Since the invasion of Ukraine, independent Russian journalists who refused to follow the Kremlin’s narrow rules have had to flee the country, endure persecution by Russian intelligence and suffer the suspicion of those in their new homes. Now the attempted assassination of one of their own has raised their fears to new heights.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates has worked proactively to embrace Russian business while hoping to evade pressure from the U.S. and its allies. Despite narratives of the UAE and Saudi Arabia drifting from the U.S. orbit, the Gulf states continue to recognize their dependency on U.S. security ties.
Since Donald Trump’s shock victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election many commentators have compared his rise with the victory of the anti-EU Leave campaign in the referendum over the U.K.’s EU membership the same year. Yet too often such comparisons have ignored huge differences between these political earthquakes.
