Category: Dissidents

Cuba’s transition will be shaped more by internal factors than external actors

     

In the wake of the new EU-Cuba deal, European Parliamentarians have urged Havana to respect human rights and Brussels confirms that the mutual deal could be cancelled if the Communist… 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 »

Internet the ‘de facto forum’ for Vietnam’s dissenting voices

     

A prominent blogger and environmental activist in Vietnam was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison on charges of national security offenses, including sharing anti-state propaganda on social media, The New… 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 »

Syrian dissident’s treatment creates disincentive to dialogue

     

A prominent Syrian dissident has been told he cannot get political asylum in the United States because he organized a conference with Syrian opposition groups — even though the American… Read more »

Vietnam: No Country for Human Rights Activists

     

Vietnamese bloggers and rights activists are being beaten, threatened, and intimidated with impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today: The Vietnamese government should order an end to… Read more »

Principled Realism ‘ideologically handicapped’ in confronting Iran

     

  “Principled Realism” is no more likely than realpolitik to check Tehran’s clerical regime where it matters most, in Syria, according to a leading analyst. Such an approach “appears ideologically… Read more »