For many of the United States’ friends and allies, the Trump administration’s foreign policy has been the source of confusion and anxiety. Nowhere is that sentiment more acute than in Eastern Europe, the region that endured decades of Soviet domination and strived since the end of the Cold War to come under the West’s protective umbrella. It is there, in the territories closest to Russia, where President Donald Trump’s efforts to transform Washington’s relationship with Moscow is most worrisome, particularly during a time when Russia is flexing its military muscle beyond its borders with increasing brazenness. In an effort to [...]
On April 1, the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta broke the news that security officials in Chechnya had rounded up at least 100 men suspected of being gay or bisexual, and that several had been killed either in custody or in so-called “honor killings” carried out by their families. Last week, United Nations experts reported that men were being subjected to verbal abuse, beatings and electric shocks. In an email interview, Kyle Knight, a researcher with the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, discusses possible reasons for the crackdown and options for an effective international response. WPR: What do [...]
In early November, barely a month after the ruling Georgian Dream party’s commanding victory in parliamentary elections, Georgia’s defense minister, Levan Izoria, outlined an ambitious defense reform program that captured immediate headlines for reintroducing conscription. The former defense minister, Tina Khidasheli, had officially abolished conscription in late June, just a few months before the elections and only weeks before she officially departed her post. Although Khidasheli’s political coalition allies attacked her for dissolving the draft, conscription is widely seen as unpopular in Georgia, which likely explains why Izoria waited until after the elections to reintroduce it. Obscured by the focus [...]
