Hello Reader, Essay Last month, a single word published by the New York Times did an extraordinary amount of work. It settled beyond question — for you, for me, for everyone — one of the most profound questions of our time. "Falsely" I was digging deeper into claims that Nigerian Christians are being targeted and massacred by Muslim extremists. Sifting through research, I landed on a Times piece about Christian activists pressing the Trump administration on behalf of the victims. And there it...
9 days ago • 9 min read
Hello Reader, Freedom House released two reports last week: its annual global freedom rankings and its Q4 China Dissent Monitor. The headline on the first is grim — global freedom declined for the 20th consecutive year. The second captures something China's censors are working overtime to suppress. We cover both below.54 countries got worse. 35 improved. A major driver of the decline: Africa's accelerating coup belt — nine military takeovers since 2019, with two more last year. It's why two...
12 days ago • 7 min read
Hello Reader, Essay: The Price of ¡Libertad? When the lights went out across all of Cuba last Monday — the sixth total blackout in 18 months — the press had its villain ready before the darkness even settled.During Iran's uprising, I urged readers to ignore the media — and listen to the Iranians. They weren't chanting "Death to America." They were chanting "The enemy is here" — pointing directly at the mullahs.Now listen to the Cubans.In Havana last week, residents banged pots and chanted...
15 days ago • 8 min read
Hello Reader, . The Global Fight for Freedom Scared Strait: The Mosquito Fleet Swarms Total Blackout: The Death Throes of Tyranny Voodoo Coup in the Sahel's Last Democracy Our Enemy's Enemy Is Our Friend China's Technology Suffers "Epic" Humiliation Country names are followed by their 2025 freedom scores according to Freedom House. Not a ranking. On March 11th, two Iranian projectiles tore into the Thailand-flagged Mayuree Naree as she threaded through the Strait of Hormuz, setting the bulk...
18 days ago • 6 min read
Hello Reader, An Historic Opportunity for Global Freedom For two decades, the forces of authoritarianism have been winning.Freedom House has measured liberty across the globe for over half a century. Last year, it documented the 19th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. Nineteen years. Not a recession — a slow-motion rout. It was one of the reasons I started this newsletter — to promote the resistance, celebrate the fighters, and refuse to accept that the arc of history bends...
22 days ago • 10 min read
Hello Reader, Want to share this? Here's a link. Had this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. The Global Fight for Freedom Venezuela: Fake President, Real Opposition Peru: Nobody Left to Believe In "Marg bar Mojtaba" Echoes Over Tehran Rapper Disses "Looting Thieves" with Generational Victory China Winning the War the West Forgot Country names are followed by their 2025 freedom scores according to Freedom House, which will publish its 2026 scores later this month. Not a ranking. For years,...
25 days ago • 6 min read
Hello Reader, Donald Trump's goals have rarely aligned with those of this newsletter. But when he told Iranians on February 28th that "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take," he — finally — said the right thing. Whether American actions will match those words is a question we will be watching very closely. More to come on what's behind the shift next week. Hope Is Not a Plan For two decades, Israeli intelligence hacked nearly every traffic camera in Tehran...
30 days ago • 8 min read
Hello Reader, The Global Fight for Freedom 5 Million Reasons to Believe Cradle of Democracy Jails Grandma Head of Iran's Snake Severed The Triumphant Return of Bangladesh Democracy Russia Buries Its Catastrophic Incompetence Country names are followed by their 2025 freedom scores according to Freedom House. Not a ranking. The work of lifting a society out of poverty is grinding, thankless, and not terribly compelling. Progress arrives as numbers nobody wants to read—bond yields, monetary...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hello Reader, Want to share this? Here's a link. Had this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. The Global Fight for Freedom Persians Cast All Their Votes for Dancing SCOTUS Scores the Golden Goal El Mencho: Betrayed by Love Colombia's "El Tigre": Savior or Predator? In Pakistan, Tweets Are Now Terror Country names are followed by their 2025 freedom scores according to Freedom House. Not a ranking. I once learned so much from loveThat I could no longer divide the worldInto what belongs and...
about 1 month ago • 8 min read