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☆ Opinion | The Great Struggle for Liberalism
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( David Brooks | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 1978, the Russian dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn gave a commencement address at Harvard, warning us about the loss of American self-confidence and will. “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today,” he declared. The enemies of liberal democracy seem to be full of passionate intensity — Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, campus radicals. He shows how it was created by real people in real communities who wanted richer, fuller and more dynamic lives. The Dutch merchant fleet was capable of carrying more tonnage than the fleets of France, England, Scotland, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and Portugal combined.

Persons: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ”, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, Fareed Zakaria’s, Zakaria doesn’t Organizations: Harvard, Republicans, Trump Locations: Russian, West, Dutch Republic, Dutch, France, England, Scotland, Empire, Spain, Portugal, Paris

Look no further than the close and historically complicated relationship that American presidents and congressional leaders have negotiated with Israel leaders over the last 75 years. Obama declined to invite Netanyahu to the White House during the visit, with White House officials saying that holding such a visit so close to Israel's election would be inappropriate. The standard Obama set for a White House visit wasn't one Bill Clinton subscribed to years earlier. The bigger the ally's economy, the less likely American leaders are to meddle openly in its elections. “There are moments when American leaders want to and need to speak out and have their say.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Mitch McConnell, Schumer, ”, Mike Johnson, Benny Gantz, Netanyahu, Schumer's, Netanyahu —, “, —, Aaron David Miller, Donald Trump, John Boehner, Boehner, Barack Obama's, Obama, wasn't, Bill Clinton, Clinton, Shimon Peres, Peres, Edward Frantz, meddle, ” Frantz, November's, Donald Tusk, Tusk, Andrzej Duda, Johnson, Biden, Viktor Orbán, Orbán, Trump, David Pressman, Jake Sullivan, ” Sullivan, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, George H.W, Bush, ” Miller Organizations: WASHINGTON, — Republicans, Democratic, Republican, Israel, Carnegie Endowment, International Peace, U.S, White, Israeli, University of Indianapolis, November's Biden, Trump, NATO, Polish, Biden, Republican House, Hungarian, White House Locations: Gaza, Israel, East, United States, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, U.S, Hungarian, ” Hungary, Budapest, Sinai, Suez

☆ Child abuse scandal rattles Orban’s image as defender of ‘family values’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Orban has long posed as a globetrotting defender of Christian values and an enemy of liberalism. But Orban’s critics say his carefully constructed image is a thin guise for a plutocratic mode of governance designed to enrich a small group of oligarchs. The scandal could also weaken Hungary’s bid to gain more influence in Brussels in the upcoming European elections. Since the scandal was revealed last weekend by Hungarian news site 444.hu, “Orban has not made an appearance or said anything. Critics argue that Orban’s proposed constitutional solution to the scandal is a symptom of his autocratic mode of governance.

Persons: CNN —, Viktor Orban, Katalin Novak, Orban’s, ”, Judit Varga, Fidesz party’s, Varga, Orban, Hungary’s, “ Orban, Kim Lane Scheppele, Attila Kisbendek, Peter Magyar, “, ” Magyar, Magyar, Hungary ”, ” Orban, Critics, ” Scheppele, Hungary –, Bernadett Szabo, Scheppele, ‘, illiberal, ’ ”, Pope Francis, Eva Fodor, Fodor, Attila Kisbenedek, Zoltan Balog, Balog, hasn’t, Mark Rutte, Europe’s, he’s Organizations: CNN, CNN — Hungary’s, Fidesz, European Union, Princeton University, Partizan, State of, Reuters, Survey, Christian, Central European University, Getty Locations: Washington, Moscow, Brussels, Budapest, AFP, Varga’s, Hungary, State, Christian Europe, China, Venezuela, ”, Netherlands

Adam Bodnar, Poland’s new justice minister, recently explained to me the immense challenge of rebuilding liberal democracy in his country after an eight-year slide toward authoritarianism. Imagine, he said, that Donald Trump had won the last election and been in power for two terms instead of one. Poland is a country that has just gone through something like what Trumpists hope to impose on us in a second term. And now it’s trying to repair itself, which is why I flew there last month. The parallels to the backlash against the American Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, were impossible to miss.

Persons: Adam Bodnar, Donald Trump, Trump, Biden, MAGA, —, Roe, Wade, that’s, Daniel Ziblatt, ” Organizations: Jackson, Health Organization Locations: Poland, American, Dobbs v, Warsaw, America

It's the kind of obstruction of key policy objectives for which Orbán has become notorious within the European Union. “We are the sand in the machinery, the stick between the spokes, the splinter under the fingernail,” Orbán said in a speech to tens of thousands of supporters in 2021. Now, frustrated EU officials are trying to determine what Orbán seeks to achieve with his obstructionist strategy, and how they might overcome it. But with his veto power, the nationalist leader will have plenty of further opportunities to sow discord within the EU. Widely considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, Orbán has been accused by his critics of promoting Moscow’s interests over those of his EU and NATO allies, and of preparing to lead his country out of the EU entirely.

Persons: —, Viktor Orbán, Orbán, ” Orbán, Donald Tusk, “, ”, Péter Krekó, ” Krekó, “ Orbán, Daniel Freund, Freund, it’s, he's, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, “ He’s, he’s, Krekó, Vladimir Putin’s Organizations: NATO, European Union, EU, Conservative Political, Green, United, U.S, Trump, Germany, Political Locations: BUDAPEST, Hungary, Brussels, Polish, Ukraine, Budapest, Germany, France, Italy, Europe, United States, Washington, Netherlands, Union

lydia polgreenSure, but a few things — one thing that was elided in a lot of the discourse about men falling behind really, really, really under emphasized or just ignored the racial component of it. I just don’t — I don’t —ross douthatYeah, there were like five. That’s a really, really, really big shift. Are women going to pay a disproportionate price for childbearing in terms of their economic potential? But I think — Ross wrote a column about just how freaking weird the bizarre conspiracy theories about Taylor and Travis are.

Persons: ross douthat, polgreen, polgreen Oh, — ross douthat, Carlos Lozada, lydia polgreen I’m, Carlos Lazada, ross, michelle cottle, Lozada, lydia polgreen, Jimmy Carter, — ross, Jimmy Carter lusted, michelle cottle Oh, Jimmy, I’m Michelle Cottle, ross douthat I’m Ross Douthat, Lydia Polgreen, lydia polgreen Hoo, Carlos, Gen, topsy turvy, Ronald Reagan, Ross, Bill Clinton, Michelle, — michelle cottle, there’s, John Burn, Murdoch, Lydia, it’s, —, Taylor Swift, I’m, It’s, Roe, Let’s, Let’s —, That’s, I’ve, Andrew Tates, who’s, you’re, We’re, Don’t, we’ve, ” I’m, Trump, — Trump, michelle cottle It’s, Brett Kavanaugh, they’re, let’s, don’t, he’s, ross douthat It’s, michelle cottle Let’s, michelle cottle That’s, couldn’t, Jesus, that’s, michelle cottle We’ve, Taylor, — michelle cottle Travis Kelce, lydia polgreen Travis, — Ross, Travis, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rush Limbaugh’s feminazis, lydia polgreen Feminazis, michelle cottle There’s, michelle cottle You’re, michelle cottle I’ll, lydia polgreen —, we’re, — michelle cottle Partypalooza, sleepovers, — michelle cottle Ah, lydia polgreen Congrats Organizations: New York, Goldwater Republicans, Bill Clinton Democrats, Democrat, Republicans, Confederation, YouTube, Trump, Public Religion Research Institute, South Korea —, Pinterest Locations: American, US, Germany, United Kingdom, South Korea, Poland, Mars, United States, America, France, Korea, Northeast Asia, Africa, Mozambique, Saharan Africa, Europe, New York City, Manhattan

☆ Opinion: The meaning of Black History Month on campus following the ouster of Harvard’s president
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Opinion Khalil Gibran Muhammad | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Black History Month, which gets underway this week, is a chance to give Americans the timely reminder that you can’t teach our history honestly without understanding Black struggle and triumph. There are few aspects of America’s past that haven’t been impacted by conscientious Black people and their resistance to systemic racism and illiberal democracy. The situation at Harvard has been made more dire by the university’s failure to push back sufficiently against broader political attacks. Another vocal critic of Penslar is the former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who was also an outspoken opponent of Gay’s. As an academic institution, we should be leading the resistance to these assaults on higher education, not bowing to them.

Persons: Khalil Gibran Muhammad, ” Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Virginia Foxx, ” Foxx, ”, Claudine Gay, Foxx, “, haven’t, Donald Trump, Adolph Hitler, Alan Garber, Gay, —, Garber, Derek J, Harvard’s, Penslar, Bill Ackman, Lawrence Summers, Black Organizations: Ford Foundation, Harvard University, CNN, Harvard Kennedy School, Republican, University of Pennsylvania, GOP Rep, Global, Harvard Divinity School, “, Racial, Harvard, Republican Party, Equity Locations: American, United States, America, Florida, Gaza, Israel

☆ Germany’s far-right AfD face mounting protests over plan to deport migrants
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Sophie Tanno | Nadine Schmidt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Protests of up to 30,000 people have already taken place in cities including Berlin, Leipzig, Rostock, Essen and Cologne. Demonstrators gathered outside the capital’s redbrick town hall on Wednesday holding placards reading “Nazis out” and chanting slogans against far-right AfD politician Björn Höcke. The gathering of AfD members, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists took place at a lakeside hotel outside the city of Potsdam on November 25. The AfD told CNN that the two “separated with mutual agreement.”However, the idea of a “mass deportation plan” was openly supported by one AfD representative in the state of Brandenberg. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/picture alliance/dpa/Getty ImagesAsked whether he thought the protests would encourage people to stop voting for the AfD, Abaci was hopeful.

Persons: Björn Höcke, Annalena Baerbock, Olaf Scholz, Sebastian Christoph Gollnow, Correctiv, ”, Alice Weidel, Roland Hartwig –, René Springer, Christian Dürr, Rika von Gierke, “, ” “, ’, It’s, ” Kazin, ” Chancellor Scholz, Baerbock, Abaci, Scholz, Robert Habeck, Stern, –, Nadine Schmidt, Sophie Tanno Organizations: Berlin CNN, Potsdam Sunday, CNN, Free Democrats Party, ” Locations: Germany, Berlin, Leipzig, Rostock, Essen, Cologne, Potsdam, Brandenberg, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Nazi, Thuringia, Saxony, Brandenburg, London

☆ Opinion: The real story behind Russia’s new ‘Stalin Centers’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Opinion Jade Mcglynn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Last month, a new ‘Stalin Center’ was opened in Barnaul, Siberia. According to the independent Levada Center, Stalin has taken first place in their ‘who is the greatest figure of all times and all people’ survey since 2012. Students of a military-sponsored school attend the opening of a series of busts of Russian leaders, including Josef Stalin (center), in Moscow, on September 22, 2017. What the West gets wrong about Stalin and PutinMoreover, these comparisons divert attention from important differences between the Stalin and Putin regimes. That is abundantly not the case in Putin’s Russia, where the government instead encourages a ritualistic patriotism and political apathy.

Persons: Jade McGlynn, “, Read, ’, Jade McGlynn Jade McGlynn, Stalin, Vladimir Putin’s, Josef Stalin, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Memorial, Gorbachev, Yury, Putin, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Nemenov, demonize ’ Stalin, —, weren’t, Mikhail Bulgakov Organizations: Center for Strategic, International Studies, CNN, Communists, Kremlin Russian Communist Party, Levada Center, YouTube, Communist, Reuters, Kremlin, Putin Locations: Putin’s Russia, Barnaul, Siberia, Russian, Penza, Bor, Communist, Russia, Vladimir Putin’s United Russia, Moscow, Perm, Baltic, Laski, Ukraine, today’s Russia, Kyiv, Putin Russia

☆ How This Climate Activist Justifies Political Violence
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-14 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk How This Climate Activist Justifies Political ViolenceWith the 2021 publication of his unsettling book, “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” Andreas Malm established himself as a leading thinker of climate radicalism. I have engaged in as much militant climate activism as I have had access to in my activist communities and contexts. Like I said, I’ve participated in things that I can’t tell you about because they’ve been illegal and they’ve been militant. I can’t tell you what things I have done, but the things that I do and that any other climate activist should be doing cannot be an individual project. This goes for political violence too, unless you’re a pacifist and you reject every form of political violence — that’s a reasonably coherent philosophical position.

Persons: Bráulio Amado, ” Andreas Malm, Malm’s, Wim Carton, Malm, ”, don’t, Andreas Malm’s, you’ve, Let’s, I’ve, they’ve, dint, Putin, Ugo Amez, “ We’re, —, Biden, radicalize, I’m, Jeremy Chan Organizations: New Yorker, The, The New, ExxonMobil, Aramco, Associated Press, White, optimist Locations: Swedish, New, The New Republic, Malmo, Ukraine, France, United States

"Fear is present but it is conscious," said Duntsova, who this month announced she wanted to run for president in the March 2024 election. They say that Putin has restored order and some of the clout Russia lost during the chaos of the Soviet collapse. When asked what she thought of Putin, Duntsova laughed nervously. "When in Europe and the United States they say that Russia and the Russians are Putin - that is not right. She said hardliners in the West and in Russia would be happy to see Russia closing itself off from the world.

Persons: Evgenia, Duntsova, Soviet Union stoked, Vladimir Putin, Putin, chuckled, Indira Gandhi, Africa's Nelson Mandela, Alexandra Skochilenko, Andrei Pivovarov, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Alexei Navalny, She, Guy Faulconbridge, Ed Osmond Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Rights, Kremlin, CIA, Justice Ministry, Prosecutors, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Soviet Union, Europe, Russian, RUSSIA, Putin's Russia, United States, Siberian, Krasnoyarsk, Rzhev, Tver

His party more than doubled in size in parliament to tower over mainstream parties that long specialized in marginalizing him. Suddenly on Thursday, there was hope in the air again for nationalist conservative populists, especially with an European Parliament election coming up in June. Earlier, Slovakia had already turned populist with Robert Fico’s Smer party winning a general election and setting up a coalition government with an ultranationalist party. Wilders calls for a “Nexit” referendum — a Dutch version of Brexit which saw the United Kingdom leave the EU. By nature, Dutch politics rely on coalitions between several parties and no other suitable party has followed Wilders on that.

Persons: Geert Wilders, firebrand Wilders, “, Alice Weidel, Wilders, Robert Fico’s Smer, Viktor Orbán, behemoth, Le Pen, ”, Hendrik Vos, Vos, Matteo Salvini Organizations: Party for Freedom, Law, European Union, EU, France, Inter, Ghent University, League Locations: BRUSSELS, Europe, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungarian, France, United Kingdom, Italian, Italy

(AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is refusing to condemn Elon Musk 's post endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, maintaining Sunday that he wasn't familiar with the post despite it prompting major companies to pull advertising from the billionaire's X social media platform. “You have said the actual truth,” Musk tweeted in a reply Wednesday. “State of the Union” put Musk's post on the screen and host Jake Tapper read it to DeSantis before pressing him to condemn it — but the governor continued to demur. I have no idea what the context is,” said DeSantis who was joining the show via videoconference . “I know Elon Musk.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Elon Musk, ” DeSantis, ”, Elon, ” Musk, DeSantis, Union ”, Jake Tapper, “, Andrew Bates, Jamie Raskin, didn’t, ” Raskin, you've, Raskin Organizations: — Republican, Union, IBM, Disney, Twitter, White, Maryland Democratic, “ Locations: WILMINGTON, Del, Florida, “ State, America, Israel, DeSantis

☆ Opinion | Get to Know the Influential Conservative Intellectuals Who Help Explain G.O.P. Extremism
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Damon Linker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Some catastrophists take it a step further and suggest that officials might contemplate overthrowing liberal democracy in favor of revolutionary regime change or even imposing a right-wing dictatorship on the country. It includes respected scholars at prestigious universities and influential think tanks. That makes this a crucial time to familiarize ourselves with and begin formulating a response to these ideas. If Mr. Trump manages to win the presidency again in 2024, many of these intellectual catastrophists could be ready and willing to justify deeds that could well bring American liberal democracy to its knees. The essay set the tone of life-or-death struggle (and related imagery) that is common among catastrophists.

Persons: Trump, Michael Anton, Anton’s, Hillary Clinton “, ” Mr, Anton, Rudy Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh Organizations: Claremont, catastrophists, Republican, Claremont Institute, National Security Council Locations: California

☆ Opinion | A Humanitarian Pause in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

After weeks of airstrikes by Israel and the continued firing of rockets by Hamas, civilians in Gaza have paid a grave price. A humanitarian pause, in contrast, would give some relief to Gazan civilians and allow Israel to make progress on another key part of its objectives: the release of hostages. A humanitarian pause would also allow more of the millions of civilians who remain in Gaza an opportunity to move to relative safety until the hostilities end. There is no guarantee that a humanitarian pause, particularly in a conflict with a terrorist group, will ensure the safe return of hostages or end the suffering of civilians. Israel’s leaders have tried from the outset of this conflict to prepare their country for a long war, and a humanitarian pause is unlikely to change that fact.

Persons: Israel, Hassan al, Banna, Biden, Antony Blinken, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Israel — Organizations: Hamas, The Times, UNICEF, Israel Defense Forces, White House Locations: Israel, United States, “ Israel, Gaza, East, Rafah, Egypt

☆ Opinion | The Laws of Campus Culture War
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

They represent the moral and philosophical foundations for the concrete constitutional rules of culture war that directly apply on campus. One of the most powerful and compelling arguments for free speech in American history was born out of mob suppression. In 1860, Frederick Douglass wrote his “Plea for Free Speech in Boston” after a violent mob shut down an antislavery event. Every college and university — public or private — that receives federal funds has an affirmative duty to protect students’ civil rights. In the recent past, schools have sometimes been too enthusiastic about stopping harassment, defining the term so broadly that university anti-harassment policies actually violate students’ free speech rights.

Persons: George Washington, ”, “, Abraham, ” Washington, Johnson, Watts, they’re, Deactivating, Frederick Douglass, ” Douglass, Biden, Davis, VI, Scott Alexander’s, it’s, — Organizations: State University System of, Justice, Cooper Union, Cornell University, Trees School, . Ohio, Klan, Hamas, Civil, of Education, Cornell, Democratic Locations: State University System of Florida, Palestine, New York City, Ithaca, N.Y, ”, United States, America, Newport, R.I, Texas, Terminiello, Chicago, Brandenburg, ., Ohio, “, Gaza, Florida, Boston, Monroe County

☆ Opinion | Joe Biden Knows What It Actually Means to Be President
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There’s a gathering sense that President Biden’s response to the war in Gaza may cost him the 2024 election. On Friday my colleagues in the newsroom reported on a growing backlash against Biden coming from young and left-leaning voters. I don’t think so, and to understand why, it’s important to understand the core responsibilities of an American president. It was delivered most memorably by then-Vice President Biden, of all people, at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Now fast-forward to August 2024, when Biden will speak on his own behalf in Chicago at the next Democratic convention.

Persons: Biden’s, Biden, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama’s, Obama, Osama, Romney, Laden, Will, Donald Trump Organizations: Gallup, Convention, General Motors, Democratic Locations: Gaza, Israel, Chicago, Europe, China, Taiwan

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Prime Minister Viktor Orbán compared Hungary's membership in the European Union to more than four decades of Soviet occupation of his country during a speech on Monday commemorating the anniversary of Hungary's 1956 anti-Soviet revolution. Yes, it happens that history repeats itself,” Orbán said at the event, from which all media were excluded except Hungary's state media. “We had to dance to the tune that Moscow whistled,” Orbán said of Hungary's days in the Eastern Bloc. On Monday, Orbán said that while the Soviet Union had been “hopeless,” he believed that governance in the EU could be reformed through an European Parliament election scheduled for June 2024. “Moscow was irreparable, but Brussels and the European Union can still be fixed,” he said.

Persons: Viktor Orbán, Orbán, ” Orbán, “, ”, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin Organizations: —, European Union, “, Soviet, Red Army, Eastern Bloc, NATO Locations: BUDAPEST, Hungary, Soviet, Veszprem, Brussels, Moscow, Hugnary's, Budapest, Ukraine, Beijing, United States, “ Hungary, Russia, Soviet Union, “ Moscow

☆ Hamas Attacks Are the Beginning of the End for Netanyahu
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( William A. Galston | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

William A. Galston writes the weekly Politics & Ideas column in the Wall Street Journal. He holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program, where he serves as a senior fellow. A participant in six presidential campaigns, he served from 1993 to 1995 as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy. Mr. Galston is the author of 10 books and more than 100 articles in the fields of political theory, public policy, and American politics. A winner of the American Political Science Association’s Hubert H. Humphrey Award, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.

Persons: William A, Galston, Ezra K, Saul Stern, Dean, Clinton, Association’s Hubert H, Humphrey Organizations: Street, Zilkha, Brookings Institution’s, Brookings, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Institute for Philosophy, Center for Information, Research, Civic, National Commission, Domestic, Liberal Pluralism, Public, Rowman & Littlefield, Liberal Democracy, Yale, American, American Academy of Arts and Sciences Locations: Brookings

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s immigration minister argued Tuesday that international refugee rules must be rewritten to reduce the number of people entitled to protection, as the Conservative government seeks international support for its tough stance on unauthorized migration. Britain’s government has adopted an increasingly punitive approach to people who arrive by unauthorized means such as small boats across the English Channel. Sonya Sceats, chief executive of campaign group Freedom from Torture, said: “LGBTQI+ people are tortured in many countries for who they are and who they love. The U.K. has sought international allies in its attempts to stop Channel crossings and toughen refugee laws, with limited success. British authorities also leased a barge to house migrants in a floating dormitory moored off England’s south coast.

Persons: Suella Braverman, ” Braverman, “, Braverman, ”, Braverman’s, Sonya Sceats, Alejandro Mayorkas, General Merrick Garland Organizations: —, Conservative, Nations Refugee Convention, American Enterprise Institute, Conservatives, U.S, Homeland Locations: Washington, Cambridge, Britain, France, Rwanda

☆ Opinion: The Netanyahu government’s next target: Israel’s free press
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Dan Perry | Gilead Sher | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

A cornerstone of those shared values is both countries’ historic commitments to a free press. Israel’s journalism, as in the United States, is freewheeling and independent, and reporters are famously skeptical and often critical of any government. Gilead Sher Courtesy Gilead SherAs in the United States, Israeli governments have always viewed a free press as inviolate because of the central role it plays in upholding democracy and fostering government transparency and accountability — until now. Missed so far, however, in most mainstream US news, are the government’s initiatives to erode Israel’s free press and gradually turn Israeli media into government propaganda vehicles. And indeed, as already stated, Netanyahu’s government has targeted much more than the free press.

Persons: Dan Perry, Gilead Sher, Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden, Netanyahu, Gilead, Biden, Donald Trump, Viktor Orban, Orban, Israel Organizations: London, Associated Press, Israeli, CNN, UN, Assembly, BBC, Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, MSNBC, Fox News, Hungarian Locations: Cairo, Europe, Africa, Israel, United States, New York, America

☆ Opinion | What to Keep in Mind About Mitt Romney
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Reading the recent excerpt from McKay Coppins’s forthcoming biography of Mitt Romney of Utah, I was struck by the depth of the senator’s contempt and disdain for much of the Republican Party, including many of his colleagues in the Senate. He saved his harshest words, however, for those Republican senators who would do or say anything for political power and influence. What bothered Romney most about Hawley and his cohort was the oily disingenuousness. Hawley and Cruz “were making a calculation,” Romney told me, “that put politics above the interests of liberal democracy and the Constitution.”As for the latest crop of Republicans, Romney had this to say: “I don’t know that I can disrespect someone more than J.D. Romney was, after all, the first senator in American history to ever vote to remove a president of his own party from office.

Persons: McKay, Mitt Romney, “, Trump, ” Coppins, smarmily, ” Romney, Romney, Hawley, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, ”, Cruz “, Vance, Donald Trump Organizations: Republican Party, Senate, ” Locations: Utah

☆ What the West Loses by Trading With Dictatorships
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Mathias Döpfner | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Officials from the EU and China celebrate the agreement admitting China to the World Trade Organization, May 2000. Photo: Alain BUU/Gamma-Rapho/Getty ImagesIn 1989, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history: “What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” Today we have to acknowledge: Fukuyama was wrong.

Persons: Alain BUU, Francis Fukuyama, Fukuyama Organizations: EU, China, World Trade Organization Locations: China

☆ Italy's PM says migration won't solve Europe's demographic crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Some legal migration can benefit European economies, but migration is not the solution to the continent's demographic crisis, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday as she met right-wing ally Viktor Orban in Budapest. Meloni was addressing a summit meeting on demography hosted by the Hungarian prime minister, a long-time political friend. Carlo Calenda, a centrist Italian opposition politician, called the reference to God "truly singular for the head of government of a liberal democracy. Meloni faces a mounting migration crisis at home, where the tiny, far-southern Italian island of Lampedusa has seen thousands of people coming ashore from Northern Africa over the last few days. Reporting by Federico Maccioni and Angelo Amante; editing by Alvise Armellini, Mark Heinrich and Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Giorgia Meloni, Viktor Orban, Meloni, Carlo Calenda, X, Orban, Federico Maccioni, Angelo Amante, Alvise Armellini, Mark Heinrich, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Italian, European Union, Thomson Locations: Budapest, Hungarian, Italian, Italy, Hungary, Europe, Brussels, Lampedusa, Northern Africa

☆ An A.I. Leader Urges Regulation and a Rethink
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Ravi Mattu | More About Ravi Mattu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Suleyman wants governments to regulate A.I. and appoint cabinet-level tech ministers, and says the United States should use its dominance in advanced chips to enforce global standards. He has also called for the creation of a governance regime modeled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to make the work of private companies in A.I. Such arguments may be difficult to achieve at a time of growing global tensions, but they are timely as lawmakers unveil proposals about how A.I. Chuck Schumer, the Senate leader, will meet top tech executives, including Elon Musk and Satya Nadella, the C.E.O.

Persons: Suleyman, Chuck Schumer, Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, DealBook, ” Organizations: Elon, Microsoft Locations: United States, A.I

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