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Showing 1-10 of 22 results

  • OPINION

    The year of the woeful world leaders

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 28/12/2018

    » The dictionaries have decided on their 2018 words of the year. Oxford picked "toxic". Merriam-Webster went for "justice". Collins chose "single-use". However, I'd zero in on "misgovernment". Surely, 2018 saw a number of countries misruled by the worst crop of world leaders in recent memory.

  • OPINION

    Merkel tries not to go out with a bang

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 16/11/2018

    » It could have been a call for decisive action by a leader no longer tethered by domestic politics. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel's appearance at the European Parliament on Tuesday was nothing of the sort: Ms Merkel unbound is the same cautious, gradualist Merkel.

  • OPINION

    Don't write off Merkel prematurely

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 31/10/2018

    » I have warned repeatedly against writing off German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she faced challenge after challenge in recent years. I'm going to issue another such warning now, even though it might seem counter-intuitive given her announcement on Monday that she will give up the leadership of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in December and not run for a parliamentary seat in 2021.

  • OPINION

    Death, diamonds, Russia and Africa

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 06/08/2018

    » The murder of three Russian journalists last week in a remote area of the Central African Republic, the world's poorest country according to the World Bank, has turned a spotlight on what looks like a big Kremlin play for influence and resources in Africa. Where China has spent decades and billions of dollars trying to entrench itself there, Russia is offering its brute force and strong appetite for risk. It's already making headway.

  • OPINION

    MeToo camp hits a wall in Russia

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 09/03/2018

    » The #MeToo movement has finally reached Russia. Unfortunately, it's sad and astonishing for the women involved and for anyone who supports them. Russia's current atmosphere is conducive to all sorts of power abuses, and the scandal in its parliament proves that nothing's about to change.

  • OPINION

    Journalist murders are a major problem in the EU

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 01/03/2018

    » The time has come to ask whether membership in the European Union (EU) is still a quality assurance seal for democracy and the rule of law among member states. The bloc has clearly failed to enforce its stated values on its periphery. Any additional expansion can only dilute them further.

  • OPINION

    The cyber whodunnit and the global blame game

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 21/12/2017

    » The US government has officially attributed to North Korea the WannaCry ransomware attack, which encrypted hundreds of thousands of computer drives around the world in May, 2017. And yet as with a series of other highly public cyberattack attributions, little evidence for the claim was made public. It's time for the cybersecurity world to follow the advice of the Rand Corporation and set up an unbiased international consortium that would seek to attribute attacks based on a common set of rules.

  • OPINION

    Merkel's lacklustre win is good for the nation

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 26/09/2017

    » The sour faces of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's allies after the first exit poll results for the federal election were announced on Sunday night will prompt much talk of a Pyrrhic victory for Ms Merkel. But the outcome of Sunday's election could be good both for her and for German democracy: It has clarified the options for the next governing coalition, and it has made sure there will be vocal opposition to the government from both the left and the right.

  • OPINION

    Vladimir Putin struggles with enthusiasm problem

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 15/09/2017

    » According to the Daily Beast's latest scoop, "a Russian operative" used Facebook to organise an anti-Muslim event in Twin Falls, Idaho, that attracted a grand total of four people. Inside Russia, the Kremlin appears to have a similar inability to stoke crowds.

  • OPINION

    The key to tackling North Korea is Vladimir Putin

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 19/05/2017

    » The idea of a grand bargain between the United States and Russia is less popular in Washington than ever before. And yet one of the biggest foreign policy problems for the US -- that of North Korea -- cannot be resolved without Russia's participation. In recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made sure to rebuild a close relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and it's no longer enough to talk to China to mitigate the Stalinist state's aggressiveness.

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