Why subscribe?

Welcome to the Omelas newsletter. At Omelas, we expose the way authoritarians manipulate the internet. Each Friday, we provide you with the top stories in authoritarian states, based on our analysis of tens of thousands of articles in local media. In each country, the state dominates the media environment, but to see these articles as merely tools of maintaining power would be a mistake. The writing reflects the assumptions and frameworks through which our adversaries see the world. By understanding the rationale they give their own people, and that they tell themselves, we avoid the error of applying our own worldview to vastly different circumstances. Better understanding leads to better responses and better results. For each story we provide not only pro-government sources but opposition and Western-backed local sources as well.