The prominent Western commentator of post-Soviet affairs Taras Kuzio has recently come forward with a barrel of English-language attacks on Ukrainian opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko – so far, the clear front-runner in Ukraine’s upcoming presidential elections in March 2019. Kuzio has placed several critical and partly denigrating texts about Tymoshenko in reputed analytical outlets, such […]
Brief updates on some of the topics I covered last week: –In Kenya, results of last week’s presidential race point to Uhuru Kenyatta of the Jubilee Alliance Coalition party as the winner. With just a hair over 50% of the vote, Kenyatta would gain the presidency without a runoff election. However his opponent Raila Odinga […]
Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Rafael Correa in Ecuador swept into power promising to use the wealth of natural resources in their countries to help address widespread poverty and stabilize the economy. Both improved situations enough to win reelection, but both also seem to have a strong grip on power and willingness to curtail democracy […]
Despite the fact that it’s only the 9th of November, election day is far behind us. There’s no option of a lame duck for any officials. The glaringly obvious and ever-pressing question is, of course, what now? Or, to put it another way, where? Some of the “whats” have snuck their way into kitchen table […]
Student protests this year in the streets of Montreal over a relatively small tuition hike took the Quebec government by storm. In reality, it is likely more than just tuition that fuelled this year’s protests with the Liberal Party of Quebec facing allegations of corruption after nine long years in power. The Parti Quebecois, the […]
17 years later the socialists are back in power. François Hollande was elected president of France on Sunday evening. He is the second socialist, after François Mitterrand, to assume the highest function of the state. Mr. Hollande defeated Mr. Sarkozy with 51.62% of votes. Interestingly, these numbers do not represent the reality of the votes of […]
As a French citizen and social scientist, I could not resist reviewing a very good article published by the excellent peer-reviewed journal, PS: Political Science & Politics. Two experts from the University of Montréal, Martial Foucault and Richard Nadeau, declared François Hollande winner of the 2012 French Presidential elections in their article “Forecasting the 2012 […]
Following much anticipation, Yemenis this Tuesday headed towards the polling stations in the tens of thousands, with lines extending endlessly in the streets of the capital, Sana’a. And if so far the mood is festive, with men and women congratulating one another on what they hope will herald the coming of a new democratic era, […]
About three weeks ago, President Saleh delivered a televised speech to the nation, in which he reassured his followers that he would indeed be coming back, his convalescence coming to a close. His rather lengthy address put to rest rumors that the Saudis and the Americans had managed to exert enough political pressure on the […]