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United States Institute of Peace

James Rupert

Senior Writer/Editor, Public Affairs and Communications

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James Rupert is a senior writer and editor at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

As a foreign affairs correspondent Rupert has reported from more than 70 countries for the Washington Post, Newsday and Bloomberg News, and served as a foreign affairs editor at the Post and Newsday. Over a 30-year journalism career, he has served as a resident correspondent in Morocco, Tunisia, France, India, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Cote d’Ivoire and Pakistan. His coverage has focused heavily on South and Central Asia, the Arab and Islamic worlds, the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa.

Rupert is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow and Michigan Journalism (now Knight-Wallace) Fellow. Before joining USIP in 2015, he served as a writer at the Atlantic Council and editor of its UkraineAlert newsletter.

Rupert graduated from Swarthmore College in 1979 and served as a Peace Corps volunteer, building and teaching in a vocational school in Morocco.

Publications By James

Russia’s Disinformation Targets Moldova’s Ties with Europe

Russia’s Disinformation Targets Moldova’s Ties with Europe

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

By: Steven Youngblood ;  James Rupert

Moldova is at war with Russia, even though not a single shot has been fired. This conflict, which Romanian-speaking Moldovans call a “razboi hibrid” (hybrid war), poses risks to Moldova and its Eastern European neighbors not unlike a traditional shooting war. As Moldova and Ukraine began separate talks last week to join the European Union, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated its campaign of disinformation and political interference to derail Moldovans’ European and democratic aspirations. Moscow is targeting a critical decision point for Moldova: national elections and a plebiscite on EU membership over the next 13 months.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

Moldova: As Russia Fuels Conflict, Could Churches Build Peace?

Moldova: As Russia Fuels Conflict, Could Churches Build Peace?

Thursday, June 6, 2024

By: James Rupert

Russia’s escalating campaign to block Moldova from joining the European Union reflects a weakening in Eastern Europe of a longstanding Russian lever of regional influence: its Orthodox church. A number of Moldovan Orthodox priests and parishes are campaigning to withdraw their nation’s churches from two centuries of formal subordination to Russia’s church, and Moldova’s senior prelate has bluntly condemned his superior, the Russian Orthodox Church patriarch, for supporting Moscow’s war on Ukraine. As conflict escalates this year over Moldova’s future, advocates of European democracy and stability might strengthen both by supporting dialogue to reduce conflict between Moldova’s historically Russia-linked church and its smaller rival, subordinate to the Orthodox hierarchy in neighboring Romania.

Type: Analysis

Religion

At the Sahel’s Center, Tension Rises Over Chad’s Disputed Election

At the Sahel’s Center, Tension Rises Over Chad’s Disputed Election

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

By: Dr. Yamingué Bétinbaye;  Kamel Fakhry;  James Rupert

A disputed presidential election in Chad last week is making few global headlines, but poses new risks to African and international efforts to reverse the Sahel region’s spreading instability, conflict and human displacement. Chad is centered in the world’s largest belt of military rule: six nations across Africa that have suffered armed coups since 2020. Among them, Chad is the first to hold elections to restore civilian rule. But a string of setbacks to a fully credible vote has yielded a contested result that risks further domestic conflict and a narrowing of popular legitimacy for the next government, led by the incumbent transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Type: Analysis

Global Elections & Conflict

In Russia’s Hybrid War on Europe, Moldova’s Critical Next 15 Months

In Russia’s Hybrid War on Europe, Moldova’s Critical Next 15 Months

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

By: Donald N. Jensen, Ph.D.;  James Rupert

A rising risk in southeast Europe is Russia’s sharpening of conflicts to block Moldova’s effort to join the European Union. The Kremlin is escalating a hybrid campaign to manipulate three Moldovan elections over the next 15 months. Moscow last week hosted the formation of a political bloc around its primary Moldovan ally, a fugitive billionaire convicted of the country’s worst-ever bank fraud — and sent a startling flood of pre-election cash that police seized at Moldova’s main airport. This is a critical season for Moldova’s democratic allies to help it defeat Russian disinformation and election subversion.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

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