Category: Human rights

Cuba – ‘facing worst economic crisis since the 1990s’ – cracks down on civil society

     

Cuba’s Communist government has told citizens to brace for hard times, although some economists don’t expect a repeat of the meltdown after the fall of the Soviet Union that lasted… Read more »

China steps up infiltration efforts: counter sources of CCP misconduct

     

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday that China has stepped up efforts to infiltrate and gain influence in the self-ruled and democratic island, and asked national security agencies to… Read more »

Hong Kong crackdown: extradition law would extend Beijing’s ‘coercive reach’

     

A U.S. congressional commission fears that a proposed new extradition law in Hong Kong could extend China’s “coercive reach” into the financial hub and create serious risks for U.S. national… Read more »

Beijing exporting repressive China Model in new battle of ideas

     

On the surface, the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China is all about economics and business. But a more consequential struggle over ideology and global security pits the… Read more »

Kremlin advancing political agenda by crushing dissent

     

The Russian government has created a series of often ill-defined laws that threatened fines or even jail time for broad categories of banned content. The authorities have thrown the book… Read more »

Egypt’s ‘2011 gains lost’ as Sisi extends authoritarian rule

     

    Egyptian voters approved (HT:Foreign Policy) constitutional changes, including an amendment that could permit President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in office through 2030. But opposition groups rejected the vote,… Read more »

China’s ‘Belt and Road’ inhibiting democratic consolidation

     

The Chinese government should ensure the projects it finances or engages in under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) respect human rights, Human Rights Watch said today: On April 25-27,… Read more »

Mini-Arab Spring? ‘Khashoggi was right: Arabs still want democracy’

     

Before his death, the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was trying to set up several organizations to promote the cause of democracy in the region — particularly one that aimed, among… Read more »

Algeria’s transition scenarios: ‘dreams of democracy tempered by fear of Islamism’?

     

President Bouteflika’s resignation has left Algeria facing a period of uncertainty replete with hope and fear, The (London) Times reports. The hope is that, at long last, this oil and gas-rich… Read more »

Putin’s all-powerful ‘power vertical’ is a ‘myth’?

     

The gulf between what President Vladimir V. Putin says and what happens in Russia raises a fundamental question about the nature of his rule after more than 18 years at… Read more »