Carol J. Williams is a retired foreign correspondent with 30 years' reporting abroad for the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press. She has reported from more than 80 countries, with a focus on USSR/Russia and Eastern Europe.
The ex-KGB agent has slithered out of political peril in the past with swift strikes against weaker neighbors and rebellious republics within Russia. But the swarm of troops, armor and warships around Ukraine’s land and sea borders has alarmed Western leaders and drawn threats of new sanctions that would compound the hardships suffered by Russians amid the Covid-19 crises and spreading political unrest.
The coinciding scandals spurred massive March 4 Women protests that drew 110,000 into the streets of dozens of cities under the banner of “Enough is Enough.”
While the military’s knee-jerk turns to terror have worked to halt opposition movements since Myanmar’s 1948 independence from British rule, much has changed since prior rebellions, inspiring hope for restoration of the recent, short-lived democracy.
Her interrogation by members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last month reflected the discomfort of mostly older white men forced to negotiate with confident women and minorities in a new administration committed to diversity and inclusion.
In response to the Black Lives Matter protest movement, American historians and philosophers have been examining the tenacious roots of endemic racism in the United States and pointing to a potential model for a long-overdue reckoning: Germany’s recognition of the crimes of the Holocaust and atonement for its victims.
Six weeks into life outside of the European Union, Britons are hard-pressed to identify any winners in their go-it-alone strategy after 47 years as an EU member state.
I believe the Democratic Party needs a serious contender on the right. We are in for scary times if the cult of Trump pretends to be that counterbalance.
“As history shows, most dictatorships fall not under the power of their opponents but under the weight of their own mistakes. It seems that Putin's will not be an exception.” -- Vladimir Kara-Murza in the Washington Post opinion section
"The closure of all U.S. consulates in Russia would appear a U.S. retreat and capitulation to the diplomatic visa pressures applied by elements of the Russian government.” -- Derek Norberg, president of the Seattle-based Council for U.S.-Russia Relations
