Category: dissent

‘Unprecedented’ pressure on Russia’s opposition, as NDI deemed undesirable

     

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has declared the activities of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs to be undesirable in the latest of a series of measures designed to… Read more »

Russia’s Bad Example

     

    For decades Russia remained a country without an ideology to export. Now Putin’s Russia has realized that it can capitalize on its foreign policy goals of sowing democratic… Read more »

UN concerned over crackdown in Egypt’s ‘republic of dread’

     

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression today voiced his concerns regarding the state of freedom of expression… Read more »

Palestinian teachers’ protest ‘revitalizing’ democracy, exposing PA corruption

     

One of the largest protests the West Bank has seen in recent years is not aimed against the Israeli occupation, but to deliver a message to the Palestinian Authority, Al… Read more »

Russians not fundamentally illiberal – unlike Putin

     

Contrary to some analysts’ suggestions that Russian culture and history have fostered a predisposition towards authoritarian rule, new research suggests otherwise. The evidence emerging from a cross-country comparison of attitudes… Read more »

Legal Restrictions on Thought & Expression: Pakistan, Egypt, Thailand, Bahrain – and Turkey

     

  Turkey’s “strongman” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is going the extra mile in his trajectory of authoritarianism by challenging a Constitutional Court ruling, effectively conflating freedom of expression with espionage,… Read more »

Honoring Nemtsov, a call for action

     

Thousands of people marched in honor of slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov on February 27, one year after he was shot dead near the Kremlin. Five suspects have been charged… Read more »

Iran poll balances ‘external loosening’ with ‘internal stiffening’

     

Iranians headed to the polls Friday in elections made easy for conservatives after sweeping bans that left many pro-reform candidates off the ballots, adding further political pressures on Hassan Rouhani,… Read more »

Myths and realities of Iran’s election

     

Iranians will go to the polls on February 26 to elect members of the 290-seat parliament and the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, notes Council on Foreign Relations analyst Ray Takeyh…. 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 »