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Democracy & Human Rights
The Negroni Diaries
Americans deserve far more than a coronation
After the NATO Summit in Washington on July 9-11, where Biden-watching essentially became the main focus, and the assassination attempt on former President Donald...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Genocide Rears its Ugly Head in Sudan’s Brutal War
The UN Security Council has called for a halt to the siege of the city of el-Fasher in the Darfur region, where 1.5 million...
Kazakhstan
U.S.-Kazakhstan Enhanced Strategic Partnership Dialogue deepens political and economic ties
The sixth annual United States-Kazakhstan Enhanced Strategic Partnership Dialogue (ESPD) was held in Washington D.C. on May 31.The U.S.-Kazakhstan Enhanced Strategic Partnership Dialogue was...
Africa
Washington orders new sanctions against Russia’s Wagner Group in Africa
On May 30, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ordered new sanctions measures to counter Russia’s destabilizing activities in...
China
Xi challenges a divided Europe
After the May 5-9 visit of President Xi Jinping to Europe most of the political analysts in Brussels who argued that the Chinese President's...
Democracy & Human Rights
U.S.-Kazakhstan dialogue on human rights and democratic reforms continues
The United States and Kazakhstan convened the third annual U.S.-Kazakhstan High-Level Dialogue on Human Rights and Democratic Reforms on May 20 in Astana, focusing...
Democracy & Human Rights
Georgia’s “Foreign Representatives Law” moves forward amid protests
On May 14, Georgia’s parliament approved (84/150) a hotly contested law on “Transparency of Foreign Interests” regulating the amount of aid local civil society...
North Macedonia
North Macedonia: Resuming course towards the political dark side?
As most analysts predicted after the strong showing of the nationalist presidential candidate in the first-round presidential elections on April 24, VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian...
Democracy & Human Rights
Kazakhstan: New law to protect women and children against domestic violence
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has recently signed key legislation largely criminalizing domestic abuse, ensuring women’s rights and safety of children which has been hailed...
Democracy & Human Rights
G7 Italy 2024 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on Addressing Global Challenges, Fostering Partnerships
The text of the following statement was released by the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the...
Democracy & Human Rights
The empty seat in Strasbourg
When the newly elected European Parliament convenes this year on July 16 there will be an empty seat in the plenary hall within the...
Democracy & Human Rights
Western corporations must be held accountable for their role in China’s Uyghur genocide
In recent testimony before the Senate, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that “the Biden Administration should be sanctioning human rights violations” there and...
Democracy & Human Rights
Kyrgyz “Foreign Representatives Law” enacted amid criticism
On April 2, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov announced that he had signed a hotly contested bill that allows authorities to register organizations as "foreign...
IT & Telecom
EU adopts safeguards on general purpose artificial intelligence
The European Parliament took an important step in regulating technology, approving on March 13 the EU's proposed Artificial Intelligence Act that aims to ensure...
Democracy & Human Rights
U.S. joins International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children
On March 7, the office of the spokesperson at the U.S. Department of State issued a media note, clearly meant to be circulated in...
Democracy & Human Rights
Intellexa Commercial Spyware Consortium sanctioned
The U.S. Government announced on March 5 a new set of sanctions on the members of the Intellexa Commercial Spyware Consortium based across Europe....
Democracy & Human Rights
Zimbabwe: U.S. reconfigures sanctions to focus on corruption and human rights
On March 4, three separate U.S. Government Departments/Agencies issued Zimbabwe-specific sanctions guidance, demonstrating how complex and intertwined U.S. sanctions legislation has become and how...
Russia Sanctions
New U.S. Russia sanctions widen scope, adding 500 new targets
The U.S. State Department released a comprehensive list of new sanctions measures on February 23, clearly the culmination of months of preparation in order...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Moldova’s 2024 elections: Why it matters
Since the war in Ukraine commenced, the neighboring Republic of Moldova, led by President Maia Sandu, has strongly supported Kyiv. As the tiny, landlocked...
Democracy & Human Rights
Vatican, Kazakhstan encourage interfaith dialogue
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Italy last week where he signed several agreements and made his first official visit to the Vatican to meet...
Myanmar
Myanmar’s instability deepens as the world watches silently
Myanmar’s stability has eroded significantly since the 2021 military coup. But the coordinated attacks by multiple separatist and pro-democracy groups in late 2023 has...
Democracy & Human Rights
For Turkey, the Kurds are always considered terrorists
“Hamas is a reality for Palestine. It is a political party … it entered the elections as a political party and won,” said Turkey’s...
Africa
Why Africa must be concerned about nuclear threats in Europe
Russia's threat to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin, in response to Finland's membership in NATO has,...
Democracy & Human Rights
Kafka in Kyiv — Why artists count in a time of war when the world has gone to hell one more time….
It was three o'clock in the morning and I was on a train heading to a war zone.I asked myself "why" I was going...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Playing politics with EU veto power – a very old game
In late November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, standing alongside visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, told the media that he was against the “bilateralization”...
Africa
Africa will watch the DRC’s elections with bated interest
2023 and 2024 are going to be busy years as far as elections in Africa are concerned. About two dozen elections will occur in...
Ukraine
Ukraine’s persecuted mayor
Lest it be forgotten, the major thematic issue in post-Maidan and pre-war Ukraine was, and continues to be, the transformation of Ukrainian society along...
Democracy & Human Rights
Meeting conditions for Georgia’s EU accession is a tall order for Tbilisi
The European Commission’s provisional endorsement of Georgia’s EU chances contained a not-so-subtle message couched in diplomatic jargon: Tbilisi must forge a stronger national consensus...
ASEAN
Why China’s new map has stirred regional tensions
In the waning days of summer, closely following a BRICS summit and mere days ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Group...
Democracy & Human Rights
Young Iranians fight for a better future
Providing an opportunity for young people around the world to listen to each other and to share their understanding of the fundamental concept of...
Democracy & Human Rights
Lawmakers, NGO reps, human rights experts, Iranian dissidents condemn appointment of Iran’s envoy to UNHRC’s social forum
During a press conference held in Geneva on November 2, lawmakers, NGOs, and Iranian Dissidents condemned the appointment of Iran’s regime envoy to the...
Democracy & Human Rights
On confronting evil in the modern world
Now is an appropriate time to morally clarify the underlying narrative of what is happening in Israel and Ukraine.
Survivors of the last century’s greatest...
Asia & Pacific
Ethnic violence in India explained
The ethnoreligious violence in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur between Meiteis and Kukis has been ongoing since May, but it was only in July 2023 when a...
Analysis
Freedom is just another word for ‘nothin left to lose’
President Joe Biden described the events taking place in Israel as “sheer evil, abhorrent, and terrorism.” It sure is. Husbands and wives slaughtered, children...
Democracy & Human Rights
Iran protesters mark anniversary of “Bloody Friday”
Residents in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan gathered by the thousands on September 30 to stage protests marking the first anniversary of...
Israel
US announces Israel’s acceptance into the Visa Waiver Program
Israeli citizens will be allowed visa-free entry into the United States by the end of November when Israel officially becomes the 41st member of...
Democracy & Human Rights
Europe’s lawmakers see opportunity for regime change a year after Iran’s latest uprising
On September 21, representatives of various political groups held a meeting in the European Parliament to discuss the situation in Iran one year after...
Analysis
What’s the end game for the military men seizing power in West Africa?
As socio-economic problems and the inefficiency of civilian governments in the region have made recent coups popular, coup makers are eventually going to become...
Democracy & Human Rights
Former UN judges, prominent jurists & politicians demand Iran’s leaders be held accountable for 1988 massacre
During an international conference on August 21, former UN Judges, renowned legal experts, and prominent politicians from the US, Europe, and Africa called on...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Cambodia’s Hun Manet is a puppet prime minister; his father will still pull the strings
The handing over of power by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to his son Hun Manet is an attempt to maintain the old regime,...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The Beleri case as bellwether for democracy in Albania
The standard definition of a political prisoner is: “One imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for...
Democracy & Human Rights
The Iranian opposition issues an urgent call to action to prevent a political prisoner’s execution
This morning, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, a judge at Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad, capital of the northeastern Razavi Khorasan Province, sentenced to death...
Democracy & Human Rights
Freedom of speech and expression require considered thought by lawmakers
The cornerstone of any functioning democracy is the ability to speak freely without fear or favour and be confident that our right to say...
Albania
Iranians hold rallies to protest police raid on opposition’s Albania-based HQ
Protests were held outside Albanian embassies and consulates in at least ten cities on June 20th and 21st following a raid by police on...
Democracy & Human Rights
EU parliamentarians, former world leaders demand policy changes, recognition of Iranian resistance
On May 24, dozens of members of the European Parliament held a meeting in Brussels to discuss prospective changes in policy toward the Iran....
Spain
Global Equality Fund: Spain becomes the 18th member country
On the occasion of Spain joining the Global Equality Fund, the Governments of Spain and the United States issued the following joint statement, dated...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Countering online extremism online: Can New Zealand’s Ardern make the Christchurch Call live up to its potential?
On May 15, 2019, two months after the horrendous Christchurch massacre, policymakers led by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel...
Azerbaijan
The Iranian regime is becoming ruthlessly paranoid about ethnic Azeri demands for civil rights guarantees
Complete disregard for the well-being of Iran’s Azeri minority has sparked a wave of intense anger within the community.
Asia & Pacific
Cambodia’s current government is the face of tropical Fascism
There is no hope that the authoritarianism that the world sees in places like Russia, China and Cambodia can ever be interpreted as a peaceful and benign phenomenon, or that it should be accepted by an implicit racist or discriminatory assumption that some cultures just don’t have a democratic tradition and aren’t quite capable of ever developing one.
Democracy & Human Rights
Opponents of ayatollahs vow Iranian women will transform the country into a democratic republic
Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi say a democratic revolution is unfolding in Iran.
Rajavi was the keynote speaker of an international conference in Brussels on...