Authoritarian-minded leaders around the world have used the coronavirus emergency to consolidate power. In Europe, the governments of Poland and Hungary have done that and more. They have managed to… Read more »
Hungary’s parliament endorsed a bill on Monday giving nationalist premier Viktor Orban the sweeping new powers he says he needs to fight the new coronavirus pandemic. Critics at home and… Read more »
Countries in Central and Eastern Europe that made significant gains in building their new democracies following the Cold War are now experiencing a crisis of illiberalism that is weakening the… Read more »
Karol Modzelewski, a historian who became a driving force in Solidarity, the labor movement that helped topple the Communist regime in Poland, and its first spokesman, died on April 28… Read more »
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 »
This month marked the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. According to UN estimates, some 800,000 people were shot, hacked, and bludgeoned to death by extremist members of the… Read more »
Egypt’s military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is in some ways trying to turn the clock back, restoring the six-year presidential term and exempting himself from term limits—which, by the way,… Read more »
The United States said Tuesday it would pull its remaining diplomatic personnel from Venezuela, rupturing relations as the country plunges deeper into chaos, the Washington Post reports: The move comes… Read more »
There are many similarities between American consultant-turned-ideologue Steve Bannon and Hungarian liberal-turned-ultraconservative Viktor Orban. Both have a missionary mind-set; both are interested in ideas; both are obsessed with what they… Read more »
At a bucolic border post, Western-trained Hungarian counterintelligence agents recently got word that a known operative of Russia’s foreign spy service was driving into Hungary, and asked headquarters for permission… Read more »
