Category: Russia

Moscow Protests’ Rare Show of Defiance & Solidarity – A New Reality for Putin’s Russia?

     

A growing number of Russian entertainers on Tuesday joined in a rare show of defiance and solidarity, in support of an actor who they say was wrongfully convicted of resisting… Read more »

Russia’s Playbook for Disrupting Democracy

     

Russia’s brazen interference in the 2016 American presidential election shouldn’t have been a total shock, says Matt Apuzzo, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter based in Brussels. President Vladimir Putin’s… Read more »

Hostile Social Manipulation: ‘democratic societies in retreat’

     

As strategic competitors, most notably Russia and China, engage in hostile social manipulation,  such as conducting targeted social media campaigns, conspiracy theories, and sophisticated forgeries, democracies urgently need to undertake… Read more »

Disinformation catalyzing spread of authoritarianism worldwide

     

Seeking to find a way to wrest control of the narrative, Beijing has stepped up its efforts to sow discord and disinformation about the months-long Hong Kong protests through some… Read more »

Citizen K: Putin’s nightmare? The ballot box

     

By any measure, the decline of Putinism is indisputable. It was best captured by a poll conducted in May by the government-run Public Opinion Center, which showed that public trust… Read more »

‘Unprecedented wind in sails’ of anti-kleptocracy initiatives

     

Over the past year, an extraordinary burst of anti-kleptocracy legislation—much of it intended to counter Russian influence—has taken aim at the tools and tactics of foreign criminals looking to move… Read more »

Exporting digital authoritarianism: How to build democratic resilience

     

As Russia, China, and other states advance influence through forms of digital authoritarianism, stronger responses are needed from the U.S. and like-minded partners to limit the effects of their efforts,… Read more »

Russia protests show Kremlin ‘failing to keep its system afloat’

     

  Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny today walked out of a Moscow jail after serving a 30-day sentence for violating Russia’s restrictive protest laws. He spoke defiantly to journalists waiting… Read more »

Facebook, Google, Twitter and the ‘Digital Disinformation Mess’

     

With platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, modern-day purveyors of disinformation need only a computer or smartphone and an internet connection to reach a potentially huge audience — openly, anonymously… Read more »

‘Autocracy Now’ – personalized authoritarianism

     

  The leading figures on the world stage today practice a brutal, smash-mouth politics, a personalized authoritarianism, notes Foreign Affairs editor Gideon Rose. Old-school strongmen, they do whatever is needed to… Read more »