Tag: Irwin Cotler

Pandemic represents ‘high-water mark’ for brittle authoritarian model’s appeal?

     

It is quite possible that the coronavirus pandemic will represent the high-water mark for the appeal of the authoritarian model and of its two standard-bearers, China and Russia, according to… Read more »

Covid crisis exposes Kremlin’s limited capacity of power?

     

  The #coronavirus pandemic makes it a lot easier for strongman leaders to justify their blatant attacks on democracy. @joshuakeating for @Slate https://t.co/YXxUmtiIkh — Freedom House (@freedomhouse) May 12, 2020… Read more »

Call to free Iran’s women political prisoners: Virus ‘exacerbates regime’s legitimacy crisis’

     

The coronavirus is leading Iranians to question the relationship between state and religion, putting the theocratic state in “an unusual and awkward position“, observers suggest. The Islamic Republic had to… Read more »

The democracy undercutting China’s claims to superiority

     

China has been buying up ads on U.S. social-media sites and adopting online tactics reminiscent of Russian disinformation campaigns in an apparent attempt to shape the story internationally about the… Read more »

Iranian democracy: playing the long game

     

Civil society activist Mariam Memarsadeghi and her NGO Tavaana aren’t planning for the “day of” the revolution, the way so many other opponents of the Iranian regime seem to be…. Read more »

“Iron curtain of information” descending on Cuba

     

Some 14 Cuban non-governmental organizations* have declared that a new “iron curtain of information” is descending that further censors access to the internet, and restricts the flow of information. The… Read more »

Kremlin exploiting West’s legal institutions to its advantage

     

Russia has spent years exploiting institutions and legal systems in the West to target critics, invalidate court decisions and roll back sanctions, according to allegations in a new analysis, NPR’s… Read more »

Downplaying Islamism, regime aims to demobilize Iran’s ‘underground but still vibrant’ civil society

     

  The European Union decided on Monday to extend restrictive measures imposed against Iran to last for an additional year until April 13, 2020, due to “serious human rights violations”… Read more »

Iran tilts to the right: fueling unrest, punishing dissent

     

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei is doubling down on his regime’s policies of persecution, power projection and terror by appointing hard-line loyalists in a bid to ensure that critical state institutions remain… Read more »

Losing legitimacy: Iran’s Islamic Republic ‘on brink of collapse’?

     

“Is the Islamic Republic on the brink of collapse?” was the title of a long interview published by the Iranian news agency Tasnim. To fully appreciate the true explosive power… Read more »