Author Archives: DemDigest

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 »

Turkey ‘will never be the same’ after referendum

     

On April 16, Turkish voters will be casting votes in the most consequential referendum of modern Turkish history, notes Henri J. Barkey, the director of the Middle East Program at… Read more »

Revealing narratives censored by China’s soft power

     

In light of China’s ongoing violations of human rights, activists are revealing a narrative often censored or self-censored as a result of pressure from the regime’s soft power, reports suggest…. Read more »

After Khamenei: stable transition depends on Iran’s deep state

     

As Iran gears up for a leadership transition, it is important to see the Islamic Republic for what it is, and not what one may hope it can be, note… Read more »

Burma’s transition: ‘yet to give substance to strategy’

     

A senior Myanmar government official on Tuesday denied there was ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in the troubled northwestern state of Rakhine, where a military operation aimed at the minority… Read more »

Arab civil society crucial for democracy

     

Popular protests against corruption and curbs on freedom of expression are indications of the increasingly authoritarian rule of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, observers suggest. A Palestinian author is hiding in an… Read more »

Will Syria strikes trigger political transition?

     

The American strike on Shayrat air base in Syria is an appropriate response to mass homicide by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, said Ambassador Frederic Hof, a Senior Fellow with… Read more »

Bosnians united against ISIS, divided on partners

     

Stability and democracy in the Balkans have suffered even as the prospect of EU accession has stabilised relations and driven reform in a turbulent and impoverished region, Reuters reports: Kristof… Read more »

Russia Beyond Putin: Is fundamental change possible?

     

Is fundamental change in Russia possible? Would it overhaul the system, or modify or improve it without transforming it? And if change were to occur, will it necessarily be change Western… Read more »