Václav Havel was spot on when he wrote: ‘The natural disadvantage of democracy is that it is extremely tiring to those who mean it honestly, while it allows almost everything… Read more »
A special event Václav Havel, Speaking Today, with a keynote address by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (above), will highlight the historic speech 30 years ago before the… Read more »
Protesters around the world demanded change this year. While most protests were sparked by local issues, such as rising fuel prices or dissatisfaction with a leader, there were commonalities. Demonstrators… Read more »
Protests broke out in Prague Saturday on the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution after courts confirmed that Prime Minister Andrej Babis collaborated with the StB, the Communist era secret… Read more »
Poland represents the gravest illiberal challenge to European democracy, says the Economist: Since taking office in 2015 the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has stacked the courts, skewed… Read more »
Officially, Myanmar’s government does not recognize the Rohingya as lawful citizens, National Geographic reports: The government claims they were brought to Rakhine from Bangladesh during the time when Myanmar was… Read more »
Myanmar’s unwillingness to deal with the Rohingya refugee crisis fits a broader pattern of faltering reforms and indecisive leadership, the FT’s John Reed writes: The most serious crisis since Myanmar… Read more »
The central European states were the vanguards of communism’s collapse in the late 1980s, prompting a sense of inevitability about democracy’s benign coming, reinforced by the diverse figures who stepped… Read more »
About 1000 people, some of them carrying Tibetan flags or posters reading Free Tibet, came to Prague’s Hradcany Square to welcome the Dalai Lama, who arrived to attend the 20th… Read more »
Václav Havel – the subject of a commemorative conference at the National Endowment for Democracy today to mark his legacy – was born in Prague on this day eighty years ago,… Read more »