Category: Europe

‘Cultural counter-revolution’ tests Polish democracy

     

Divisions have heightened as the scope of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party’s ambition has become clear: to roll back the social liberalism that has flourished since communism collapsed and shift… Read more »

Eclipse of the West’s soft power?

     

While the resurgent authoritarians of Russia and China are investing in the expansion of soft power, that of the Western democracies is dwindling, analysts suggest. The European Union’s approach to… Read more »

No Kerensky: Mário Soares a pivotal figure in Portugal’s democratic transition

     

Mário Soares, a pivotal figure in Portugal’s transition from dictatorship to democracy who as prime minister led his long-impoverished country into the European Union, died Saturday. He was 92 years old,… Read more »

Why the West is failing to counter Kremlin disinformation

     

Ten years ago, in the wake of the murder of the leading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya (left), a popular comedian-turned-blogger in Italy named Beppe Grillo urged tens of thousands of… Read more »

Civil society countering Ukraine’s ‘corrupt counter-revolution’

     

In Ukraine, revolution and reform has given way to reaction, with vested interests entrenching themselves even further, notes Sergii Leshchenko, a Ukrainian journalist and a member of the Verkhovna Rada. Today,… Read more »

How Putin does it: well-trained in ideological warfare

     

Cold War notions of “fake news” and “Soviet-style propaganda” are back in style, except now people say them about shiny new concepts such as cyberattacks and WikiLeaks. Whether or not… Read more »

Poland’s civil society ‘roars to life’

     

Thousands of Poles used yesterday’s anniversary of the imposition of martial law by the communist regime 35 years ago to protest against the current conservative government, the BBC reports: The… Read more »

Has Kremlin cracked democracy’s code?

     

German politicians have warned that hackers and others acting for the Russian state could undermine Germany’s general elections next year, the BBC reports: The German election is at risk from… Read more »