Op-Ed Sep 30, 2024 America’s Adversaries Are Targeting Its Cities and States Last week, federal prosecutors launched a bombshell indictment against sitting New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Op-Ed Sep 28, 2024 The Indictment of Eric Adams Shouldn’t Surprise Us The new, unsealed indictment against Eric Adams, accusing him of a range of crimes over nearly a decade, is significant for any number of reasons
Op-Ed Sep 5, 2024 Despots and oligarchs have many means to meddle in American politics As well as the colourful details of corruption on a grand scale—the gold bars, the cash stashed in boots and jackets—a particular point stood out during the conviction in July of Bob Menendez, then the senior Democratic senator for New Jersey, on charges including bribery and fraud.
Op-Ed May 3, 2024 Iran’s death sentence for rapper shows how far it’ll go to squelch dissent There’s no length Iran won’t go to in order to quash dissent. Murder included.
Op-Ed Mar 16, 2024 5 Scenarios for Russia After Putin’s Next Term This weekend, Vladimir Putin will win another election as Russia’s president.
Op-Ed Mar 15, 2024 How Viktor Orbán Conquered the Heritage Foundation Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made waves by flying to the United States to meet with Donald Trump—but not with sitting president Joe Biden.
Op-Ed Mar 7, 2024 UAE once again tries to launder its image While the United Arab Emirates keeps up its farcical image-laundering — an attempt to look like a place that doesn’t crack down on dissent and individual freedoms — it has found another façade to hide behind: International Women’s Day.
Op-Ed Mar 1, 2024 Russia’s Opposition Needs More Than One Savior The past few weeks have seen an outpouring of both grief and tributes following the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. And rightfully so. Navalny’s death in a Siberian gulag effectively snuffed out what many viewed as the clearest path to Russia’s eventual democratization.
Op-Ed Feb 27, 2024 In America, there is finally good news on the anti-money laundering front For years, the US acted as one of the world’s leading centres for money laundering and offshore finance. Now, that reality is changing fast.
Op-Ed Feb 15, 2024 The American Consulting Firms That Live in Fear of Their Murderous Clients For years, America’s most prominent consulting firms have been competing against one another to service the most heinous regimes on the planet, offering their efforts and advice for tyrants and kleptocrats looking to expand their reach and their repression.
Op-Ed Jan 31, 2024 Alexander Lukashenko’s reign of terror continues in Belarus On Tuesday, the Belarusian KGB descended on the apartments and offices of at least 159 friends and family of political prisoners in a “massive security raid.” At least 100 people were interrogated and at least 26 were arrested on politically motivated charges.
Op-Ed Jan 23, 2024 How the US Became the World’s Refuge for Dirty Money For years, a small company headquartered in South Dakota toiled in one of the most boring niches imaginable.
Op-Ed Jan 16, 2024 Taiwan’s ruling party needs to double down on democracy Taiwan’s incumbent ruling party, the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), may have been able to clinch a victory in a tight presidential race on Saturday, but it’s much too early to bask in the win.
Op-Ed Dec 11, 2023 Amazing Stories Interview with HRF’s Danielle Ranucci In August of 2020, Amazing Stories published an OpEd in opposition to the Chinese Worldcon Bid. Later that same year that same article was updated with additional information.
Op-Ed Dec 2, 2023 Why crypto was the perfect tool for criminals and kleptocrats The news last week of money laundering charges against crypto exchange Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, sent shockwaves through both financial markets and crypto consumers alike.
Op-Ed Nov 30, 2023 Fashion over Democracy: Louis Vuitton’s Show in Hong Kong Louis Vuitton is set to hold its first-ever fashion show this week in Hong Kong, headed by artist-turned-creative director Pharrell Williams.
Op-Ed Nov 14, 2023 Eric Adams’s Entanglements With Turkey Mark a New Level of Kleptocracy In his short time as the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams has built a reputation for playing a starring role in some of the most cartoonish moments that New Yorkers have lived through in recent years.
Op-Ed Oct 27, 2023 Russia’s Slaughter of Indigenous People in Alaska Tells Us Something Important About Ukraine In the racial-reckoning summer of 2020, local leaders in a small American town gathered for a contentious vote on whether to take down a statue that honored a man who was, as one assessment read, “steeped in racial division, violence and injustice.”
Op-Ed Oct 23, 2023 Social media’s importance in authoritarian run countries Earlier this month, Meta’s Oversight Board ordered the platform to restore a video uploaded by a citizen-run Cuban news platform on the one-year anniversary of the July 11 protests, during which thousands of dissenting Cubans were brutally repressed.
Op-Ed Oct 10, 2023 Why Central Bank Digital Currencies Can’t Compete With Bitcoin The emergence of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has ignited widespread interest, sparking enthusiasm among central bankers, generating curiosity within financial media, and fueling spirited debates in the Bitcoin community.
