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Helsinki Commission Briefing: Enabling Kleptocracy
Modern dictatorship relies on access to the West. Lawyers, lobbyists, accountants, real estate professionals, consultants, and others help kleptocrats launder their money and reputations—and exert undue influence in democracies—in exchange for dirty [...]
Kristine Berzina on German Elections and Olaf Scholz
Kristine Berzina, senior fellow and head of the geopolitics team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, joins Julie Mason to discuss the results of the German elections and what to expect from Chancellor Angela Merkel's [...]
Putin At Play: Russian Disinformation Pinballs Around the Globe
Russian disinformation campaigns have become notorious around the world for their ability to cause chaos. And while some suggest Moscow’s motives begin and end with creating havoc, the reality is that Russia has clear strategic goals in mind. The Kr [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Announcements Congratulations to GMF President Dr. Karen Donfried on her appointment as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs! The German Marshall Fund is hiring! GMF’s communications team is looking for a press officer and [...]
Hamilton Toplines: September 20–26, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian officials and state media focused heavily on the UN General Assembly (UNGA), making it the most frequently used phrase on the Moscow-linked Twitter dashboard. Much of the coverage attempted to highlight Russia’s diplomatic [...]
Russia’s Parliamentary Elections: Building Autocratic Resilience to “Foreign Interference”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party maintained its parliamentary majority in elections marked by apparent Kremlin-directed ballot tampering. Ahead of the elections, Russian government officials and state media used unfo [...]
Maurice Turner on NPR: How America Can Reliably Resist Ransomware
The Biden Administration is attempting to curtail an uptick in ransomware attacks on American businesses. Just last week, an Iowa grain co-operative was hit by a cyberattack by hacking group BlackMatter demanding $5.9 million dollars. In June, the [...]
Josh Rudolph in Foreign Policy: How Art Dealers, Real Estate Agents, and Hedge Funds Enable Corruption
If Biden is serious about fighting corruption, he needs to regulate 10 key white-collar professions. The FBI has long viewed obscure private investment funds as dangerous financial pathways for malevolent foreign activities. Nearly a decade ago, th [...]
Russia’s Media Reach and Coverage of Candidates in Advance of the German Federal Election
Foreign actors have demonstrated an interest in Germany’s federal election this year. Of particular concern is the fact that Russian state-backed media have developed a wide reach within Germany and are actively engaging in election discourse. Since [...]
Election Q&A: David Levine Explains What Went Wrong with the Windham, New Hampshire 2020 Vote Count
Windham, New Hampshire, a town with 14,000 residents, found itself in the public eye after the 2020 election. Eight candidates ran for four open seats in the state legislature, and Republicans swept them. Kristi St. Laurent, a Democrat, requested a [...]
Corinna Blutguth Shares Insights Into Russia’s Information Operations Ahead of Germany’s Elections on SVT1
GMF Researcher Corinna Blutguth joined Sweden's SVT1 to discuss the reach and scope of Russian state-backed media outlet RT Deutsch in Germany. Corinna explained that ASD/GMF data showed that RT Deutsch has been outperforming other traditional Germa [...]
Information Manipulation in the German Election Campaign: Lessons Learned, Latest Findings, and the Path Ahead
This year’s German federal election poses a challenge not only to the involved candidates and their corresponding parties, but to the entire German political landscape. Several articles and reports have highlighted the susceptibility of the election [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Our Take The United States is failing to regulate the U.S.-based professionals who continue to enable national security threats by handling dirty money through secret channels. It’s time to regulate the enablers, Malign Finance Fellow Josh Rudolph [...]
Hamilton Toplines: September 13–19, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian government officials and state-funded outlets focused heavily on Russia’s parliamentary elections, which were held from Friday to Sunday and resulted in President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party maintaining its majorit [...]
Was Canada’s Election Free and Fair? David Levine Discusses with Shaye Ganam
On today's show, we talk all things federal election. We hear from Tim Uppal, Conservative candidate for Edmonton-Mill Woods on the tight race that played out there. Dr. Lisa Young a political science professor at the University of Calgary gives her [...]
The Elections, Covid, and Afghanistan: August on the German Elections Dashboard
On September 26, around 60 million voters in Germany will be able to cast their ballots in the 2021 parliamentary elections. After 16 years in power, incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel is not running for office, and a change in government leadership [...]
ASD Releases Regulating the Enablers
The Panama Papers revealed how a secretive Panamanian law firm used professional intermediaries in the United States to enable crime and corruption. Half a decade later, the United States is failing to regulate the U.S.-based professionals who conti [...]
Regulating The Enablers
Executive Summary When kleptocrats, foreign intelligence services, homegrown autocrats, and other malign actors weaponize corruption to undermine U.S. democracy, their financial secrecy relies upon the services of ten sectors of U.S. professionals [...]
Q&A with David Levine: How Can the U.S. Respond to Efforts to Subvert Democratic Processes?
Disinformation-fueled partisan “audits” have been popping up around the United States in the ten months since the 2020 presidential election. Election workers face unprecedented levels of harassment sparked by false voter-fraud claims. And 51 percen [...]
Lithuania on the Frontlines: A Conversation with Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis
The German Marshall Fund of the United States invites you to a timely virtual conversation with Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. The foreign minister is in Washington on September 15 for high-level meetings with senior U.S. offic [...]
Hamilton Toplines: September 6–12, 2021
Russia Continuing a weeks-long trend, Afghanistan dominated the outputs of Russian state media last week, with the country registering as the second or third most-mentioned country in videos, tweets, and articles posted by state media accounts and o [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Announcements We’re hiring! We are looking for a Data Analyst and a Program Assistant to join our team in Washington, D.C., and a Head of European Operations to join our team in Brussels. Apply now! Join GMF for a conversation with Lithuanian Forei [...]
Policymakers Shouldn’t Wait for a “Cyber 9/11” or “Digital Pearl Harbor” to Act on Long-Term Cyber Strategies
Digital attacks on critical infrastructure are occurring at a pace that is overwhelming defenders, yet not alarming the public enough to push for greater accountability in the defense of hospitals, schools, and energy distributors. For over a decade [...]
Prospects for U.S.-Japan-Europe Security Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific with Zack Cooper
In recent years, the world’s attention has shifted toward the Indo-Pacific. As concerns over the rise of China and other regional challenges have intensified, the US and Japan have taken steps to strengthen their security cooperation and Europe has [...]
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Announcements We’re hiring! We are looking for a Data Analyst and a Program Assistant to join our team in Washington, D.C., and a Head of European Operations to join our team in Brussels. Apply now! Our Take RT Deutsch has become the most promine [...]
Hamilton Toplines: August 30–September 5, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian state media and diplomats continued to focus on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover of the country; although, the amount of coverage declined slightly from previous weeks. Kremlin-linked Twitter [...]
Maurice Turner in WSJ: Ransomware Payments Should Not Be Made Illegal
Making ransomware payments illegal would eliminate one of the few options that victims have to recover their data and get back to work quickly. Time is money. Sometimes paying a ransom is less expensive than withholding one—and being forced to labor [...]
Russia Sows Distrust on Social Media Ahead of German Election
RT Deutsch, the Kremlin-backed media outlet, has become a major player on social media just weeks before the polls open. A video on YouTube alleging anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in Germany was viewed more than a million times. A Facebook post p [...]
Germany is Vulnerable before the Elections but Can Still Escape Interference Attempts
Sooner or later harmful trends observed in the United States often take hold in Germany. They might not be at the scale of what Americans confront, but the telltale signs are evident even in Germany’s strong democracy. That especially applies to ele [...]
Information Manipulation in Germany’s Federal Election
Germany’s ongoing election campaign is an alluring target for foreign and domestic actors seeking to influence and undermine the democratic process. The Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) and the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the U [...]
Josh Kirschenbaum Discusses Shoring Up Anti-Money Laundering Supervision in Europe with PIEE
A series of anti–money laundering (AML) supervisory fiascos since 2018 have raised doubts about the integrity of the EU financial system. In July, the European Commission published wide-ranging proposals for reform, including the creation of a new E [...]
Laura Thornton in Civil Georgia: Perilous Choice: Georgia’s COVID Elections
Georgia’s local elections scheduled for October represent more than choosing important mayoral and sakrebulo (local council) positions. The political stakes are higher, than what the local elections usually entail. Based on the EU-negotiated agreeme [...]