INTRODUCTION The Kremlin has consistently failed to define its vision of Russia’s future. As a new year dawns, the only thing about the country’s domestic political order that is clear is that President Vladimir Putin has secured the option to stay in power until 2036. While Putin may see keeping himself in power as the best guarantee of political stability, that reality is hardly a substitute for the specific socioeconomic goals that he has laid out at various points during his tenure. But what about the Russian public? How do ordinary people with different political views see their country’s future?…

House impeachment managers argued Saturday, as throughout former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, that Congress is exempt from the Constitution. Lead manager Rep. Raskin (D-MD) said that because this was not a criminal trial, the legal requirements for “incitement” did not apply, the right to due process did not apply, and even the cherished First Amendment did not apply. In effect, Raskin argued, Congress was exempt from following constitutional principles. Last year, House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) made the same argument. Due process did not apply to the president in impeachment, he said, and therefore it did…

For four  long years, I received countless emails and text messages from European diplomat friends distressed by the Trump administration’s reckless, ham-handed foreign policy. Last month, gratefully, those messages turned into expressions of relief and hope for the Biden administration. After having suffered a president who treated America’s oldest allies with contempt while embracing autocrats and adversaries, Europeans are looking forward to a more cooperative Washington under a Biden administration. Now it’s time for the United States to send a message to its friends in Europe: The window of opportunity for reinvesting in the trans-Atlantic relationship is not indefinite. It is…

“All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.”—George Orwell, 1984 Let’s be clear about one thing: the impeachment of Donald Trump is a waste of time and money.Impeaching Trump will accomplish very little, and it will not in any way improve the plight of the average American.…

Democrats reiterated Monday a threat to punish former President Donald Trump for not testifying at the impeachment trial in the Senate, which begins Tuesday. In a short filing responding to Trump’s lawyer’s 75-page trial memorandum, submitted Monday, the House impeachment managers — all Democrats hand-picked by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — wrote: [T]he House has invited President Trump to voluntarily testify under oath, yet President Trump immediately rejected that opportunity to tell his story. The House will establish at trial that this decision to avoid testifying supports a strong adverse inference regarding President Trump’s actions (and inaction) on January 6.…