The political novice set to become Italy’s next prime minister has called himself the ‘defense lawyer’ of the people. While Conte’s words mirror the aspirations of today’s anti-establishment parties, they also have deeper roots in Western history.
Tag: politics
Lula da Silva needed the backing of big business interests to continue in politics, and his recent conviction shows they may have turned their back on his social-democratic model.
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Mother Russia And Us, What Now?
The result came as no surprise: Vladimir Putin won yesterday’s Russian presidential election and will serve a fourth term. More importantly for the Kremlin leader, he obtained the comfortable result he was seeking, with 76.6% of the vote, up from 63.3% in the last election six years ago. Yes, nearly two decades after emerging from […]
-Analysis- There is no set recipe for democracy. Still, we can agree that the ingredients must include basic guarantees of free speech and free elections: If you don’t have the right to speak out against those in charge — and eventually vote them out of power — you are living under some form of rule […]
-Analysis- MEXICO CITY — He has been a staple of Mexican politics for decades, having twice sought the presidency. The message is always the same: the moneyed classes must be taken down. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a hardline leftist rabble-rouser, has come close twice to clinching the top office in a country dripping with oil, […]
The economic and political tragedy unfolding in Venezuela should be a call to action for the rest of the region’s countries, especially with the early presidential election (April 22) looming.
After a difficult 15 years, relations between New Delhi and Tehran are in need of improvement. The recent visit in India by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was key first step.
Weighing collateral damage in the wake of Oxfam prostitution scandal.
CAIRO — “Angry” was the way many described President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s improvised speech during the inauguration ceremony of the Zohr natural gas field on January 31. The president declared that the only way Egypt’s national security could be compromised was over his “dead body” and the “dead body of the military.” But with whom […]
The legalistic formula the Bolivian leader has found to perpetuate his presidency is despotic and shameful.
Impeachment is coming, and other failed predictions.
The recent disappearance of a navy submarine reveals some persistent traits from Argentina’s dictatorial past: lessons from the ocean’s victims and Jungian wisdom.
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Rahul Gandhi: India’s Comeback Kid?
Slowly but surely, the Congress party is regaining its footing, and the scion to India’s political dynasty, the man who everyone gave up on, has newfound confidence.
Mugabe and Maduro share much in common, starting with the rare ability to gut the resources of a promising national economy and disregard the will of the people. But there is an important difference that may explain who survives another day.
-OpEd- As the old saying goes, no situation is so bad that it can’t get worse. The cruel irony of Venezuela’s going from bad to worse is how the government of President Nicolás Maduro is incompetent at everything save keeping power. It is a power play designed to spread suffering further every day, while keeping […]
-Analysis- A political neophyte who launched his presidential campaign by railing against Mexican “rapists’ and “murderers’ was never supposed to win, especially against a seasoned stateswoman backed by her party’s establishment. Add to that unthinkable episodes, like his mocking a disabled reporter or the revelation of the infamous “grab ‘em by the p***y” recording, and […]
China, Russia and the U.S. see potential and risks. And for now, there’s still no form of governance to oversee AI development — technology moves faster than diplomacy.
-Analysis- Some shoes are just too big to fill. Take the ones left behind by Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died just over a year ago at 88, and whose five-day cremation ceremony began in Bangkok yesterday after 12 months of national mourning. The longest-reigning monarch in Thai history served for 70 years, and was […]
Much has and hasn’t changed in Poland since the fall of Communism. But while the country’s economy is rolling, sharp differences in ideology bring real risks for the future.
BERLIN — Sebastian Kurz was faster than Emmanuel Macron. Following the rapid rise of this year’s other young political superstar, Kurz’s victory Sunday in Austria“s parliamentary election was even more stunning — and swift. He needed only five months to pull off three unbelievable feats: to rebuild the washed-out Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) into a […]
French President Emmanuel Macron has just set himself up as the European Union’s would-be savior. Seen from a Swiss point of view, there’s no better option out there.
German elections will see the results of a seismic change within the German political landscape, as Merkel’s moderate policies have opened space on the right for extremists.
-OpEd- BUENOS AIRES — In Latin America today, what is the future of populism? In Ecuador, socialists in power are discussing among themselves how to abandon populism. President Lenin Moreno seems determined to ditch populist policies. The economy’s figures are in red due to overspending and foreign debt. The viability of its redistributive system has […]
João Lourenço succeeds José Eduardo Dos Santos, who ruled with an iron fist since 1979. But Dos Santos has been busy keeping his hands on the levers of power.
-Analysis- Even as the European Union has wavered on whether to let Turkey into its exclusive grouping, Ankara has flexed its muscles within the bloc. It has done so by using a shared tool and resource to fight crime: Interpol. Last Saturday, Spanish authorities arrested author Dogan Akhanli after Turkey issued an Interpol arrest warrant […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump’s presidency has produced a proliferation of Eeyores. It’s not their (our) fault. However dismal one’s view of current American politics, Trump is sure to expose it, with a tweet or the lack of one, as a naive and rosy fantasy. Each day, we adjust our sights down. Each day, the president forces our gaze lower. Some conservatives might take comfort in the prospect — wish, really — of a President Mike Pence assuming office before the current occupant’s term is up. The Indiana Republican is as dull and serviceable a politician as Trump is bizarre […]
OTTAWA — One has brown hair, the other orange. One is effortlessly bilingual, the other horrifies editors of the Oxford English Dictionary. One openly calls himself a feminist, the other grabs female genitals. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes for a tempting contrast with President Trump. He seems like the picture of serene and right-thinking liberal mindedness compared with all of the United States’ most cartoonishly boorish elements. As a Canadian, I’m not surprised that the American news media and the Internet are saturated by swooning profiles. The Rolling Stone cover story “Why Can’t He Be Our President” was only […]
-Analysis- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is having a bad week. First, the news last Thursday that the Israeli police is investigating Netanyahu for suspected bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The next day, his former chief of staff, Ari Harow, who is also under investigation, agreed to turn state’s witness in two cases involving […]
-Analysis- Long before Angela Merkel or even Margaret Thatcher, Indian politics has produced some fearsome female leaders. Indira Gandhi, also known as the “Iron Lady” of India, took office as the first female prime minister of the country in 1966 and returned for another term in 1980. Years after Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi, carried forward both the family and female legacy, and still stands as longstanding president of the Indian National Congress party. Lesser known abroad, but in some ways perhaps even more influential, was Jayalalithaa, fondly known as Amma (“Mother”), who ruled the huge southern […]
-Essay- TAIPEI — I still recall the long journey I made in 1987 during my first visit in China, traveling in crammed buses with the smells of caged poultry on board. Through Guangzhou in Canton, and the famous mountain landscape of Guilin and Yangshuo in the southeast province of Guangxi, I recall being amazed that, […]
For the first time since India established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, an Indian prime minister traveled to Israel. Narendra Modi’s historic three-day visit began today in Tel Aviv, where Benjamin Netanyahu personally welcomed him at Ben Gurion airport — a rare airport greeting from the Israeli prime minister. The airport pickup signifies the considerable elevation at which Indian-Israeli relations have been lifted to. The Asian giant has traditionally walked a tightrope between Israel and Muslim-majority nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have supplied it oil. India has also long lent support to the Palestinian cause, particularly under […]
-OpEd- Can you be a Christian and a politician? I’m not talking about a fundamentalist who would seek to apply Biblical precepts across all of society. I’m talking about a “moderate” Christian, one who knows how to distinguish between the moral principles that rule his life and the secular values that rule the life of […]
In Finland and Norway, right-wing, anti-elite and anti-immigration parties have had to adapt to the problems of power, but they still can fire up the base by playing to their gut.
“A Masterstroke,” “A Tsunami,” “The Takeover.” Newspapers in France summoned their best metaphors this morning to describe what already looks like a landslide — yes, another favorite electoral metaphor — in favor of Emmanuel Macron’s party in yesterday’s first round of legislative voting. Ahead of next Sunday’s second and final round, the new president’s party […]
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The Losers Of British Democracy
The British pollsters — and prime minister — have come up short once again. The surprisingly lackluster performance of the Conservatives in Britain’s snap election yesterday has dealt a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May. Following David Cameron’s Brexit debacle on June 23, 2016, this marks the second time in less than a year that […]
-Analysis- PARIS — Just two weeks after the tragedy in Manchester, the United Kingdom has once again been hit by a terror attack. And it was carried out with a modus operandi we’ve become familiar with: A van rams into pedestrians in a busy area before the terrorists go on a killing spree, weapons in […]
Yesterday, as he announced the United States’ withdrawal from the historic Paris climate agreement, President Donald Trump appeared particularly eager to deride the perceived exploitation of America in past international negotiations. “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore, and they won’t be.” No, Mr. President, no one is laughing today. […]
-Analysis- Donald Trump makes a lot of noise. In the past week alone, he made headlines for saying he thought being president of the United States “would be easier” and for calling North Korea’s Kim Jong-un “a tough cookie.” But friends and foes alike have advised us to pay attention to what he does more […]
PARIS — Five days ahead of the showdown between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in France’s crucial presidential elections, Worldcrunch has asked Camille Langlade, a political reporter at the 24-hour French news channel BFMTV to share her experiences covering the non-stop action of national political campaigns, and more. This is the first installment in […]
-Analysis- PARIS — Such a result was unthinkable just a few months ago: For the first time in the more than half-century history of the Fifth Republic, the top two vote-getters in the first round of the French presidential election — now qualified for the runoff next month — belong to neither of the country’s […]