Lithuania Plans to Fence Off Russian Exclave
Decision, following similar moves by other Baltic states, comes amid major NATO military buildup in the region. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Kyiv, Moscow Carry Row to London Courtroom
The two sides will face off at the first hearing in a dispute over $3 billion in unpaid debt. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
The Difficult but Necessary Task of Supporting Democrats in Russia
Photo credit: Bogomolov.PL Events in Russia in 2016 suggested that there is no prospect of political change in the country for the foreseeable future, and especially not in the run-up to the next presidential election in 2018. The regime appears to be more secure than ever and President Vladimir Putin dominates political life. United Russia and...
Russian teacher jailed for repost alerting of child abuse, punished for trying to keep warm
Yevhenia Chudnovets’ reposted 3-second video of a naked child being tormented resulted in the police intervening and the eventual imprisonment of two camp officials – and of Chudnovets. She was charged with ‘circulating child pornography’ for reposting the video which she says she did to draw attention to the abuse. …read more...
Moldovan Prisons: Judged and Found Wanting
Critics from the Council of Europe to the government itself say Moldova needs a more humane prison system. And they’ve kept on saying it for years. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Abolish the CIA
Every American who looks at the CIA objectively or in a balanced way and judges it by any number of criteria, such as moral, legal and pragmatic, should reach the conclusion that the CIA should be abolished. JFK wanted to break it into a million pieces. Trump is right to dismiss its intelligence reports about DNC hacking. The CIA war on Trump...
What Do Ukrainians Actually Think?
There is a paucity of Ukrainian opinion poll data at a time when this should be vital information for anybody interested in helping Ukraine’s reform process. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
The Price of Appeasing Russian Adventurism
Washington’s acceptance of Russia’s annexation of Crimea would have far-reaching implications for the world’s nuclear nonproliferation regime. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Going to the People-and Back Again: The Changing Shape of the Russian Regime
For most of Russian history, the country’s leaders have employed a top-down political system. When Crimea was annexed in 2014, the Kremlin temporarily allowed more decentralized patriotic activism to rally support, but they soon saw the potential risks and reverted to more centralized political control. | Русский …read more Source:...
Problems with Corruption in Ukraine
Under pressure from civil society and international institutions, the Ukrainian authorities have taken steps to reduce corruption. Although these measures have brought initial positive results, corruption remains one of the biggest problems facing the country as any changes meet with resistance from part of the Ukrainian political elite afraid of...
