Executive Summary: Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead on July 7, reportedly due to suicide, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin fired him from the position. The active replacement of Russian elites has been a regular occurrence in Russia since the... MORE

Executive Summary: Turkmen migrants are facing increased restrictions on their freedom of movement, with countries such as Türkiye and Russia assisting the Turkmen government in cracking down on Turkmen citizens outside the country. Ashgabat has made moving abroad increasingly difficult for its citizens by arbitrarily... MORE

Executive Summary: Georgian Dream has detained eight prominent opposition figures ahead of the upcoming local elections, fulfilling a pre-election pledge by the honorary chairman of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili. The detentions stem from a refusal to appear before a parliamentary commission that many view... MORE

Executive Summary: Daily youth-led protests against the Georgian Dream government continue on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue, with participants calling for new elections, the release of detained protesters, and, in some cases, full-on revolution. The lack of substantive results from the demonstrations, as well as an inability... MORE

Executive Summary: Serious crime has risen to its highest level since 2010 in Russia because of the influx of weapons from Moscow’s war against Ukraine, as well as the Kremlin’s increased focus on prosecuting corruption. The influx of weapons into Russia, brought into the country... MORE

Executive Summary: The Kuomintang (KMT) is undergoing a complex transformation, seeking to redefine itself by moving away from its perception as a “pro-China” party to one grounded in support for the Republic of China’s (ROC) democratic institutions. Internal factions—ranging from pro-unification traditionalists to sovereignty-leaning localists—reflect... MORE

Executive Summary: The Armenian government allegedly foiled an attempted coup involving two prominent archbishops and several nationalists. The opposition, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, and the Armenian Apostolic Church deny the allegations.   The announcement comes as tensions between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the... MORE

Executive Summary: Violent attacks on people and property in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine are threatening Moscow’s control there. The attackers, many of whom are Russian veterans with criminal pasts, are better armed and sometimes outnumber the local police. These veterans are often joined by... MORE

Executive Summary: In a historic first for any democracy at the national level, mass recall campaigns in Taiwan are seeking to overturn the opposition’s legislative majority that was elected in 2024. The recall campaigns are the latest battleground in an ongoing power struggle between the... MORE

Executive Summary: As Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved to reimpose totalitarianism on Russia, the Federal Security Service (FSB) increasingly mirrors its Soviet predecessors, including rebuilding a network of camps some are calling “Gulag 2.0,” among other ways. The quiet revival of these other functions... MORE