Hoover fellow Victor Davis Hanson discusses his articles concerning the "Thought Police" and education.

Democracy has been in a global recession for most of the last decade. Yet the picture is not entirely bleak. We have not seen “a third reverse wave.” The key imperative in the near term is to work to reform and consolidate the democracies that have emerged during the third wave—the majority of which remain illiberal and unstable, if they remain democratic at all. It is vital that democrats in the established democracies not lose faith. Democrats have the better set of ideas. Democracy may be receding somewhat in practice, but it is still globally ascendant in peoples’ values and aspirations.

Listen as Paul Gregory talks about the Crisis in Ukraine

More than 60 world leaders gathered at a White House summit Wednesday to discuss how to counter violent extremism. In opening remarks, President Obama said we must discredit violent ideologies and find "...new ways to amplify the voices of peace and tolerance and inclusion."

Sir, Gideon Rachman, in “Russian hearts, minds, and refrigerators” (February 17), writes: “Rather than engage the Putin government where it is relatively strong, on the battlefield, it makes more sense to hit Russia at its weak point: the economy.”

In his article, In the Pampases of Donbass, special correspondent for "Kommersant" Ilya Barabanov reports on his interviews with the young Russian soldiers who fought at Debaltseve.

Washington’s paranoia over weak and failing states is distracting it from the real national security threats looming on the horizon.

BBC Ukraine reports that Ukrainian television broadcasts have disappeared from viewer screens in the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk.