Renewal and Reflection: A Message From RDI’s CEO

With a name like Uriel Epshtein, I’d be hard-pressed to escape my Jewishness even if I wanted to (something far-right and far-left Twitter trolls are always keen to remind me of). So it will come as no surprise that I’m celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, this week.

New Year’s is a pretty universal concept—just about every culture has one. Whether you call your new year Rosh Hashanah, Nowruz, or Noviy God, we all share annual traditions of reflection, renewal, and a fresh start.

For those of us in the pro-democracy community, these ideas are all the more important this year. The last twelve months have been… eventful, to say the least. One year ago, Iran-backed Hamas terrorists slaughtered over a thousand people and took hundreds hostage. October 7 was not only an assault on Israel or the Jewish people, it was an attack on humanity. Indiscriminate terrorism claimed victims of over 30 nationalities. Its knock-on effects continue to be felt in new and visceral ways across the Middle East and in our own national debate. Despots from Tehran to Moscow to Beijing seized upon growing discord to sow dissension in the free world.

But whenever we come to a juncture like the New Year, we can’t just look back. These crises have animated our dedicated team and instilled new purpose in RDI’s work in the months ahead. We are currently launching new digital content to more effectively fight the information war against dictators and their propagandists. We are building relationships on college campuses in order to restore students' faith in democratic institutions ahead of a contentious presidential election. And we are continuing to deliver aid to Ukraine, so that no matter how the news cycle shifts, support for frontline democracies remains a priority.

To those who are observing Rosh Hashanah this week—shana tova u’metuka, a happy and sweet New Year. And for all of us, let’s take a moment to remember that we can be clear-eyed about the challenges we face, while remaining excited and energized to build a more just, secure, and free world in the coming year. Thanks for supporting RDI and for reading The Democracy Brief—I'm excited to see what we build together next!

Uriel Epshtein

CEO Renew Democracy Initiative

On Monday, it will be a year since Hamas terrorists crossed over the Gaza border into Israel where they killed nearly 1,200 people and took over 200 hostages.

Mere hours after the attack, Russia, China, and Iran began planting the seeds for a coordinated disinformation campaign, setting up accounts across online networks to profess support for Hamas and deepen divisions in the democratic world. Meanwhile, rallies decrying Israel filled the streets of open societies before Israel even had a chance to muster a response.

The eagerness of those living in democracies to apologize for and even celebrate Hamas’ atrocities was bewildering to many. But to those who have been paying attention, it was entirely unsurprising.

The enemies of open societies have been increasingly collaborating across borders. The past year has unfortunately confirmed that the barriers between domestic and foreign threats are becoming more porous. None of this is happening by accident.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are at war. According to Constantine Nicolaidis and Catherine Terranova—two experts who are working to define this new domain of warfare—the nature of the battlefield has changed.

I spoke with Nicolaidis and Terranova this week to make sense of the shifting storm of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda hanging over America in the aftermath of October 7.

The leader of Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over the weekend. With its attacks on Lebanon, Israel asked Iran the question: Will it be provoked into a wider regional war? Or will it recede further into the shadows. The regime in Tehran answered by launching a two-wave attack consisting of 180 ballistic missiles targeting Tel Aviv. With bated breath, we wait for what comes next.

2. The hidden link between democracy and autocracy

Trump came “within an inch of withdrawing” from NATO, his former national security advisor says. His disregard for the rules-based international order led him to conflict with his own advisors and towards a betrayal of America’s longtime friends. In the newest episode of The Atlantic podcast “Autocracy in America,” Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev explore the connections between the weakening of American democracy and other at-risk democracies. Is kleptocracy the bridge between an undermined democracy and a potential autocracy?

3. We really need to talk about transnational repression

“The Kremlin is hunting down ordinary people across the world, and nobody seems to care,” writes Lilia Yapparova, an investigative journalist with the independent Russian news site Meduza based in Latvia. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of Russians like Yapparova living abroad. Many of them left home because they didn’t want anything to do with Putin’s war in Ukraine. Now the Russian state is following them, harassing them… or worse.

4. The battle over Wikipedia

Wikipedia’s rules seem easy enough. If a claim is to be kept in one of their articles, it is going to need a reliable, published source. But what happens when Wikipedia editors can’t agree on what a reliable source is? The battle over the truth now extends to everyone’s favorite online encyclopedia. The skew benefits one party, which isn’t good for democracy, writes Ashley Rindsberg in The Free Press.

5. The value of a veteran VP

This week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance debated for the first and perhaps last time. For the first time in decades, both vice presidential candidates are veterans. “Military service doesn’t automatically make someone a great leader,” writes Adam Kinzinger in The xxxxxx. It depends what they did during their military service, but also what they do with that experience once they are elected.

We Can’t Just Talk About the Electoral College Every Four Years

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By Evan Gottesman — September 26, 2024

Last month, RDI brought some of it’s closest friends and supporters together for a special Gettysburg Battlefield Staff Ride led by RDI Advisory Board Member General Stanley McChrystal.

Over dinner, General McChrystal led an informative discussion on critical leadership lessons from the Civil War, and the attendees reflected on how to apply those lessons to the divisions seen in America today.

Attendees seeking an extra challenge joined General McChrystal for one of his infamous morning PT sessions through the streets of Gettysburg, setting the the tone before the battlefield tour.

At a moment when America is being threatened at home, it is important to reflect on the resilience it took for our republic to survive and overcome the single greatest internal crisis it has ever faced.

RDI is looking forward to hosting more events like this for its growing community. If you would like to learn more about getting involved with events like these, please email [email protected].