An ‘existential threat’ in China’s future?
More than halfway through his five-year term as president of China and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party—expected to be the first of at least two—Xi Jinping’s widening crackdown… Read more »
Category: Dissidents
China prompts criticism with new curbs on foreign NGOs
China took a major step on Thursday in President Xi Jinping’s movement away from Western influences and toward stronger social control, as it passed a new law aimed at limiting the work… Read more »
Political violence pushes Bangladesh close to ‘democratic collapse’
Al Qaeda and Islamic State have both sought to gain a foothold in this predominantly Muslim nation of 160 million people, and experts worry that Bangladesh is ill equipped… Read more »
Uighur case highlights most sustained crackdown since Tiananmen
Patriotic chest-thumping over the weekend in India gave way to embarrassment and bitterness as the government made a very public U-turn on issuing a visa to Uighur dissident Dolkun Isa, The Washington… Read more »
Political aftershocks hit Ecuador
Ecuador is still reeling from the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck last week, killing 654 people, injuring 16,600, and leaving 25,000 homeless, Vice News reports: Last Wednesday, President Rafael… Read more »
Free speech ‘under siege’ in Vietnam
More than 100 Vietnamese – an unprecedented amount – tried to run in the May 22 election as independents, including activists bent on testing the party’s sincerity about fostering inclusiveness… Read more »
Beware illusions about post-Castro Cuba
Under a hegemonic party system, the emerging regime in Cuba will not rely on its revolutionary past or one man’s charisma, but on the institutionalization of a dominant political party,… Read more »
No sign of reform, transparency in Castros’ Cuba
Critics of President Obama’s diplomatic outreach to Cuba are claiming vindication this week as the island nation’s Communist Party hard-liners — cheered on by an 89-year-old Fidel Castro — moved… Read more »
Cuba minister calls Obama trip ‘an attack’ as Communists defend ideology
U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Communist-led Cuba was an “attack” on its history and culture aimed at misleading a new business class, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Monday,… Read more »
Dictators don’t stabilize the Middle East
A number of American politicians have suggested that the Arab Spring was a disaster and that the region needs strongmen to stabilize it, but while working on Middle East policy at the… Read more »