Cuba’s reform going in reverse?
The slow pace of reform in Cuba is raising questions about President Raúl Castro’s legacy, reports suggest. Frustration has begun to set in, with energy cuts paralyzing production, the economy… Read more »
Category: corruption
Anti-corruption watchdog highlights push for reform in Azerbaijan
Baku has four months to rewrite its laws on NGOs or be suspended from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative — a step that could jeopardise billions of dollars of loans… Read more »
Kremlin’s modus operandi – ideology or kleptocracy?
As the Kremlin gears up for Vladimir Putin’s last re-election bid in 18 months, anti-graft crusader Alexei Navalny (left) has emerged as the conduit of choice for rival factions to… Read more »
No avoiding Mideast’s underlying issues of governance, corruption and repression
The next U.S. administration will inherit problems associated with the Middle East that are vastly more challenging than any in a generation as the old order has given way to… Read more »
Ukrainians struggle to take their destiny in hand
While Russia and the West fight over Ukraine, it is events inside the country that will determine its destiny. Two years after the Maidan revolution, Ukraine is stuck in a… Read more »
Leonardo DiCaprio cooperating in kleptocracy probe
Leonardo DiCaprio is aiding the investigation into a Malaysian embezzlement scam that involved his hit film about financial market fraud, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” AFP reports: The Hollywood star… Read more »
China’s decentralized kleptocracy: dynamics of regime decay
In 1989 the movement for democracy brought the Chinese Communist Party to within days of extinction, The Economist notes: According to official reports, on one day alone, May 22nd, 6m… Read more »
Autocrats more trusted than democrats?
Authoritarian leaders are seen as far more trustworthy than politicians in more openly democratic countries across the emerging world, according to data compiled by the World Economic Forum, The Financial… Read more »
Beyond the Euromaidan: Will the West ever stand up to Putin?
Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to expand the invasion of Ukraine in January, according to independent Russian military analyst Pavel Felgengauer. Such a development would retard Ukraine’s fitful reform… Read more »
Kleptocracy not only a problem of ‘faraway, nasty countries’
A sorry parade of arms smugglers, oligarchs, defense contractors, mafia dons, drug dealers, gambling fraudsters, sanctions breakers, and kleptocrats emerge from the Panama Papers, journalist Alan Rusbridger writes for The… Read more »