Latest Articles about Domestic/Social

Local Muslim Spiritual Leaders Excommunicate Head of Ingushetia
The Muslim Spiritual Center of Ingushetia (Dukhovniy Tsentr Musulman Respubliki Ingushetii, or the Muftiate) excommunicated the head of the Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, on May 27, during a meeting between the clergy and elders from all over the republic. In other words, the spiritual... MORE

Ukrainian President, Parliament Greenlight Court to Fight Top-Level Corruption
On June 7, Ukraine’s parliament passed a long-awaited bill to establish an anti-corruption court, and President Petro Poroshenko promptly signed it into law four days later. The anti-corruption court is supposed to be the last link in the chain of bodies designed to fight top-level... MORE

Bigger Role for Kazakhstani President at National Security Council to Ensure Smooth Transition
On May 31, the Kazakhstani Senate approved a bill on reforming the National Security Council (NSC) of Kazakhstan. This move marked the official end of a months-long legislative process, to be followed in the days to come by a presidential endorsement, which is the precondition... MORE

New Italian Government Will Likely Struggle to Boost Ties With Russia
Addressing the Italian parliament, Italy’s new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his government, recently formed by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the Eurosceptic and anti-immigrant League party, was in favor of an opening toward Russia (Ansa, June 5). Moscow voiced satisfaction with Conte’s words... MORE

Cossacks at the 2018 World Cup: Law and Disorder?
After “neo-Cossacks” brutally whipped anti-Kremlin demonstrators at the May 5 “He Is Not Our Tsar” protests, in downtown Moscow (see EDM, May 14), concerns in Russia have been mounting that the authorities will similarly employ such quasi-paramilitary forces to maintain order at the World Cup,... MORE

Clichés Clashing With Real Life in Belarus
In many ways, contemporary Belarus bears less and less resemblance to the persistent but worn narratives about this country. And three choice developments from the past several weeks illustrate this point in various telling ways. First, it is worth examining Yury Zisser’s recent publicized contention... MORE

Rice Bunnies and Iron Rice Bowls: Women’s Rights and National Security in China
Since January 2018, as part of a movement some experts are calling the largest student demonstration since June 1989, thousands of college students across China have been organizing both online and offline to demand that their universities take action against professors accused of sexually assaulting... MORE

Cyber Sovereignty and the PRC’s Vision for Global Internet Governance
Over the past eighteen months, major Western media outlets have followed every step of Facebook’s slow and painful fall from grace, including the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal. However, while the stories focus heavily on Trump and Putin, it is CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping who... MORE

Moscow Throws Oligarchs Lifeline in Form of ‘Offshore’ Zones in Kaliningrad and Vladivostok
On April 9, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev asked his Cabinet for specific measures to alleviate the consequences of the economic sanctions the United States passed (on April 6—see EDM, April 9) against Russian companies and individuals, with metallurgy, the energy sector and the defense industry... MORE

Moscow Hopes Gagauz Nation Can Help Save Russian Language in Moldova
Now that the Moldovan Constitutional Court has annulled the special status the Russian language has enjoyed in that republic since independence, Moscow is hoping to use the Gagauz nation within Moldova to defend the position of Russian there. But this decision to turn to the... MORE