Freedom

Bad Times in Belarus

Could protests and a lousy economy topple dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko? Or are his thugs just too efficient?

BY SHAUN WALKER | JULY 8, 2011

Bashir's Choice

The brutal means that the Sudanese president has used to keep his country together have instead blown it apart in the most chaotic way possible.

BY JAMES TRAUB | JULY 8, 2011

The Most Notable Revolutionaries of 2011

Right, wrong, or otherwise -- these freedom fighters haven't let the powers-that-be block them, and we're (mostly) better off for it.

BY DAVID J. ROTHKOPF | JULY 1, 2011

The Least Free Places on Earth, 2011

20 places with nothing to celebrate this weekend.

TEXT BY FREEDOM HOUSE | JULY 1, 2011

In Saudi Arabia, an Undercover Revolution

The freedom to buy lingerie from other women may not sound like much. But activists say it's a start.

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER | JUNE 27, 2011

After the Fall

The 15 countries of the former Soviet Union have taken radically different political paths over the last two decades.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | JUNE 24, 2011

Three Days in Foros

In August 1991, Soviet hardliners held Mikhail Gorbachev captive at a Crimean resort in a last-ditch effort to save the crumbling Soviet empire. Anatoly Chernyaev, Gorbachev's foreign policy advisor was there when it happened. In this excerpt from the diary he kept at the time -- newly translated into English -- he tells the story of the coup attempt that destroyed the USSR.

BY ANATOLY CHERNYAEV | JUNE 21, 2011

Postcards from Hell, 2011

Images from the world's most failed states.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JUNE 20, 2011

Gorby, the Man Who Changed the World

Life in the limelight for the West's favorite Soviet.

BY EDMUND DOWNIE, SOPHIA JONES | JUNE 20, 2011

Straight Guy in Scotland

What the "Gay Girl in Damascus" hoax tells us about ourselves and the media in the era of the Arab Spring.

BY DAVID KENNER | JUNE 13, 2011

The Fall of the House of Assad

It's too late for the Syrian regime to save itself.

BY ROBIN YASSIN-KASSAB | JUNE 10, 2011

Game of Thrones

Morocco is the Arab world's last chance to prove that monarchs can reform their countries without getting thrown out of them.

BY JAMES TRAUB | JUNE 10, 2011

A Martyr in Morocco

Do the protests in Morocco finally have enough steam to unsettle the monarchy?

BY BETWA SHARMA | JUNE 9, 2011

Tolerating Dissent

Countries that fail to safeguard free speech and press freedom are likely to be visited first by dictatorship, and then by threats to the governing regime.

BY LEE C. BOLLINGER | JUNE 1, 2011

Friend Request

Barack Obama has been saying the right things about democracy in the Arab world. Bahrain, a key U.S. ally, will be the test of whether he really means them.

BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 27, 2011

Too Big to Fail?

Is Syria's repressive dictatorship really so crucial to Mideast peace and stability that we can't let it fail? The Obama administration still seems to think so.

BY AARON DAVID MILLER | MAY 12, 2011

Freedom #Fail

Why we shouldn't expect Facebook and its Silicon Valley peers to act in the world's best interests.

BY JILLIAN C. YORK | APRIL 29, 2011

The Prisoners' Dilemma

Does WikiLeaks' newest document dump tell us anything we don't know about Guantánamo, or is it just another reminder that the United States' least worst place is now its most intractable legal problem? FP asked four experts on military law and interrogation to weigh in on the Gitmo papers.

APRIL 25, 2011

What Happens When the Arab Spring Turns to Summer?

Ruminations on the revolutions of 2011.

BY DAVID IGNATIUS | APRIL 22, 2011

Qaddafi's Great Arms Bazaar

The deadly weapons floating around in eastern Libya could serve as the fuel for a bloody insurgency.

BY PETER BOUCKAERT | APRIL 8, 2011

A Moral Adventure

Is Barack Obama as much of a foreign-policy realist as he thinks he is?

BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 31, 2011

Stiff Upper Lip

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have shaved off his mustache, but it's going to take a whole lot more than that to convince the world that he's not a dictator. FP investigates the whiskers that autocrats wear.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | MARCH 30, 2011

Democracy Inaction

Why representative government can't solve the world's other social problems.

BY CHARLES KENNY | MARCH 28, 2011

The Fight of Their Lives

As the international community prepares to intervene, the citizens of Benghazi are building the institutions that could give them a fighting chance against Qaddafi's forces.

BY SARAH BIRKE | MARCH 18, 2011

The Myth of the Useful Dictator

In propping up autocrats in countries like Yemen and Bahrain, the United States has long weighed its interests against its principles. Is it a false choice?

BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 18, 2011

This Week at War: Quagmire Ahead

International airpower will be enough to escalate the civil war in Libya, but not to win it.

BY ROBERT HADDICK | MARCH 18, 2011

Don't Blame the Spies

The U.S. government needs to start getting comfortable hearing uncomfortable intelligence analysis. And the public needs to realize that the CIA is not the Department of Avoiding Surprises.

BY PAUL R. PILLAR | MARCH 16, 2011

Stepping In

Libya doesn't meet any of the criteria for a humanitarian intervention. We should do it anyway.

BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 11, 2011

How Not to Intervene in Libya

Pundits and politicians are promoting all kinds of dangerous ideas for taking down Qaddafi. Here are five rules Obama should consider before plunging in blindly.

BY DIRK VANDEWALLE | MARCH 10, 2011

The Shark Stops Swimming

Iran's supreme leader has just ousted his most formidable rival. Are the Islamic Republic's political games over? Or are they just beginning?

BY BARBARA SLAVIN | MARCH 8, 2011