Op-Ed Feb 7, 2022 Tough US actions challenge Britain to step up the fight against kleptocracy Late last year, amid the broader rhetoric and pledges of the US-led Summit for Democracy, the Biden administration turned to tackling an issue that’s spiked in prominence in the past few years: kleptocracy.
Op-Ed Jul 1, 2021 Behind China’s grand façade lies deep insecurity July 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) founding. Leading up to this centenary, the CCP hosted lavish celebrations, shimmering firework displays, futuristic light shows and all-star performances. Sites such as the Museum of the Communist Party of China and Shuangqing Villa, where the late Mao Zedong once lived (locations and tour routes aptly referred to it as “red tourism”), have seen a boost in visitors. Flags and banners adorning patriotic messages lined the streets as the country prepared for the highly-anticipated grand ceremony taking place today.
Op-Ed May 25, 2021 The Nobel Peace Prize winner who’s presiding over a humanitarian catastrophe In 2018, after a two-year conflict, two historically warring nations — Ethiopia and Eritrea — at last signed a peace agreement.
Op-Ed Apr 18, 2021 China’s intimidation and endless pursuit of ideological compliance From H&M to Nike, from global airlines to hotel chains, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long leveraged its burgeoning position in the global economy to pressure foreign companies into becoming messengers of its authoritarian ideology.
Op-Ed Mar 18, 2021 The last blow to Hong Kong’s faltering democracy Two Fridays ago, the annual National People’s Congress convened in Beijing to rubber-stamp the Chinese Communist Party’s policies. Unfortunately for Hong Kong, restructuring the city’s electoral process topped the agenda.
Op-Ed Dec 20, 2022 HRF Op-Ed: The Plight of Political Dissident Jimmy Lai Hong Kong businessman and political dissident Jimmy Lai told me over dinner at his Taiwan home in 2019 that he knew speaking out for truth, justice and freedom in the region could come at great personal cost. He is now behind bars for this supposed crime, so I’m speaking out for him.
Op-Ed Oct 18, 2019 Why was a Nobel Prize awarded to a man who celebrated a war criminal? When the Nobel Committee asked the public on Twitter if they had read the works of the Austrian writer Peter Handke, one of the winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in literature, a Bosnian man, Emir Suljagic, answered back: “No, we were busy looking for our families and friends buried in mass graves which he denied existed.”
Op-Ed Mar 15, 2019 Nicaragua Now. Ortega Still. That woman in the picture above is Edipcia Dubón. She is an interesting, brave, and touching person.
