August 15th, 2017
CHINA Hong Kong Police Arrest Activist Over Abduction ClaimBBC A democracy activist in Hong Kong who claimed he was abducted and tortured by mainland Chinese agents has been arrested by police. Authorities are accusing Howard Lam of providing misleading information. Mr. Lam claimed last week he was abducted because of his efforts to get in touch...
Russia’s youngest Ukrainian prisoner sentenced to 8 years, a political prisoner to 10 years for writing to him
While 19-year-old Artur Panov does not deny at least some of the charges, he was just 16 when arrested and there are grounds for doubting the seriousness of the grandiose plans he appears to have discussed. 35-year-old Maxim Smyshlyaev, who received a 10-year sentence, has long been recognized as a political prisoner by the renowned Memorial...
Environmental Sustainability And Social Justice Requires Democratic Food Systems
There is a strong sense of déjà vu in the late Northern summer of 2012. The worst droughts in living memory have devastated corn and soybean crops in the United States and Canada; and extreme heat is damaging wheat yields in the breadbaskets of Russia and Ukraine. With increasing volumes of grain diverted to meet …read more Source: Centre...
Washington Should Step Back in Korea: Is Donald Trump or Kim Jong-Un More Dangerous?
Doug Bandow President Donald Trump has put all of Asia and much of the world on edge. All week he’s gone mano-a-mano with Kim Jong-un, blustering like the frightened head of an international micro-state instead of the representative of the world’s most important and powerful nation. Who imagined that people around the globe would be...
Embattled Theater Director Trapped In Russia
Kirill Serebrennikov has seen his funding cut and a controversial ballet axed, and could soon be charged with swindling the state out of millions. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
North Korea ICBM success
How has North Korea managed to make such astounding progress with its long-range missile programme over the last two years? Here, Michael Elleman shares the first solid evidence that North Korea has acquired a high-performance liquid-propellant engine from illicit networks in Russia and Ukraine. …read more Source: International Institute...
Steamy Biopic of Russian Saint-Emperor Gets Go-Ahead
A film about the love affair between the canonized last czar and a ballerina is finally bound for cinemas after months of debate. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Rogozin non grata
Russia / Europe We are witnessing yet another flare-up in relations between Russia and Moldova: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (who is in charge of cooperation with Moldova in fact) has been declared persona non grata by Chisinau. The question is not even why that has happened but whether this strife may lead to other, more serious...
When Neutrality Isn’t an Option
Originally produced on Aug. 7, 2017 for Mauldin Economics, LLC By George Friedman The new US sanctions against Russia overwhelmingly passed Congress. But in parts of Europe, they are far less popular. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel last week called them “more than problematic.” In diplomatese, that means the Germans oppose them. The...
US Power: A Finite Resource
By Jacob L. Shapiro North Korea, China, Russia and Venezuela are all countries that pose very real but different kinds of problems for the United States. These countries have made headlines in the U.S. in recent days, and we will unpack them each separately. Collectively, they indicate that the U.S. has spread itself thin and has been unable to...
