Democracy

The Man who Disproved Trump’s Election Fraud Claims Looks at the Problems with New York’s Voter Data

Barrington, RI (Special to Informed Comment) – If the oldest human alive is 116, how did 368 118-year-olds vote in New York in 2020? Election districts that do a terrible job identifying their voters expose their state to problems far beyond a few votes by individuals with impossible ages. Consider that in 2020 New York […]

Elections

Growing ‘Despondency’ And Hard-Liners’ Dominance: Key Takeaways From Iran’s Elections

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By By Kian Sharifi ( RFE/ RL ) – Iran’s parliamentary elections on March 1 witnessed a historically low turnout, in a blow to the legitimacy of the clerical establishment. The official turnout of 41 percent was the lowest for legislative elections since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Critics claim the real turnout was likely even […]

Democracy

Israeli Peace Activists agree War must end with some form of Democracy for All

The Conversation

By Atalia Omer, University of Notre Dame | – (The Conversation) – The months since Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, have been excruciating ones for Israeli peace activists. As the country rallies behind the war effort, critics have been arrested and condemned by opponents who say the attacks proved how misguided the peace movement […]

Climate Crisis

In our National Crisis, We need Public Voices of Optimism — not Gadflies circling a Black Hole

Bahman Fozouni

Sacramento (Special to Informed Comment) – Who is a public intellectual? What role should they play? Searching the internet yields several answers. Alan Lightman’s The Role of the Public Intellectual offers a thoughtful discussion of different visions of the public intellectual and their role and responsibilities. I have opted for a broader description, but with […]

Authoritarianism

Rogues’ Gallery: Trump’s Trials on Sedition and Racketeering Parallel those of Brazil’s Bolsonaro and Pakistan’s Musharraf

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Donald John Trump’s indictment in federal court for sedition and in state court for racketeering are both legal means of sanctioning him for trying illegally to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Although he is the first president to be criminally charged for such a crime (or at all), […]

Corruption

Top 5 Things to Know about Fulton County charges of Racketeering against Trump

The Conversation

Anthony Michael Kreis, Georgia State University | – An Atlanta, Georgia, grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump on Aug. 14, 2023, charging him with racketeering and 12 other felonies related to his alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state. Eighteen of Trump’s allies and associates, including former Trump attorney Rudolph […]

Authoritarianism

What Happened To Democracy in Turkey?

Waging Nonviolence

Umut Özkırımlı ( Waging Nonviolence ) – Despite initial skepticism regarding the results of the November 2002 general elections — which saw the decimation of the incumbent coalition and veteran politicians by the newcomer Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — Western pundits soon hailed Turkey as […]

Democracy

On June 25, LGBTQ+ groups will March through the Streets of Istanbul, Turkey, despite Threats of Violence

Global Voices

Undertones: Turkish citizens rethink what democracy means Is democracy in the ballot or on the streets? Written byCivic Media Observatory Posted 15 June 2023 15:41 GMT This story is part of Undertones, Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory‘s newsletter. Subscribe to Undertones. Welcome back to Undertones, where we analyze media narratives from around the world. This […]

Democracy

Can Lebanon Finally elect a President who will Lead it out of its Economic and Political Morass?

Habib Badawi

By Habib Badawi Beirut (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Lebanon may be a small country of some four million citizens with a land area a little less than that of Connecticut, but it plays an outsized role in the geopolitics of the Middle East. Its upcoming presidential election on June 14th therefore has wide […]