Executive Summary: In April 2024, the authors surveyed 510 students from Tsinghua University and 518 students from Peking University—the PRC’s two preeminent institutions—about their views on the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The key findings are as follows: Students are more optimistic about the benefits... MORE

Executive Summary: Western punitive sanctions against Belarus since 2020 may have done more to strengthen authoritarianism in Belarus and reinforce the country’s economic, political, informational, and military cooperation with Russia. Sanctions have negatively impacted the lives of ordinary citizens, making it harder to obtain visas,... MORE

Executive Summary: In the lead-up to the October parliamentary elections in Georgia, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party is campaigning to obtain a “constitutional majority” despite showing concern about the possibility of losing power amid decreasing approval ratings. The pro-Western opposition in Georgia is fragmented... MORE

Executive Summary: The series of brutal Russian strikes against Ukraine, especially on Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, have raised the stakes of Moscow’s war before a possible start of a negotiation process, creating a precedent of brutality Russia must uphold to maintain the initiative.  These strikes have... MORE

Executive Summary: An estimated 120,000 Russians have died in the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine. The rate of losses is increasing over time, boding discontent among Russians as they continue to be used as cannon fodder. Ethnically non-Russian regions have borne the brunt of the losses... MORE

Executive Summary: The population of the Russian Far East has fallen by almost a third since 1991, a decline that is accelerating again despite Putin’s efforts to stop it. One-third of those remaining say they want to leave, and another third likely share those plans.... MORE

Executive Summary: Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka recently made a series of public pronouncements that have provoked Armenia and Israel and placed Belarus in an even more precarious geopolitical position. Lukashenka’s flippant comments in Azerbaijan, tense relationship with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and series of... MORE

Executive Summary: A Kyrgyz mob stormed dormitories housing foreign students in Bishkek, targeting South Asian students and causing hundreds, possibly thousands, of foreign students to evacuate the country. The attack has left the Kyrgyz government concerned about economic losses and the destabilizing effects on the... MORE

Executive Summary: Bishkek has sought to attract workers from other countries to fill the void of a million Kyrgyz workers abroad, a substitution that has sparked xenophobia and violence, most recently on May 17 and 18. The tense situation has been exacerbated by Kyrgyzstan’s weak... MORE

Executive Summary: Tens of thousands of Georgians participated in a countrywide protest against the ruling Georgian Dream party’s reintroduction and attempt to pass the repressive and controversial “Transparency of Foreign Influence” law. Georgia’s Western partners have actively supported these protests and warned Georgian officials that... MORE