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 »
Category: dissent
Kazakhstan’s ‘economy first, politics later’ philosophy under strain
Kazakhstan is not a country accustomed to political instability. Nursultan Nazarbayev has enjoyed a quarter century as president of the central Asian nation on the back of rising oil… Read more »
Muhammad Ali: ‘a marching figure for democracy’?
The man responsible for Muhammad Ali’s autobiography, the former president of Random House publishing house Robert L. Bernstein, was also the founder of the Helsinki Watch human rights organization, notes Alexander Lukashuk…. Read more »
27 years after Tiananmen, an opportunity for a political opening
Tens of thousands of people gathered in a Hong Kong park on Saturday evening to do what people across the border in mainland China could not: commemorate the anniversary of… Read more »
Russia’s election countdown: ‘No one untouchable’ on violations?
The head of Russia ‘s Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said that an interdepartmental working group is being set up to quickly react to election violations, the Moscow Times reports:… Read more »
Hard-liners rebound: no more nonsense about ‘moderation’ in Iran
Backers of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, who has pledged to improve the economy and relations with the West, won a sizeable minority in a parliament that has been under the… Read more »
O.A.S. rebuke cites threats to Venezuela’s democracy
The Organization of American States said Tuesday that it had begun taking steps against Venezuela to defend democracy in the region, a rare rebuke once reserved for countries undergoing crises like coups…. Read more »
China’s hard line a sign of weakness not strength
In an illuminating anecdote that David Shambaugh heard from two Chinese officials who witnessed an encounter between Hu Jintao and Russian leader Vladimir Putin with Beijing’s increasingly harsh scrutiny of… Read more »
Iran’s ‘unfinished revolution’
When Iran makes headlines, it is usually as a result of its conflicts with other countries, notes analyst Ervand Abrahamian. Far less attention is paid to Iran’s conflicts with itself, which are… Read more »
Obama must raise Vietnam’s rights abuses, civil society crackdown
Thich Quang Do, the Patriarch of Vietnam’s Unified Buddhist Church (left), has called on U.S. president Barack Obama to use his forthcoming trip to the Communist state to highlight continuing… Read more »