New wave of Crimean Tatar arrests in Russian-occupied Crimea
Five more Crimean Tatars are in custody in Russian-occupied Crimea accused of involvement in an organization which is legal in Ukraine. The five men are all devout Muslims and some at least have this year or last taken part in the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Under Russian occupation, no more appears to be needed to face imprisonment on...
Russia’s FSB remove posters asking about abducted Crimean Tatar activist Ervin Ibragimov
“Those who give the command to abduct people should look their own mother in the eye and ask her what it means to lose a child”. Lilia Budzhurova’s words will doubtless not be heard by those in Moscow who bear responsibility for the lawlessness unleashed since Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea …read more Source: Kharkiv...
Daughter of Kadyrov Critic Assaulted
Her father, head of Russian MMA group, had suffered extensive backlash after criticizing MMA children fights in Chechnya. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Leaders and Slackers on Ukraine’s Reform Process (ECFR)
This text is an annex to “Keeping up appearances: How Europe is supporting Ukraine’s transformation” by Gustav Gressel, Senior Policy Fellow at the ECFR, and has been compiled by national researchers in each of the EU member states. …read more Source: Institute of World...
Ukraine’s Omnipresent Oligarchs
Neither the Euromaidan revolution nor reform efforts have succeeded in undermining Ukraine’s oligarchic system, which still shapes the country’s politics. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Judy Asks: Are Referenda Dangerous?
Rosa Balfour – Senior fellow in the Europe Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States Little wisdom is to be found in the contemporary use of referenda. They are sold as tools of direct democracy to promote political participation among citizens who have turned away from politics. But in practice, they prize majoritarian...
Why Russia Fears NATO
Ted Galen Carpenter Adam Twardowski takes umbrage at arguments that I and other members of the realism and restraint camp have made that NATO’s behavior over the past two decades has exacerbated tensions with Russia. He begins his rebuttal with a drive-by smear that is increasingly in vogue among neoconservatives, dismissing such arguments...
Implementation of the Minsk Agreements: “Red Lines” for Ukraine
Ukrainian think tanks have prepared a memo for Ukrainian authorities regarding the “red lines,” i.e. the limits for compromise in the areas of political dialogue, security, and humanitarian issues that should not be crossed by Ukraine within the framework of the Minsk Agreements implementation. …read more Source: Institute of World...
Alleged Russia-Orchestrated Cyberattacks Won’t Go Away
As the U.S. presidential election hits high gear, the candidates and U.S. government won’t let the infiltrations earlier this year fade away. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Georgian Parliamentary Election Results and Aftermath
[Editor’s Note: This blog entry follows up on the author’s E-Note “Of Georgian Personalities and Politics: European Dreams, National Elections, and Future Days” that appeared on October 7, 2016.] Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream (GD) electoral bloc appears to have won a 49% plurality in the October 8 parliamentary elections....
