Tag: George Weigel

Zelenskiy’s Ukraine well-placed to influence, compete with Russia

     

Ukraine is “the single most important front of [the] war against authoritarian expansion,” according to Stanford University’s Francis Fukuyama. “Clearly it matters a lot to Putin that Ukraine does not… Read more »

‘Revolution in Ruins’: Venezuela ‘on brink of lasting change’

     

In less than a month, Juan Guaido has gone from a virtual unknown in Venezuelan politics to the country’s most-watched figure, assuming the presidency of the opposition-controlled congress and briefly… Read more »

Rethinking democracy for democratic renewal

     

If contemporary democracies are going to compete with autocratic systems on the world stage while avoiding their own suicide through polarization and paralysis fueled by untrustworthy information, they need a… Read more »

Democracy under pressure: polarization and repression increasing worldwide

     

The quality of worldwide democracy and governance has fallen to its lowest level in 12 years, with much of the decline occurring in free societies where some governments rule with… Read more »

Democracy and its discontents: charting a path of renewal

     

Surveying America’s political history, Larry Diamond of Stanford University divines “a general pattern of resilience, punctuated by dark periods of authoritarian temptation,” The Economist notes: Indeed the two are related;… Read more »

Vatican ‘capitulates’ to China – a sign of Beijing’s growing sharp power?

     

China and the Vatican will establish formal diplomatic relations sooner or later because Pope Francis has the “wisdom” to resolve problems between the two sides, a state-run Chinese newspaper said… Read more »

A realist case for advancing Arab democracy

     

Despite the reportedly path-breaking retreat from even the rhetoric of promoting democracy and human rights, there is a robust realist argument for advancing freedom in the Middle East, according to Elliott… Read more »

Russia’s fellow travelers aid disinformation in ‘cooler Cold War’

     

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been excised from two major upcoming releases. The move reportedly shows that Hollywood’s nerves are shredded after the cyber attacks… Read more »

Defending Western civilization – without democracy?

     

In his speech in Poland on Thursday, US president Donald Trump didn’t even mention democracy, note Brian Klaas, a fellow at the London School of Economics, and Marcel Dirsus, a… Read more »

Cuba: appeasement never works

     

Rosa María Payá will be presenting an appeal for a judicial review of the conviction of Angel Carromero for the events that caused the death of her father, Oswaldo Payá, and… Read more »