Back to Bhutto?
If President Musharraf is ousted, it will be another example of Pakistan's underlying stability
Accidental revolutionary
Christopher Hitchens has come round to Tom Paine's view that things would have been far better if the French revolution had been more like the American
Diplomacy is not enough
Engagement alone will not solve the crisis. The west must invest in Iranian civil society and support dissidents
Divide and empower
The west should consider sanctions, but it should also focus on exploiting the divisions among Iran's ruling elite and empowering Iranian society
Their riots…
Who governs France? Not parliament, trampled on by the street and the president
Goodbye to the ’68ers
In 1998, 30 years after the student uprisings that politicised a generation, Germany's "1968ers" entered government. Expectations were high but the red-green coalition's achievements have been limited. Their liberalising effect on Germany in the decades before 1998 will be the…
The Uzbek tinderbox
Most post-Soviet states, like Ukraine, decided not to shoot their citizens. Not Uzbekistan
Democracy of believers
Iraq should look to Israel for a model that combines democracy and religious belief
Radio Hong Kong
The John Humphrys of Hong Kong has fled, complaining of intimidation. Those left behind are pushing against Beijing's block on democracy
When China cracks
China's incoherent dissidents will not cause the collapse of the system
Beauty & the beast
Western attacks on Burma's pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, merely assist the military regime
Aung San Suu Kyi
The world's most famous prisoner has little to show for ten years of struggle. Is the Burmese opposition crumbling?