Epstein Secrets

number of "flawed democracies" and "authoritarian regimes" increased by 5.7 and 3.8 percent respectively, while "hybrid regimes" remained constant. Freedom House, which also conducts research on governance trends, reports that 2011 "marks the sixth consecutive year in which countries with [democratic] decli

intent is not the same. In previous articles and books, I have made the case that the United States emerged as the only global power in 1991, when the Soviet Union fell. It emerged unprepared for its role and uncertain about how to execute it. The exercise of power requires skill and experience, and the United

as handing the Egyptian military the full $1.3 billion of its annual U.S. aid despite its blatant violations of human rights. Organizations such as Freedom House argued that the United States was breaking faith with the Americans and Egyptians facing criminal trial in Cairo this month for promoting democracy.

perfect storm." Britain and France had invaded Egypt under the guise of bringing to a halt fighting in the Suez Canal between Egypt and Israel, and the Soviet Union had deemed this the right time to crush a Hungarian bid for freedom. Ours is a different world. Barack Obama isn't to be held to the Eisenhower st

s about a global "democratic recession." In maps charting freedom in the world, the various shades of authoritarianism had been spreading ominously. Freedom House has recorded an annual decline in global freedom for 15 years in a row, and less than 20 percent of the global population now lives in a country cl

0:00 AM. Ukraine emerged in 1991 as the second-largest post-Soviet nation. Several steps were critical in realizing this final break from Russia and the Soviet Union, none more important than the December 1, 1991 referendum. The population voted overwhelmingly for independence, thus providing the political found

in countries that will hold free and fair elections this year, democracy's global advance has come to a halt, and may even have gone into reverse. Freedom House reckons that 2013 was the eighth consecutive year in which global freedom declined, and that its forward march peaked around the beginning of the c

kraine from turning towards the West. EFTA00684328 For those in doubt, suffice to recall President Putin's statement in 2006 that the collapse of the Soviet Union was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the twentieth century. Ukraine firmly anchored in the Western system, on its way towards membership

places I experienced firsthand as an economic adviser. Bolivians enjoyed greater political and civil rights than the Vietnamese did, as measured by Freedom House, yet Bolivia's economy grew slowly whereas Vietnam's attracted foreign investment like a magnet. It is easy to see why: Bolivia is a landlocked mou

itarian countries are bound to either democratize or run out of economic steam. Indeed, Acemoglu and Robinson predict that China will go the way of the Soviet Union: exhausting its current economic success before transforming into a politically inclusive state. This tale sounds good, but it is simplistic. Altho