Xi Jinping’s first state visit to the United States [...] comes as the Xi administration is engaged in an ongoing crackdown on human rights activism and the freedom of speech, and as the state legislature has recently passed or proposed several laws aimed at minimizing dissent and reinforcing Party ideology. 

After four years of engagement with its critics in a so far failed bid to turn its hosting of the World Cup into a successful soft power tool, Qatar appears to have decided that the region's tendency to intimidate those who don't fall into line may be a more effective strategy, writes James M. Dorsey.