The Kremlin’s efforts to undermine the democratic opposition and cultivate anti-American sentiment are the real factors behind the arrest of alleged CIA spy Ryan Fogle, analysts suggest.
“Public humiliations of hapless foreign spies were a staple of the Soviet …
“We’re going to keep working for a Syria that is free from Assad’s tyranny, that is intact and inclusive of all ethnic and religious groups, and that’s a source of stability, not extremism,” said US President Barack Obama …
The result of Iran’s upcoming presidential election” is related not just to normal domestic feuds, division of spoils, and concerns about the level of discontent in society, but also to the regime’s international policies,” says a leading analyst.
“No …
US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) today discussed how to bolster the Syrian opposition and initiate a political transition.
“We’re going to keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime, and working with …
Brent Scowcroft, a former National Security Adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, has been dismissive of Wilsonian “evangelizers of democracy,” so it will be interesting to hear his keynote remarks at a forthcoming symposium on Woodrow Wilson’s …
Iranian hard-liners are pressing for two prominent candidates to be barred from contesting next month’s presidential election “in a further sign of intense political jockeying over the final ballot list,” AP reports:
The appeal by nearly 100 parliament …
“Together, the EU and the US account for around half of global GDP and almost two-thirds of global military spending,” say two leading rights advocates. “A coordinated, transatlantic approach to human rights would mean the world’s rising authoritarian powers could …
State-controlled media reveled in embarrassing the U.S. over an alleged attempt to recruit a Russian intelligence agent, highlighting the summoning of U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul (right) to the Russian Foreign Ministry to receive a formal protest.
“In the Russian elite …
Bolivia’s expulsion of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) this month is a troubling development on its own, but when viewed in the context of similar actions by other governments, it raises questions about the future of American foreign …
Egypt’s political opposition is a bunch of “feckless, lazy and disorganized” metropolitan elites who waste time and resources on factional, sectarian politics instead of following the Islamists’ example and building sustainable grassroots networks and constituencies. As for the …
A group offering support to Russians suffering from cystic fibrosis is one of hundreds of civil society groups to have been subject to official warnings and intrusive inspections under the Kremlin’s “foreign agents” law, a leading human rights group …
Countries dependent on revenue from extractive industries are plagued by government mismanagement, lack of transparency and corruption, according to a new report.
A “striking governance deficit” prevents citizens of resource-rich states from enjoying the benefits of energy development and mining, …
China, Russia and Egypt impose restrictive conditions on private philanthropy that helps cultivate civil society development, while democracies tend to enjoy more conducive arrangements, according to a new analysis.
In a 13 country pilot study, the Hudson Institute’s Center …
“The most striking attribute of the ‘Arab regional order’ today is that it is not an order at all, but rather is experiencing total change in all dimensions,” says a prominent analyst:
“Today,…. every single element of the regional Arab …
After more than two years in hiding, Ali Abdulemam (right), a globally renowned blogger and free-speech advocate, has been freed from the Kingdom of Bahrain, writes Thor Halvorssen, president of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. Abdulemam is now safely …