Former White House adviser Steve Bannon has had a major influence on Donald Trump and is supporting nationalists elsewhere. Here are his intellectual roots. White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (R) and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington,...
By Jonathan Thatcher In the farming village where I stay in Indonesia’s West Java province, Islam is central to daily life. The village has its own religious school, and those who can afford it sign up for the 10-year wait to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. But its...
Pakistan’s Imran Khan was a cricket star with glamorous women on his arm. Now he is poised to become prime minister of the South Asian nation. Pakistan captain Imran Khan, left, raises his arms in triumph as England’s last batsman Richard Illingworth walks away...
It’s been four years since young activists in Hong Kong launched a movement for democratic reforms. Now, a sense of powerlessness is growing. Pro-democracy protesters holding yellow umbrellas, Hong Kong, 28 September 2017 (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Few birthday...
Recently I went to Russia. I discovered that Russians view their president, Vladimir Putin, in a much different light than many of us from the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin during a friendly soccer match, Moscow, 28 June 2018. (AP Photo/Alexander Safonov)...
Ukraine has had two revolutions and a war since 2004 but is still mired in conflict and graft. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, 7 May 2018. (EPA-EFE/Mykhaylo Markiv) Four years ago, the then nascent war in eastern Ukraine suffered...
Watching news from Nicaragua, where protests are challenging the authoritarian rule of President Daniel Ortega, I’m transported back exactly 40 years. Anti-government demonstrators take cover behind a barricade in Managua, Nicaragua, 30 May 2018 (AP Photo/Esteban...
Spain has been hit by a political earthquake that has sent shock waves around the country and through Europe and financial markets. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the swearing-in ceremony of his cabinet, Madrid, Spain, 7 June 2018 (EPA-EFE/Javier Lizon/pool)...
(This story has been corrected to make clear, in the fourth paragraph, that it was Shushkevich who fell victim to an anti-corruption drive, and not Lukashenko, who was a former state farm boss.) By Elaine Monaghan Twenty-one years ago, I learned the true meaning of...
A century ago, Azerbaijan declared independence, becoming the first democratic state in the Muslim world. First meeting of the parliament of the Azerbaijan Democractic Republic, 7 December 1918 (Wikimedia Commons) One century ago today, a small colony of the Russian...