The Cheap Assault on the Immigration Visa Lottery
Alex Nowrasteh Congress is in the thick of another intense debate on immigration reform, which comes to a head on Feb. 8, the deadline by which lawmakers must pass a spending bill or the government shuts down again. At center stage is what what happens to Dreamers, illegal immigrants brought here as children, but Republicans have also thrown into...
US Allies Should Back President Trump
Donald Trump, photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr CCBESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 726, January 28, 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Donald J. Trump is facing unprecedented criticism one year into his term as president of the world’s greatest power. The allies of the US can assist him by making clear how much he has advanced American foreign...
Russia deploys armed police and dogs in new offensive against Crimea Solidarity
In the latest attack on the Crimea Solidarity civic initiative, a huge contingent of Russian OMON riot police have disrupted the monthly meeting held to discuss ways of helping political prisoners and their families. There was no real attempt to come up with a credible reason for what was clearly an attempt at intimidation – one that...
Anti-corruption groups question motives for prosecution of YouControl open access firm
A number of Ukrainian anti-corruption NGOs, including Transparency International in Ukraine, have expressed concern over the criminal proceedings against YouControl and its founder Serhiy Milman which they view as pressure on an open access firm providing invaluable assistance to anti-corruption campaigners and journalists. …read more...
The Kremlin’s Shifting, Self-Contradicting Narratives on MH17
Just a few hours after the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), the circumstances that caused the tragedy came to light: a Buk-M1 Russian-made anti-aircraft missile system was fired by either Russian-led separatists or Russian forces from an area near Snizhne, Ukraine, leading to the death of 298 civilians aboard the passenger plane....
In Syria, an Attack on Russia’s Narrative
By Jacob L. Shapiro It has been less than a month since President Vladimir Putin declared a successful end to Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war and announced the imminent withdrawal of Russian forces from the country. Not even a fortnight later, Islamist militants conducted a deadly mortar attack against Russian forces in Syria....
Watch List: Jan. 3, 2018
The items listed below represent potential emerging issues that our analysts are tracking. These can be long term or short term, but will be updated daily. If an item on our Watch List becomes critical, we will email you a full analysis explaining its significance. Each Saturday, we will follow up our daily Watch List for each week with our...
Nine Things Ukraine Should Do in 2018
As Ukraine enters 2018, a year which precedes the presidential and parliamentary elections, it is important to examine the results of 2017 and identify the areas where the international community can help Ukraine’s reformers secure tangible progress. We have identified nine priority areas. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights...
Armed Conflict in 2017 Part One: The Rohingya Crisis, Africa and Ukraine
First, the good news: In general, as a global trend, the prevalence of armed conflict has been reducing consistently throughout the twenty-first century, with less deaths overall and a reduction of inter-state conflict. Data from the Global Peace Index demonstrates that this continued into 2016, and while we await reports for 2017, this trend is...