Author Archives: DemDigest

Bahrain ‘is bulldozing its civil society’ with ban on Shiite opposition

     

Bahrain suspended the country’s largest Shiite opposition group in a surprise court hearing Tuesday, intensifying its crackdown on dissent five years after Arab Spring protests rocked the island kingdom, The… Read more »

Tackling violent radicalization by counter-propaganda, inclusive governance, advancing democracy

     

Amid terror threats and continued travel by young people to and from Syria, the European Commission wants to help EU countries to tackle violent radicalization, EU Observer reports: The EU… Read more »

China, Russia ‘reshaping the rules of the game’ on media, elections, civil society

     

U.S  policy towards Russia should be “based on a hard calculation of national interests and an unsentimental, non-ideological assessment of how Russia might help us advance or thwart our goals,”… Read more »

Russia’s Homo Sovieticus nostalgia colliding with ‘newer, darker forces’ – Svetlana Alexievich

     

Russia is taking refuge in ideas from its Soviet past, but this nostalgia collides with newer, darker forces, according to Nobel literature laureate Svetlana Alexievich. In an interview with The… Read more »

Empowering local actors, devolving power can assist Syria’s transition process

     

If the United States screens refugees for security risks, 59% of Americans support taking in refugees from the conflicts in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries, while 41% oppose, according… Read more »

Re-drawing the Iron Curtain?

     

  With ever-increasing enthusiasm, Russia claims to be the heir to the Soviet Union, and attacks on bronze, granite and plaster Lenins in Ukraine have generally been interpreted here [in… Read more »

Dalai Lama urges Suu Kyi to address Rohingya tensions

     

  The horrific violence in the Middle East, which in the case of Syria has led to the greatest refugee crisis in a generation, and appalling terrorist attacks — as we were sadly… Read more »