Category: Europe

Western democracies ‘floundering’ in internet clash of ideas?

     

  Russian efforts to influence the French presidential election show that the central aim of the Kremlin’s media outlets and networks is to foment fear and mistrust outside Russia and… Read more »

West moves to counter Kremlin’s hybrid warfare: Russia vulnerable to reverse information campaign

     

If you want evidence of how technology has made diplomacy less diplomatic and information warfare less subtle, take a look at @RussianEmbassy, the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in London, the Washington… Read more »

Democracy down but not dying

     

Democracy has unquestionably lost its global momentum, note Carnegie Endowment analysts Thomas Carothers and Richard Youngs. But those who despair the future of democracy tend to focus on a select… Read more »

Will the Balkans be Russia’s next virtual battlefield?

     

Russia’s efforts to project its power abroad are likely to continue and to expand, observers suggest. The Kremlin’s disinformation campaigns seek to “crumble democracies from the inside out” by “winning… Read more »

Will Hungary get away with attack on academic freedom?

     

Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban has pushed a law through the Hungarian parliament which could shut down the Central European University, a graduate college founded more than a quarter-century ago by… Read more »

Backing Belarus, Russia protesters is morally justified — and strategically smart

     

The European Parliament has expressed concern over the “new wave of repression” in Belarus, which includes raids on raids on civil society organizations and “preventive” arrests of opposition members before the protests…. Read more »

Russian information warfare at its worst

     

Russian information warfare at its worst, visit the Baltic states, Christian Caryl writes for The Washington Post: Interference with elections? Check. Cyberattacks? Check. Prominent politicians with murky links to the Kremlin? Check. Fake news and… Read more »

Ukraine cracks down on anticorruption crusaders

     

A recent legislative amendment requiring activists and journalists reporting on government corruption to file public declarations of their personal assets is vague and could be used to deter or punish… Read more »

Georgians support EU accession; distrust Russia but favor dialogue

     

Georgian support for accession to the European Union (EU) is at a four-year high, according to a nationwide poll released today by the International Republican Institute’s (IRI*) Center for Insights… Read more »

Populism’s false promise could ‘reinvigorate liberal democracy’

     

The resurgence of populism has disrupted the post-Cold War political order and raised the prospect of instability in Europe and Eurasia, according to Nations in Transit 2017, the 22nd edition… Read more »