A Classic Dilemma: Russia’s Threat to Withdraw from the Council of Europe
When Russia joined the Council of Europe in 1996, this was a major step and a sign of a fundamentally new time. The successor state to the Soviet Union joined a pan-European human rights regime that provided the citizens of its member states with effective judicial tools to defend their rights. Today, a good two decades later, Russia’s...
Focusing on a Positive Future for U.S.–Turkey Relations
Photo Credit: FreshStock / Shutterstock The highly contentious relationship that has evolved between Turkey and the United States over their different approaches to the situation in Syria has led to serious questions as to whether the partnership can survive. While the points of disagreement between Turkey and the United States are real and...
Scottish Limited Partnerships – Scottish In Name Only
In June 2017, Bellingcat and Transparency International published a joint report entitled “Offshore in the UK” regarding Scottish Limited Partnerships (“SLPs”), their potential for misuse as a home-grown secrecy vehicle and their links to money laundering and corrupt wealth. On 26 June 2017 the Government enacted new regulations – requiring SLPs...
The Myth of Russian Weakness
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Image source: kremlin.ru)BESA Perspectives, No. 757, March 2, 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Western-centric expectations of Russian collapse in the face of its recent foreign policy and domestic setbacks fail to consider the Russian mindset, political culture, and “rules of the game,” thus grossly underestimating the...
Ukraine’s Corruption Battle: Is the Justice System Fit for Purpose?
Invitation Only Research Event 15 Mar 2018 – 14:00 to 15:30Add to CalendariCalendar Outlook Google Yahoo Chatham House, London Russia and Eurasia Programme, …read more Source: Chatham...
Statement on the status of the Kennan Institute’s Ukraine office by Director, President and CEO of the Wilson Center Jane Harman
PRESS RELEASEContact: Ryan McKennaPhone: (202) [email protected] Over the past week, a debate has unfolded regarding a personnel matter involving The Kennan Institute’s Ukraine satellite office. Kennan is The Wilson Center’s oldest geographic program and has been home to more than 1400 scholars over 40 years....
The Fallout of Murder
To get a broader understanding of the situation, we asked five opinion-leading Slovaks their take on the recent tragedy. We must not look in disbelief at the assassination of Jan Kuciak and his fiancé in Slovakia, but think hard and act responsibly to avert a further democratic decline not only in that country but across the entire region....
An Ill-advised History Lesson
The recent controversial amendment to Poland’s law on the Institute of National Remembrance, which bans blaming the Polish nation or state for the Holocaust, is misguided. However, the hysterical reactions to the law from Israel and part of the Jewish diaspora show that while jail sentences are the wrong way to correct historical...
The EU’s Seven-Year Budget Itch
This article was also published by Project Syndicate. It’s theatre season in the European Union. The play, called budget negotiations, is performed every seven years. It pits the EU’s spenders against its savers, donors against receivers, and reformers against conservatives. After the actors have exhausted themselves with bluffs,...
Ukraine: Delay Votes to Prevent Harm to Democratic Institutions
Press Releases Ukraine: Delay Votes to Prevent Harm to Democratic InstitutionsFebruary 28, 2018Ukraine’s Parliament, the Rada, is scheduling votes on legislation that would increase government monitoring of civil society institutions and politicize the human rights Ombudsman. …read more Source: Freedom...
