The modern digital landscape has fundamentally rewritten how we connect with our neighbors, but it has come at a significant cost to the truth. According to a recent and troubling report from the Social Market Foundation (SMF), titled “No news is bad news,” our local communities are being hollowed out by a lack of reliable information. As traditional local newspapers shutter their doors, they leave a vacuum in their wake—a void that is being rapidly filled by online rumors, manufactured outrage, and digital misinformation. The study, which scrutinized 125,000 social media posts, paints a stark picture: in areas categorized as…

Armenia recently held a pivotal election for its National Assembly, a ballot that served as a critical litmus test for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government’s explicit pivot toward the West. With final results confirming that his Civil Contract party secured 49.8 percent of the vote, the election highlights a nation at a strategic crossroads. For years, Armenia leaned heavily on Russia as its primary security partner; however, that relationship fractured following the 2023 loss of Nagorno-Karabakh. Feeling abandoned by Moscow, Pashinyan has spent his recent tenure seeking stronger, more reliable alliances with the European Union and the United…