Epstein Secrets

A display of supremacy In December 2011, members of the Russian opposition obtained video evidence of ballot stuffing committed by operatives from Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in that month's parliamentary elections. A series of unusu- ally large protests ensued. Putin weathered the furor and went on t

n authoritarians. Again, Russia has taken the lead, with the state's asser- tion of authority over history textbooks and the process, encouraged by Putin, of reassessing the historical role of Joseph Stalin. • The hiring of political consultants and lobbyists from democratic countries to represent t

hinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing. 2016. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

e Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Organization of American States, and to defend embattled allies like Syria's 8ashar al-Assad. There is also growing replica- tion of what might be called authoritarian best practices, vividly on display in the new Chinese law on nongovernme

recent wave of protests and uprisings against autocrats is seeing stuff you never imagined see — like, in Moscow last week, when some opponents of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for possibly 12 more years, hung a huge yellow banner on a rooftop facing the Kremlin with Putin's face covered

of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for possibly 12 more years, hung a huge yellow banner on a rooftop facing the Kremlin with Putin's face covered by a big X, next to the words "Putin Go Away" in Russian. The sheer brazenness of such protests and the anger at Prime Minister Put

ike, in Moscow last week, when some opponents of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for

ic today. What happened was necessary and inevitable because the situation had reached a deadlock. The scenes we are watching now in Syria, and the al-Assad regime clinging to power even at the expense of the deaths of thousands of martyrs, is evidence that whatever change is desired will always have a

t wave of protests and uprisings against autocrats is seeing stuff you never imagined you'd see — like, in Moscow last week, when some opponents of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for possibly 12 more years, hung a huge yellow banner on a rooftop facing the Kremlin with Putin's face covere

of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for possibly 12 more years, hung a huge yellow banner on a rooftop facing the Kremlin with Putin's face covered by a big X, next to the words "Putin Go Away" in Russian. The sheer brazenness of such protests and the anger at Prime Minister Put

ike, in Moscow last week, when some opponents of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for

c today. What happened was necessary and inevitable because the situation had reached a deadlock. The scenes we are watching now in Syria, and the al-Assad regime clinging to power even at the expense of the deaths of thousands of martyrs, is evidence EFTA_R1_00228279 EFTA01841743 that whatever chan

in the Russian Revolution (with the exception of Vladimir Lenin) were all in their thirties or younger. So

ing" riots. EFTA00701867 It is quite obvious that the uprising in Syria largely rests on Sunni petrodollars and a desire to undermine the secular al-Assad regime, which gravitates towards Shiites and which is an ally of Iran, although there are also many internal reasons for the discontent in Syria. A