Tag Archives: authoritarians

Bloomberg News reports: President Donald Trump said he is weighing a move that would absorb the US Postal Service, an independent agency, into the Department of Commerce, a sweeping change that comes as his administration looks to overhaul the US federal government. Asked about a move to shift the agency into the Commerce Department, Trump said the idea he is …

Politico Europe reports: Vladimir Putin tightened his grip on power, claiming another six-year term as Russian president after a brutally distorted election in which all serious challengers were wiped out before voting began. With 30 percent of ballots counted, Putin’s tally stood at 87.68% of the vote, election officials announced on Sunday. Putin’s victory was never in doubt. But this …

“We can’t interfere in the elections of other countries, but we really want President Donald Trump to return to the White House and make peace here in Eastern Europe. It is time for another Make America Great Again presidency in America.” – Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban in a speech posted to Twitter with the tagline, “the name of peace is …

Reuters reports: Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested in Budapest on Friday at the biggest rally against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government for years, after a sex-abuse case pardon by President Katalin Novak caused public uproar and led to her resignation. Conservative Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has sought to defuse the week-old scandal that brought down …

The Telegraph reports: Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, has warned those celebrating Christmas to “be careful not to become a communist” in a bizarre seasonal message to his followers. Mr Milei, who took office earlier this month after winning the October elections on a promise to take a chainsaw to public spending. The Libertarian former rock singer appears brandishing …

Bloomberg News reports: Veteran Russian pro-democracy politician Grigory Yavlinsky decided against running in the upcoming presidential race in which Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to secure a crushing victory. Yavlinsky, 71, the three-time candidate, won’t take part in the election, his press service said Saturday. He would only consider running if he got 10 million signatures to support his …

Politico Europe reports: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Thursday the European Commission is blackmailing Hungary by withholding billions in frozen funds over rule-of-law concerns. Orbán said the blackmail is “a fact,” even admitted by the blackmailers themselves — members of the European Parliament. “In our view, Hungary fulfills all the qualities of the rule of law, and when the …

Bloomberg News reports: President Javier Milei is moving preemptively to curb protests against his austerity measures in Argentina, which include deep budget cuts and reduced subsidies for energy and transportation. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced that Argentina’s federal forces will intervene in any protests or street blockades conducted without a permit. “The law is not obeyed in part. The law …

CNBC reports: Incumbent Russian leader Vladimir Putin has confirmed he will run in the national presidential elections of 2024, state news agency Tass reported, according to a Google translation. Putin has run Russia for roughly 24 years, alternatively serving as prime minister and president since 1999. Securing another presidential mandate in 2024 would see him remain at the helm of …

The Associated Press reports: Hungary’s cultural minister on Monday fired the director of the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, accusing him of failing to comply with a contentious law that bans the display of LGBTQ+ content to minors. The dismissal of Laszlo L. Simon, who became director of the museum for a five-year term in 2021, came after Hungary’s government …

Reuters reports: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday renewed an attack on the European Union for conducting what he called an “LGBTQ offensive”, saying his nationalist government would protect the country’s Christian roots. In a speech in Romania, Orban – a long-standing critic of Brussels – also said he hoped next year’s European parliament elections would strengthen governments within …

Bloomberg News reports: A majority of Brazil’s electoral court voted to bar Jair Bolsonaro from public office for eight years in what amounts to the first major legal rebuke of the former president, whose efforts to sow doubt about the 2022 election have now put his political future at risk. Four of the court’s seven judges said that the right-wing …

Reuters reports: President Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in Turkey’s presidential election on Sunday, a win that would steer his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade. Addressing supporters, Erdogan said voters had given him the responsibility to rule for the next five years. The election had been seen as one of the most consequential yet for Turkey, with the opposition …

Florida Politics reports: The Florida State Guard’s (FSG) budget will grow to 10 times its current level, nearly quadruple in personnel, and become a permanent part of state government under legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed. The measure (HB 1285), promulgated by Republican Rep. Mike Giallombardo, creates a Division of the State Guard within the Department of Military Affairs as …

ABC News reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to forgo a traditional presidential campaign launch and will instead hold his “campaign kickoff” event next week in the key state of Iowa, according to campaign plans exclusively obtained by ABC News. The May 30 kickoff event will begin a four-day swing through 12 cities and towns in the early nominating states …

The Daily Beast reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin bizarrely claimed Friday that Kremlin critics living in exile drink beer with “female sex hormones.” Appearing virtually at a meeting of the council on foreign relations, Putin appeared nervous as he tried out a bit of stand-up comedy with his underlings and clumsily read from cue cards. “Let them continue to drink …

Bloomberg reports: Turkey is set to head to a runoff in a vote that’s become the strongest electoral test yet of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s two decades in power. While preliminary results Monday showed Erdogan with a lead of more than 2 million votes, it wasn’t enough to secure the more than 50% of the ballot and avoid a second …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis has been fortified with millions of dollars in taxpayer money for legal fights stemming from his polarizing legislative agenda, with the scene now shifting from the Capitol to the courthouse. Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate tucked an unprecedented almost $16 million into the state’s $117 billion budget for litigation costs to …

The Daily Beast reports: Turkish opposition officials say their supporters will take to the streets in “massive protests” if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan follows through on his threat not to concede power if he loses this Sunday’s presidential election. Erdogan has implied that his main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), is being supported by a …

From the editorial board of the Washington Post: Backed by GOP supermajorities in both chambers, Mr. DeSantis is waging frontal assaults on press freedom, reproductive freedom, free enterprise and academic freedom. Meanwhile, in the name of protecting gun rights, he has scaled back prudent safety rules. And now he’s poised to target undocumented immigrants, including “dreamers,” with what will be …