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

Executive Summary: Corruption in Russia worsens the longer the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine continues because the war creates expanded opportunities for bribery and the state seizure and misallocation of assets. The Kremlin has generally sought to downplay the growth of corruption to conceal how the... MORE

Executive Summary: New evidence suggests that a faction within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aligned with former president Hu Jintao and former premier Wen Jiabao could be exerting influence on the direction of the Party. Three party elders—all of whom were Hu Jintao allies—reportedly criticized... MORE

Decolonization for Security: Ukraine’s Strategic Policy Toward Indigenous Peoples Colonized by Russia, by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Deputy Chair, Temporary Special Commission on the Development of State Policy Toward the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation, Ukrainian Parliament,  is the second article in a series of analyses... MORE

Executive Summary: The newly released draft of Moscow’s new nationality policy strategy document devotes far more attention to ethnic Russians as the “state-forming” nation than the document it will replace and far less to developing non-Russian nations in the Russian Federation. This document will likely... MORE