When former CIA Director James Woolsey served as chairman of the board for the non-governmental organization (NGO) Freedom House for roughly two and a half years, it was during a particularly turbulent period in the post-Soviet space. Freedom House’s "Message from the Chairman" in 2003 outlines Woolsey’s direct quotes about what the organization's goals were. He described how they were working to “bring about democratic transitions within countries,” had “over a dozen field offices and programs in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, East-Central Europe, and Central Asia,” and were...

In 1990, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided “full funding” for one Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki for studies in civil engineering at Colorado State University. There was only one problem: the USAID document listed his birthplace as Sana'a, Yemen. Awlaki was actually born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, an inaccuracy which federal security agent Ray Fournier and The New York Times describe as being done in an attempt to qualify for scholarship money. Awlaki returned to the United States on October 23, 2000, just two weeks after the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen....

In 2003, when the U.S. Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba was formed its objective was presented bluntly: to “hasten the regime’s downfall.” Their second report revealed in 2006 similarly concluded that the “implementation of the CAFC II recommendations will hasten the day Cubans will be free to elect their leaders.” This also included calls in “planning support for a Cuban Transition Government.” By 2008, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had committed more than $11 million to the Cuban Civil Society Support Program in an effort to implement the recommendations...

With Cuba seemingly becoming the next focus for the Trump administration, it is worth looking into previous efforts by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the country. Today, we turn toward the agency’s connection with Cuban hip-hop. In 2008, USAID launched the Cuban Civil Society Support Program, an initiative focused on supporting independent organizations and building communication networks on the island. Implemented by Creative Associates International, the four-year program ran until 2012. While presented as a democracy promotion initiative, internal...

With Maggie Haberman’s new book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump generating plenty of headlines—including from President Trump himself—I decided to give it a listen on Spotify. One passing comment stuck with me. During a segment, Haberman notes how the Russia investigation impacted Donald Trump Jr.’s marriage. Later in the book, Haberman mentions former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s return to the president’s good graces after her 2025 disclosures surrounding the Russia investigation. These moments gave instant flashbacks to the Russia saga...

When President Donald Trump declared Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security in a January 2026 Executive Order, the designation was accompanied by a series of sweeping claims. Among them were accusations that Cuba “provides support” to Russia, China, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah, that it “supports terrorism,” and that the Cuban government supports actors who “seek to destroy the United States.” What began as a discussion over Cuban intelligence capabilities has now expanded into a much broader narrative that presents Havana as a link between America’s foreign...

In a moment when global attention remains fixed on conflicts in the Middle East, political turmoil in Venezuela, Sudan’s ongoing war, and Cuba’s deepening humanitarian crisis, the unfolding situation in Albania has slipped out of view. That relative silence comes despite one of the country’s largest civic mobilizations in years. In May, a section of coastline in Zvërnec—near Vlora—was fenced off and placed under private security, restricting access to part of the Vjosa-Narta protected area as bulldozers arrived on site. One of Europe's most sensitive coastal wetlands and part of the wider...