Here is the truth: Erdoğan, who spoke at AEI a few years ago, has begun to transform Turkey into an Islamist bastion.

Left in the ruble of civil society in Russia are only stagnation, hatred, and radicalism. Left behind is scorched earth, incapable of upholding democratic institutions, when this regime falls or implodes – just as happened after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In late May, Sergei Guriev, a prominent Russian economist and dean of Moscow's prestigious New Economic School, fled Russia fearing imminent arrest. His crime? Being critical of the Putin regime.

When a small group of environmentalists banded together on May 28 to save an Istanbul park from being turned into a shopping mall, their sit-in hardly seemed likely to spark what is already being called the Turkish Spring.

Every assault on civil society is a tragedy for Russia. Nongovernmental organizations are, first and foremost, schools of democracy, teaching personal responsibility, self-organization, peaceful dissent and compromise. Left in their rubble are stagnation, hatred and radicalism.

The centrality of hydrocarbons to Russia’s economy is hardly a new issue, but it is one well worth revisiting today. With a likely significant thinning of oil and gas rents, at stake might be the stability of the regime and perhaps even its survival.

Suddenly there is a tiny bright spot on the decidedly bleak social canvass of Vladimir Putin's Russia. For the first time in history, the Russians will be able to turn right on red.

Since the end of the Cold War, the Netherlands has sharply decreased its defense spending while inflating domestic welfare spending. However, the Netherlands' North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership and potential strategic importance require more defense spending.

The Putin Doctrine leaves little room for compromise with the United States when Moscow believes that Washington is undermining Russia’s status as a great power.

Although U.S. President Barack Obama has signaled lately that he will attempt to revive the "reset" with Russia, Washington's best option may well be a strategic pause: a much-scaled-down mode of interaction that reflects the growing disparity in values and objectives between the two countries yet preserves frank dialogue and even cooperation in a few select areas.