Author Archives: DemDigest

Democracies are ‘losing terrorism’s war of attrition’

     

Whatever happens after the recapture of Mosul, the future trajectories of al-Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State (IS) do not leave cause for optimism, nor do the faulty paradigms that… Read more »

Reclaiming Mosul: concerns about politics the ‘day after’

     

An array of Iraqi forces, backed by a broad international coalition, is closing in on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, united in their determination to crush the jihadists but… Read more »

Helping Europe through its crisis of illiberal politics

     

Twenty years after the U.S. brokered peace in Bosnia, leaders who once pledged to rebuild a European democracy here are shunning the West, The Wall Street Journal reports: In the… Read more »

Support Egypt’s democrats at ‘arms-length,’ says report

     

In the tumultuous two years since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt came to power, one ally has kept the Arab world’s most populous country from economic ruin: Saudi Arabia… Read more »

Dialog can’t avert ‘final blow to Venezuela’s democracy’

     

Venezuela has freed three opposition activists jailed for more than a month in a first gesture by President Nicolas Maduro’s government after talks began with his foes, Reuters reports: The… Read more »

Pakistan’s ‘democratic opportunity’?

     

Clashes erupted Monday between the riot police and thousands of supporters of the opposition politician Imran Khan in northwestern Pakistan, ahead of his plan to hold a protest in the… Read more »

ISIS conflict highlights Iraq’s ‘Year of Rage’

     

“Iraqis are fed up,” Mieczysław P. Boduszyński writes. “Even as they wage war on ISIS they are also battling their own country’s corrupt and ineffective political elite.” Since 2015, Iraqis… Read more »

Russia’s ambitions clash with its capabilities

     

Speaking at the 13th Valdai Discussion Club near Sochi last week, Russian president Vladimir Putin again railed at the US for allegedly misusing its global hegemony of the past 25… Read more »