Plenary round-up – Strasbourg, October I 2017
Written by Katarzyna Sochacka, EU negotiator Michel Barnier presents the state of play of the Brexit negotiations in plenary. © European Union 2017 – Source : EP The adoption of Parliament’s resolution on the state of play of the Brexit negotiations was one of the main points of the October I plenary session, as was a debate on the...
Kleptocracy Weekly: October 6, 2017
“Kleptocracy is the business model of 21st century authoritarianism.” Charles Davidson, KI’s Executive Director,testified before the Helsinki Commission in Congress this week on how anonymous companies threaten democracy and security. Next week: Join KI and distinguished experts at Hudson Institute on October 11th for the launch of Ilya...
The Russian State’s New Surprising Crusade … Against “Orthodox Extremists”
Society It seems that the Russian state is preparing to get tough on various hardline, fringe followers of the Orthodox Church. Columnists in the opposition media and panic-stricken citizens on social media have already dubbed these Russian citizens “Orthodox extremists” or “new fundamentalists” Alexander Kalinin, for instance, the leader of the...
Ukraine’s Poorly Timed Education Law
Endorsing bilingualism in education would be the inspired and progressive option for the Ukrainian leadership. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Inside Tomsk’s Political Machine
The Siberian city’s gubernatorial election, rigged and managed from above, illustrates how the electoral system really works in many Russian regions. From openDemocracy. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Wealth of Ukrainian Security Officers Revealed
The powerful interior minister is also under a spotlight as the authorities open a probe into corruption allegations against him. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
What would it take to trigger war between Russia and NATO? Just a spark
This September in Europe was a tense month of military posturing and preparations. Sweden recently began a three-week war game, its largest since the Cold War. Even as it did so, across the Baltic Sea, Russian and Belarusian forces concluded the Zapad military exercises – which NATO officials called “serious preparations for a big war”. Major war...
Five Things to Know About the Zapad-2017 Military Exercise
25 September 2017 Mathieu Boulègue TwitterLinkedIn Research Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Programme As Russian forces leave Belarus, what are the main lessons to draw from the Zapad-2017 drills? Servicemen take part in the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises Zapad-2017. Photo by Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images Following seven days of...
The great decommunisation. Ukraine’s wartime historical policy
The war with Russia which began in 2014 has triggered serious changes in the way history is thought about by the Ukrainian public, especially in opinion-forming circles. The liberal reflection critical about the nationalist tradition initiated somewhat earlier has been rejected since wartime requires heroic narratives above all. …read more...
Crimea: Crimean Tatar Leader Convicted on Spurious Charges
(Kyiv) – A Russian court in Crimea on September 27, 2017, convicted a prominent Crimean Tatar leader on bogus separatism charges following an unfair trial, Human Rights Watch said today. The court imposed a two-year prison sentence and banned Ilmi Umerov, the Crimean Tatar leader, from involvement in public activities, which includes contact with...
