Worldcrunch
Slovakia, which shares a border with Ukraine, saw liberal President Zuzana Čaputová’s confirmation that she will not seek re-election, in part because of threats against her tough stance on Russia’s invasion. How will the war shape the future direction of Slovakian politics, and vice-versa?
After Beijing’s dubious push to lead negotiations on settling the war in Ukraine, now it’s South Africa’s turn. But its “ambiguous” neutrality on the war — and reports of secret weapons sales to Russia — raise serious skepticism in Kyiv and the West.
Both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his challenger, Kamel Kilicdaroglu, have cast doubt on the first round results. Heading into the second round on May 28, recalling recent examples, in the U.S. and Brazil, we may again see what happens when a populist is faced with giving up power.
Daniel Ortega is inaugurated as president of Nicaragua for the first time on this day in 1985. What is Daniel Ortega known for? Daniel Ortega led the Nicaraguan Revolution, which overthrew the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle and was meant to liberate the small central American country from U.S. imperialism. Ortega’s first term of president […]
It is now a certainty that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will be confirmed in office at the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, currently being held in Beijing. At 69, Xi may also be named “Chairman”…which would is cause for a certain comparison.
International newspapers pay homage to the last of the USSR leaders.
As Sri Lanka looks to choose a new leader, the country’s acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe is already behaving like an autocrat. Only by listening to the goals of the people’s movement can the country be rescued from ruin.
Despite his clear victory yesterday in the French presidential election against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron now faces immense challenges in a highly polarized country.
Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko has taken refuge in Poland after being accused of treason and cooperation with Russia. It’s a film we’ve seen before in Kyiv.
A source of major concern for investors and the economic and political elite, Peru’s freshly-inaugurated leftist president is now trying to make nice. What happens next, though, is anybody’s guess.
In a recent government meeting, the Russian strongman once again showed off his trademark flare for political theater, promising, among other things, to leave his foreign foes toothless.
Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is sending more and more protesters to prison to try to prevent a new mass mobilization.
Up against a microscopic virus, the world’s leaders have failed myriad different ways to do what was necessary to beat the pandemic. Was another fate possible?
The head of state, a political outsider who had promised to fight corruption, must contend with the powerful oligarchs in his own entourage at the risk of disappointing his voters.
The assault on the Capitol wasn’t an attempted coup, per se. But the ramifications of how to hold Trump responsible are fundamental for the future of the American democracy.
For all his experience in government, Biden is entering unfamiliar territory. Trump, barking at the president-elect’s heels and challenging his legitimacy, will try to make the transition harder still.
Will Biden guarantee warmer relations with historic allies and tougher stances on human rights? A region-by-region wrap up by Le Monde.
The decisive reelection of the left in Bolivia, after Evo Morales was crudely ousted, is a message to all those powers that aim to unseat the popular will.
What is happening in India is casting a long shadow on the forthcoming U.S. elections.
A leader can, in good conscience, conceal dysfunctions, hide problems or mitigate difficulties. Telling white lies allows him to restore hope for his allies, and rekindle their desire to act. But what happens when it is the very definition of self-serving
Forced into exile in Lithuania after the contested Aug. 9 Belarusian presidential election, Tikhanovskaya is not giving up the struggle to push strongman Alexander Lukashenko from power.
Violent clashes continue to rock Belarus after opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was forced to flee the country, following President Lukashenko’s reelection.
A largely unknown figure until recently, candidate Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya is now challenging to end the 26-year presidency of Alexander Lukashenko.
Welcome to Tuesday, where Peru’s contested election finally gets a winner, the Olympics bubble system is broken and another billionaire is blasting off for space. German daily Die Welt also explains why Asian countries, which were previously considered successful COVID tamers, are now struggling with new waves of infections. • Pedro Castillo declared winner of […]
The protests, pandemic and poor U.S. jobs numbers all seem to spell trouble for President Donald Trump. But his challenger has a few disadvantages of his own.
Charles de Gaulle was the first world leader to truly understand the power of television, using regular presidential broadcasts as a way to circumvent French legislators, labor unions and other levers of democratic influence.
Colombians are the latest in Latin America to take to the streets, in what may be the ‘first clang of the bell’ of many aimed at President Ivan Duque.
It’s no secret that Brazil’s ultra-conservative leader and the incoming president of Argentina have deeply divergent political leanings.
Election winners Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner will soon take over leadership of the country. But they’ve also lost momentum already …
Throughout an exceptionally long political career, Jacques Chirac, who died Thursday at 86, personified the paradoxes of a country passing from one century to another.
PARIS — He looks the part. Michel Barnier, the former French cabinet minister and longtime EU political fixture, could easily be plucked by Hollywood casting agents to play the role of European Commission president. Whether he gets the job in the coming days is a question too complex for any movie script — or news […]
A recent trip to Caracas showed a city where many people continue to function for better or worse, and where the rich are still living large.
The Western-aligned Lima Group is now seeking help from the more neutral International Contact Group, and even Cuba, to resolve the political deadlock in Venezuela.
Ukraine’s president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy has learned how to appeal to the whole country — but now this former comedian has to learn how to rule it.
-Analysis- It’s a striking contrast in both age and public exposure. Defying a sometimes repressive police force, a bold youth-led Algerian street protest movement has risen up against the North African country’s aging and largely invisible leader. Tens of thousands demonstrated over the past couple of weeks against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to seek a […]
Venezuela’s next problem, besides a crashed economy and an authoritarian regime, may be an opposition president incapable of running the country.
With the rise of social networking, fake news and changing psychologies, political parties have little use now for traditional campaigns.
The outgoing Mexican president consolidated Mexico’s macroeconomic foundations. His socialist successor, the wildly popular López Obrador, may turn out to be a bigger disappointment.
President-elects Jair Bolsonaro and Andrés Manuel López Obrador may not have the same ideology, but their respective radical declarations are prompting concerns over the rule of law and treatment of minorities.
BOGOTÁ — The peace accords signed two years ago with the demobilized FARC guerillas continue to divide Colombians politically, as do questions over how the country should go about ending the conflict with ELN rebels, solve the problem of drug production, and terminate the illegal businesses that have fueled so much barbarism over the years. […]