We condemn the Serbian govt's crackdown against and vilification of NGOs and activists amid ongoing environmental protests. The govt's labeling of these actors as "foreign agents" mirrors rhetoric used by antidemocratic regimes to demonize civil society and should raise alarm

📖My coauthor Steven Schaaf presented our book at a conference this past month. His talk walks through the main argument and gives examples from the case-studies. I thought I'd share the topline slides here. Read on to get our take on authoritarian politics below! 👇🏻

There were 10 explosions in #Kharkiv during last hour due to the🇷🇺 missile attack. I have heard 8 pretty close when sitting in the bathroom. They currently reported about 22 people injured, including two doctors and one 6 y.o. child. #RussiaisATerroistStat #LetUkraineStrikeBack

The govt. of #Azerbaijan, ahead of #COP29, said the event would be “Cop of Peace.” Recent wave of arrests and questioning of peace activists begs the question - what does the GoA actually means by "peace"?

My commentary about #Slovak #populist PM Fico’s #nationalist capture of the symbolic power which the August 1944 Slovak National Uprising against fascism wields in Slovak society and politics

#Kyrgyzstan: Overturn Decision to Liquidate Kloop Media hrw.org/news/2024/09/0…

It's good to have Sam Greene's Russia Roundup back in the inbox! I share his skepticism about the impact of the Kursk incursion posing a risk to the Kremlin's standing with Russian society. Read in full to see some convincing comparisons and contrasts to 2002 and 2004.

A much-needed in-depth look into the continued persecution of #Pamiri people and the crackdown on any dissenting voice coming from the #GBAO #Tajikistan by colleagues over Amnesty International, pointing to lack of international attention to this: eurasia.amnesty.org/wp-content/upl…

Azerbaijan’s arrest of researcher and writer Bahruz Samadov has led to widespread outcry, and speculation about the implications for the prospect of peace or further war with Armenia. oc-media.org/features/when-…

🗣️ FH’s Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 is joining ICNL Alliance’s Doug Rutzen & Transparency Int'l GE’s Eka Gigauri on Capitol Hill to help spotlight dangerous, antidemocratic restrictions on human rights defenders around the world. Watch live via Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10:30am ET ⬇️ foreign.senate.gov/hearings/anti-…

🇷🇺 What's ahead for Russia by 2030? What do various scenarios mean for the EU? 📽️Event video w/ Pavel Havlicek AMO, Adam Balcer KEW, Kadri Liik ECFR, Eleonora Tafuro ISPI & Nicolas Bouchet German Marshall Fund now online. youtube.com/watch?v=yKzNBz…

Russia’s Power Play In Central Asia rferl.org/a/majlis-podca…

In OC Media's podcast discussed the reasons and consequence of: Armenia-BRICS Armenia's West-East balancing EU perspectives (?) Peace deal (the lack of it) with Azerbaijan I think that was pretty much it.

We are looking for a Project Assistant for our Armenia office. Please, send this to your that friend who you know deserves a better job. Seriously. Details: southcaucasus.fes.de/fileadmin/Scho…

🇵🇱🇭🇺What can #Hungary learn from #Poland's re-#democratization experiment? Join our Budapest Forum panel with Dariusz Mazur Anna Wójcik Barbara Grabowska-Moroz Genevieve Shea & yours truly. 🗓️ September 19, 11:45-12:30 CET 👉budapestforum.org/an-examination… German Marshall Fund Engaging Central Europe Rule of Law in Poland

Margarita Margarita Zavadskaya, Dmitry Дмитрий Гудков and I will present our research on the Russian democratic diaspora at an online event tomorrow. Link to my research (registration link in the next tweet): ecfr.eu/publication/li…

There’s a widening gap between cynicism and optimism on #EU enlargement. While there’s renewed energy, it's fading. Enlargement can’t have an on/off button, stopping after #Croatia’s entry. Since then, democracy and governance in the region have worsened.

TEE is fantastic podcast for keeping up on all things happening in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond!

"So, if U.S. “sacrifices” are deemed too excruciating to be justified by the goal of preventing the destruction of [Ukraine], we will have earned from Russia and its friends (China, Iran, North Korea) what makes enemies doubly dangerous: contempt." washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/…