Bottom Line Up Front: Russia’s focus on the success of the CSTO’s intervention conveys its role as power broker in Central Asia. Unfavorable coverage of Nazarbayev and an increasingly positive portrayal of Tokayev demonstrates Russia’s support for Takoyev’s marginalization of the Nazerbayev clique during the unrest. Russian leaders explicitly accused…

On June 23rd, Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s most subscribed to digital paper, closed its doors after a campaign of government harassment including armed raids, arrests of leadership, and freezing of assets. The move led to widespread condemnation, including an official statement from US President Joe Biden, an official statement from…

On June 22, the US Department of Justice seized 33 websites connected to Iran and allied militias in the Arab World. Despite headlines claiming disinformation as a motivation, the web hosts had violated US law by conducting business with entities from the “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) list. The United States…

International arms control has been at the forefront of global narratives in light of the recent negotiations in Vienna regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran has invested heavily in controlling digital discourse in both Farsi and English, but Russia has led narrative control in both post count…

In January 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent an investigation team to Wuhan, China to determine the likely origins of COVID-19. The investigation came on the heels of rampant rumors accusing China of causing the pandemic due to human error at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Weeks prior to…

BLUF: Russian and Chinese IO rapidly adapted to address the siege of the US Capitol and have aggressively attacked American democracy in media coverage China: most concerned with US double standards in criticism of domestic protests, whether they occur domestically or abroad, with a special emphasis on Hong Kong protests. …

After five months of delay, the Bolivian election is finally approaching. The deeply polarized country heads to polls on October 18. With the divisive former president Evo Morales still in exile and not allowed to run, and the unpopular interim president Jeanine Anez announcing that she will not seek office…

Summary The presidential campaign of Donald Trump was the top advertiser on Kremlin and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda outlets on YouTube in a test of over 2,500 videos. The Trump campaign appeared on Russian propaganda outlets at 1.5 times the rate of the second most prolific advertiser, and was…

On July 12, 2020, skirmishes erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces along the two country’s shared border. Similar skirmishes have occurred in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018. The ongoing clash is notable for being removed from Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan self-styled as the Republic of Artsakh. …