Azerbaijan abuse allegations mar high-profile trial

     

The Azerbaijan authorities should release 18 people, including a prominent religious scholar and a leading political opposition activist, who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences on January… Read more »

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Economic boom times over. Democracy next?

     

The argument for liberalism and democracy has rested on economic success. More wealth for more people has been generated in societies calling themselves liberal, democratic, and capitalist, notes Zachary Karabell,… Read more »

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Ideology underpins Iran’s rising axis of resistance?

     

The ideology underpinning the Iranian-led axis of resistance in the Middle East has evolved, according to Harvard analysts Payam Mohseni and Hussein Kalout. From a primarily state-centered enterprise, it has… Read more »

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Blacklisting Muslim Brotherhood ‘may backfire’

     

Proposals to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood are raising questions about appropriate strategies to counter violent extremism, The Wall Street Journal reports: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in particular, is a strong supporter… Read more »

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Low trust downgrades U.S. to ‘flawed democracy’ status, says EIU

     

The U.S. has been downgraded from a full democracy to a flawed democracy by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The group’s Democracy Index considers “60 indicators across five broad categories:… Read more »

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Nobel laureate Alexievich quits ‘shameful’ Russian PEN

     

Russian PEN has dismissed Svetlana Alexievich’s decision to leave the freedom of speech organisation, saying she cannot quit because she has never been a member – prompting the Nobel prize… Read more »

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Will Jangmadang lead to an opening of North Korea?

     

Since the mid-1990s, when an estimated one million people died from starvation or hunger-related illnesses during the famine that plagued North Korea, jangmadang (private markets) have emerged as a critical means of… Read more »

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