An affiliate of the largest and most powerful Kurdish party in Syria, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), opened its first official mission abroad — in Moscow. Given the amount of military and political support the PYD has received from the United States, this decision is likely to be received with some shock and confusion in the West. But a closer examination of the PYD’s historical experience and core interests suggests that the politics behind a potential realignment with Moscow makes strategic sense.

Announcements made by the Russian news agency TASS confirmed that Beijing’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) would prepare its seventh Arctic exploration mission later this year and would seek a partnership with Russia to conduct a joint exploration and research mission in the Arctic. 

During the 1950s, there was a term that was sometimes used to describe people who were exploited by Soviet communists to publicly support their ideology. The term was “useful idiots.” The phrase, like communism itself, has largely disappeared from use, but there are still plenty of useful idiots around. If you don’t believe it, just spend some time watching RT.

...[D]emocratic governments need to apply some of the street-level lessons activists have learned to the arena of geo-strategy and public diplomacy. Don’t be intimidated and stand up for your cause — but also don’t let yourself be dragged into endlessly trying to debunk the dictator’s fantasies. Instead, focus on developing an alternative vision that would enable a country like Serbia or Russia to flourish by treating its civil society as a legitimate partner, developing positive relationships with its neighbors, and joining the international community. 

A recent article in The New York Times, “U.S. Support of Gay Rights in Africa May Have Done More Harm Than Good,” has prompted a great deal of discussions among those engaged in international advocacy on the human rights of LGBT people. 

Russian ideologists specialising on Belarus have launched an aggressive campaign in the Russian media in an attempt to influence public opinion in Russia regarding ongoing processes in Belarus. While doing so, they have attempted to use the same mechanisms and ideological myths about Belarusians, which were used to mobilize pro-Kremlin patriotic electorate during the antic-Kyiv propaganda campaign.