Section: Research Organizations & Think Tanks about Ukraine
The Hungarian Hostage
The threat by the Hungarian government to close down the Central European University (CEU), founded by Hungarian-born financier George Soros, has mobilized locals and foreigners alike. In an “in depth assessment,” the EU found that a recent education law was not compatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the union is taking legal...
Donald Trump: The ‘Manchurian (Neoconservative) Candidate’?
Doug Bandow He took barely three months to reveal the truth. Donald Trump is the true Manchurian Candidate, only a tool of Neoconservatives rather than Communists. A new movie is sure to come and undoubtedly will be a smash, the biggest ever with the most Academy Awards ever, at least if President Trump has his way. Donald Trump ran as a...
Reanimating NATO’s Warfighting Mindset: Eight Steps to Increase the Alliance’s Political-Military Agility
By Ian Brzezinski and Tomáš Valášek.The accelerating pace of events stands among the most challenging security dynamics confronting the NATO Alliance. Often called the “speed of war,” it is a product and driver of a threat environment that today features a complex mix of great power confrontation, failed states, violent extremist groups, and the...
Global Press Freedom Plummets to 13-Year Low
Global press freedom has continued its decline, now at its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 due to unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies, intensified crackdowns by authoritarian states, and moves by Russia and China to increase their influence beyond their borders, according to Freedom of the Press 2017, the...
Thus Votes South Ossetia: A Referendum the Kremlin Would Prefer to Ignore
Russia / Europe Anatoly Bibilov has become the new de-facto president of South Ossetia — a Russia-backed separatist enclave in the Caucasus that most national governments still recognise as a region of Georgia. Speaking to the BBC before his inauguration, Bibilov declared himself “one hundred percent sure” that South Ossetia will become part of...
The Fight Against Corruption in Europe’s Emerging Economies
In some countries, when their leaders have egregiously over-stepped their authority to shield themselves from accountability, citizens have taken to the streets with some success. Corruption and impunity ignite public protest. Anger against corruption sparked the Arab Spring, it also forced Ukraine’s former president Victor Yanukovych to...
Ukraine’s Pro-change Atmosphere Says “Welcome!”
I have been to Ukraine quite a few times but I don’t think I will ever forget my visit to Kyiv in November 2013. Not that it was special for me in any way, but it did mark the end of the pre-Maidan Ukraine. The events that unfurled only about ten days after I left to return to London, resulted first in President Yanukovich’s escape to...
Russia Tries to Influence Le Pen to Repeal Sanctions
Sanctioned Russian officials try to lobby Le Pen to Lift sanctions Leonid Slutsky and Marine Le Pen. Image posted by Slutsky on Facebook In late March, Marine Le Pen visited Russia, where she had meetings with Vladimir Putin, the Chairman of the Russian Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and Leonid Slutsky’s Committee on International Affairs. Volodin...
Watch List Findings: April 29, 2017
What follows are the preliminary findings for issues identified in the daily Watch Lists this week. We are only sending findings that we regard as significant or potentially significant to keep this email manageable. We have findings for all the Watch List items. Should you be interested in findings not listed here, please contact us and we will...
Kleptocracy Weekly: April 28, 2017
KI’s popular “KleptoCast” podcast series is now on iTunes. Listen to previous episodes, and more coming soon! United States The heads of the House Oversight Committee say Michael Flynn likely broke the law when he failed to declare foreign payments from Russia and Turkey. (Daily Beast) A firm co-founded by Trump’s original campaign...
