The middle classes are normally regarded as a bastion of democracy, but in Russia where many depend on the state for income, stability and economic security are prized over liberal values.
An opposition activist holds the Russian Constitution during a protest in Moscow, Aug. 17, 2019 against the exclusion of some candidates from Moscow’s upcoming election.
AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko
The Moscow elections of September 2019 were a referendum on President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party. And the opposition’s success suggests a looming political crisis for Putin and his regime.
Many opposition candidates were banned from elections to Moscow’s Duma.
Yuri Kochetkov/EPA
Election to the Security Council is prestigious for member states because it gives them a seat at the highest table of global decision-making.
In this April 2017 photo, Georgian border guards patrol a border with Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, near the village of Khurvaleti, Georgia.
(AP Photo/ Shakh Aivazov)
International recognition of South Ossetia would allow for increased economic, political and cultural contacts with the outside world and prevent the country from being integrated into Russia.
Ukrainian comedian president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy performs on stage during a show in Brovary, near Kiev, Ukraine.
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
What will the decisive outcome mean for Ukraine’s relationship with Russian and the West?
In Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib province, on February 26, 2019: a man holds the body of his daughter, killed in a bombardment by pro-Assad forces.
Anas Al-Dyab/AFP
Russian media outlets are holding up the Mueller report as another example of American dysfunction, with President Trump a symptom of larger problems rather than the man who might solve them.
‘Games without frontiers, war without tears …’
Kirillir_makarov
Richard Carney, China Europe International Business School
Almost one-third of countries around the world are authoritarian regimes with the trappings of democracy. Their bad behavior poses a threat to real democracies, as the United States recently learned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Confidentiality is written into the code of ethics that governs the profession. Will Congress force them to break it to learn the contents of Trump’s private meetings?
President Donald Trump speaks to the media outside of the White House.
AP/Evan Vucci
Any amateur politician can engage in lying. President Donald Trump is going further than that. He’s engaging in ‘post-truth’.
After a positive start, Morrison’s relations with his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, cooled off after he suggested moving the Australian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has a busy summit season ahead of him. After early foreign policy stumbles, it’s important he reads his briefs, listens to the diplomats and stays humble.
Total destruction: Syrian soldiers patrol in south Damascus, Syria, in May 2018.
AAP/EPA/Youssef Badawi