Epstein Secrets

n the internees potential as a mobilizing force for critics or reformers. Indeed, after years of intense pressure, the medium is drawing closer to Xi Jinping's ideal of an internet that is "clear and bright"24 Global reach Both Russia and China have launched ambitious and expensive projects to expand the

r of Freedom in the World. ON THE COVER Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in B

ding to which individual countries would independently choose their own path of cyber development" and "model of cyber regulation."16 In late 2015, Xi also made the baffling statement, "Freedom is what order is meant for, and order is the guarantee of freedom:16 Over the next several months, regu

.2° China added Time and the Economist to the list of blocked media websites in 2016, apparently in retaliation for articles that were critical of Xi Jinping's accumulation of power.21 In February 2016 visits to China Central Tele- vision (CCTV), the Xinhua news agency, and the Peoples Daily newspaper—the

of politi- cal mastery rather than neutral measurements of pub- lic preference. Putin's victories at the polls enable him to reject comparisons with Leonid Brezhnev and other doddering defensive Soviet-era leaders. Likewise, Hugo Chavez boasted that unlike the colonels and generals who ruled over South America

Friedman September 15, 2012 -- Beijing -- HERE is the story of today's China in five brief news items. STORY NO. 1 For most of the last two weeks, Xi Jinping, the man tapped to become China's new Communist Party leader, was totally out of sight. That's right. The man designated to become China's next lea

n his whereabouts or explain his absence, rumors here were flying. Had he fallen ill? Was there infighting in the Communist Party? I have a theory: Xi started to realize how hard the job of running China will be in the next decade and was hiding under his bed. Who could blame him? Chinese officia

y. Saudi Arabia these days is all too reminiscent of the dying decade of the Soviet Union, during which one decrepit leader succeeded another, from Leonid Brezhnev to Yuri Andropov to Konstantin Chernenko, before a younger and more open-minded Mikhail Gorbachev arrived too late to save a stagnant society and e

r of Freedom in the World. ON THE COVER Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in B

y, a basic assumption behind the report is that modern authoritarianism will be a lasting feature of geopolitics. Since 2012, both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have doubled down on existing efforts to stamp out internal dissent, and both have grown more aggressive on the world stage. All despotic reg

of politi- cal mastery rather than neutral measurements of pub- lic preference. Putin's victories at the polls enable him to reject comparisons with Leonid Brezhnev and other doddering, defensive Soviet-era leaders. Likewise, Hugo Chavez boasted that unlike the colonels and generals who ruled over South American