A European initiative to fund pro-democracy groups was introduced to Polish activists this week by its new director, Poland’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Jerzy Pomianowski (left), UPI reports:
Pomianowski, appointed by the European Union last month to lead the …
It would appear that Russian President Vladimir Putin is attracting cheerleaders from amongst the chattering classes in the West, if a recent op-ed in The Washington Post is any indication.
In a Feb. 15 Washington Forum commentary, How Obama can …
Intigam Aliyev, a leading human rights lawyer from Azerbaijan, has been awarded the prestigious Homo Homini human rights award for 2012. The award, given by People in Need, the Czech Republic’s largest non-governmental organization, is given in recognition of Aliyev‘s …
A leading Russian opposition figure is the subject of death threats, reports suggest.
Internet journalist Sasha Sotnik reports that security services have targeted Andrei Piontkovsky (left), a leading political scientist, essayist and democracy activist, for “assassination” while a minivan …
Writing on Open Democracy Russia yesterday, Almut Rochowonski argued that Kremlin’s repression of NGOs could work in their favour by encouraging domestic giving. Her mistake was assuming Russian NGOs are able and free to replicate Western membership-based fundraising models, which …
Ales Byalyatski is “one of the few opposition leaders who unites rather than divides” the opposition in Belarus, says a leading democracy assistance practitioner.
“He is respected by everyone across the political spectrum of the opposition and could emerge from …
“Azerbaijan’s troubled efforts to portray itself as a progressive and Western-oriented country took a beating this week with the announcement by a pro-government political party that it will pay $12,700 to anyone who cuts off the ear of …
Western democracies should “stop playing ‘Let’s pretend’ in order to appease the Kremlin,” says a leading analyst. “Russia is now ruled by people with a greater propensity to violence than the aged leadership of the final days of the Soviet …
“A half century after taking the first steps toward becoming an integral part of Europe, Turkey may be ready to give up,” The New York Times reports:
After heavy hints that Ankara is looking eastwards to a closer alliance …