideological necrophilia – the blind fixation with dead ideas, notes Moisés Naím, a distinguished fellow in the International Economics Program at the… Read more »
As Cuba’s dissident crackdown peaks, Obama trip ‘could be a subversive moment’
Even some supporters of President Barack Obama’s moves to strengthen relations with Cuba are questioning the timing of his planned visit to the Communist island next month, after arrests… Read more »
North Korea’s ‘fear society’: why human rights must come first
North Korea is the world’s most oppressive example of what former Soviet dissident, Natan Sharansky, called a “fear society,” according to Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy. … Read more »