Executive Summary: Leading candidates in the KMT party chair elections strongly self-identify as Chinese and are advocating to resolve cross-Strait tensions with a dialogue approach rooted in the 1992 Consensus. Notably lacking amongst the leading candidates is someone who represents the “Taiwanese” faction of the... MORE

Executive Summary: Russia’s youth organizations have played an important role in the Kremlin’s indoctrination effort, with Russian President Putin himself facilitating their development. Groups such as Yunarmia, Avangard camps, and the “Movement of the First” serve as platforms for indoctrination and militarization of their members,... MORE

Executive Summary: The first phone call between U.S. President Trump and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in August, followed by high-level meetings in Minsk, marked a surprising shift after 15 years of estrangement between the two countries.  The issue of political prisoners has become the central... MORE

Executive Summary: Within the last two decades, patriotic education in Russia has become a well-functioning apparatus of indoctrination that combines schools, youth organizations, museums, religion, and digital platforms. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, nationalistic education evolved into a vital pillar of governance,... MORE

Executive Summary: The proportion of deaths in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine among men from non-Russian republics and from poorer but predominantly ethnic Russian regions has been far higher than among residents of Moscow and other large cities. Putin’s adoption of the Soviet-era... MORE

Executive Summary: Georgian Dream has intensified LGBT-focused conspiracy theories to mobilize public support against the European Union, falsely portraying integration demands as threats to national sovereignty, family values, and traditional identity, echoing Kremlin-style propaganda tactics. Public opinion polls in Georgia show that the population remains... MORE

Executive Summary: Since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some Russian troops sent there have been taking their weapons home, undermining unit effectiveness and boosting the amount of violent crime in Russia. This trend has been exacerbated by the... MORE

Executive Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened the way for memorials to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin by praising his role in the Soviet victory in World War II and silencing any discussion of Stalin’s repressions. The push to restore Stalin to a position of... MORE

Executive Summary: Top al-Qaeda leader Dr. Aminul Haq has been in and out of Pakistani prisons over the years. Most recently, he was released in April 2025 and deported to Afghanistan after having been arrested in July 2024. Officially designated as a terrorist by the... MORE

Executive Summary: The One Belt One Road initiative is evolving, with Chinese enterprises beginning to localize. In Algeria, this has led to increased exposure to the corruption and mismanagement that continue to plague the country’s economy. This is leading to tensions with Beijing’s pragmatic commitment... MORE