Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Democracy Derailed: How Armenia Has Become the Post-Soviet Region’s Model Dictatorship
On December 7, 2015, Armenia held a landmark referendum on constitutional reform. The results were resounding. Over 63% of Armenians voted in favor of reforms that would greatly increase the power wielded by the Prime Minister and render the president’s role in the Armenian political process ceremonial. Even though decreased presidential...
Pussy Riot On Trump: We Laughed When Vladimir Putin Rose To Power, Too
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s candidacy for president of the United States may be a joke to some, but no one will be laughing if he is actually elected.Just ask Maria Alekhina, aka Masha of Pussy Riot.When informed that her country’s president, Vladimir Putin, had called Trump “brilliant,” she told The Huffington Post,...
Dump New Ottomans from NATO: Shoot Down of Russian Plane Shows Turkey to be Dangerous Ally
Turkey’s rash decision to shoot down a Russian plane for violating its airspace hasn’t triggered World War III. But Ankara demonstrated where it stands. With the Islamic State and against the West. The justification for Turkey’s membership in NATO and America’s defense guarantee for Ankara long ago passed. Turkey’s...
Ukraine Won’t Repay $3 Billion Debt Owed To Russia By This Weekend
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says his country won’t repay a $3 billion debt owed to Russia by this weekend.Yatsenyuk announced at a televised government session on Friday a “moratorium” on any debt repayments to Russia. That effectively means that Ukraine is defaulting on the debt.He did not indicate...
UN: World’s Refugees And Displaced To Exceed 60 Million This Year
GENEVA, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The number of people forcibly displaced worldwide is likely to have “far surpassed” a record 60 million this year, mainly driven by the Syrian war and other protracted conflicts, the United Nations said on Friday.The estimated figure includes 20.2 million refugees fleeing wars and persecution, the most...
ISIS: A Self Organizing Superorganism Threat?
While analysts have recognized a plethora of emerging non-traditional threats to national and international security there has been a consistent effort to portray them as objects. Notably the Global War on Terror brought confusion since the stated objective was to eliminate a means of conducting attacks. In fact, it was elimination of terrorists...
Here’s What Russians Really Think About the War in Syria
MOSCOW — Do Russians really support the bombings in Syria? Depends on when you ask them. They do, if you look at the latest polls. The Public Opinion Foundation reported on Dec. 3 that 70 percent of Russians support the Syria bombings (as opposed to 64 percent in early November). The Russian Public Opinion Research Center reported on Dec. 4...
A Forum for Modern Europe
The European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, Poland honoured with The Council of Europe Museum Prize for 2016.Photo credit: Grzegorz Mehring It gives me a thrill to know that the idea and a big purpose we have been working for for 35 years, has come to a wonderful fruition. It was Lech Wałęsa’s insight to create a centre, right where the...
The Ugly State of Russia’s Economy
MOSCOW – Russia’s economy is faring poorly as the New Year approaches. Gross domestic product has swung back to a level last seen in the first of 2008 and the economy has essentially stagnated over the last seven years. The reason for the problem that officials most frequently cite, and that President Vladimir Putin mentioned in his...
You Might Be Able To Find Your Favorite Street Musician On This Platform
StreetMusicMap is an online platform that incorporates Instagram’s sharing capacities to bring together street musicians from across the world, with the goal of giving greater exposure to their music. If you’re walking down the street and you happen to catch the tail end of a street performance, but the artists leave before you find...
