A more or less regular feature. This week, updates from Germany, Austria, the Maldives, Luxembourg, Georgia and the Czech Republic.
Category: Middle East
Election preview: Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev will be re-elected tomorrow, but at least the opposition is having a go this time.
Iran: deal or no deal?
The prospects for a deal regarding Iran's nuclear program look better than they have for a long time. The Israeli government isn't happy about the idea, for reasons that may not be quite what they seem.
Iranians almost get Facebook again
A window opens up in Iran's censorship regime, before being slammed shut again. It's one part of a delicate political game for the country's new moderate president.
Compare and contrast: Iraq and Syria
Syria is very different from Iraq, primarily because there's a war already in progress. That doesn't mean military intervention is the right move, but it makes it a more difficult question.
Iran and the resonance of the past
Sixty years on from a coup that poisoned Iranian-US relations, the CIA has come clean about its role. It may be a small step forward in a difficult process of reconciliation.
Please don’t feed the beast
Unnecessary military spending is a cancer on democracy, but it takes a case like Egypt to show the real damage that it can do.
Election roundup – loose ends edition
This week, updates from Mali, Czechia, Iran and Venezuela.
Electoral “reform” in Israel
Israel plans an electoral change that seems superficially fair but in context has a clearly discriminatory intent.
One weekend, four elections
The weekend's four elections, in Kuwait, Cambodia, Northern Cyprus and Mali, make an interesting set of contrasts.
The World is Not Enough 