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☆ Most Chinese prefer Trump to Harris, strategist says
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMost Chinese prefer Trump to Harris, strategist saysShaun Rein, managing director at China Market Research Group, says that's because they view President-elect Donald Trump as "transactional" and would expect to see an "ideological struggle between a liberal democracy and a communist party, as well as typical American hegemony" in an administration under his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

Persons: Trump, Harris, Shaun Rein, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Organizations: China Market Research, Democratic

President-elect Donald Trump raised eyebrows when he decided to hold a campaign rally in the Bronx in late May. Results so far show Trump winning more than 27% of the vote in the Bronx, shrinking his margin of defeat there significantly. Not only did the Teamsters decline to endorse, Murtaugh noted, but they also released polling in swing states, including Pennsylvania, that showed Trump winning over large numbers of their members. ‘We have no easy path here’For one Democratic policy aide, the biggest concern was movement among younger voters. And what happened [Tuesday] was a Louisville Slugger baseball bat going upside the head of the Democratic Party for not telling people the truth.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Ritchie Torres, “, ” Torres, “ Donald Trump’s, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, It’s, Torres, ”, Harris, Nancy Mace, Trump’s, —, Court’s Dobbs, ” Mace, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, ” Trump, ” There’s, Biden, Mike Berg, ” Tim Murtaugh, Murtaugh, MAGA, ‘, you’re, ” —, we’re Organizations: The New, Democratic, Trump, Republican, Democrat, Democratic Party, NBC, GOP, “, National Republican Senatorial, NBC News, Teamsters, Voters, Republicans, Pennsylvania Democrat, Louisville Slugger, Party, county, Democrats Locations: Bronx, The New York City, Manhattan, America, Pennsylvania , Michigan, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New York , New Jersey, Illinois, ”, New York

☆ China’s state media focuses on US divisions as America awaits election results
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-06 | by ( Nectar Gan | Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —As the election results roll in and America holds its breath, Chinese state media hasn’t missed the chance to accentuate US political polarization – and play up the threat of post-vote turmoil in its democratic superpower rival. “US Election Day voting begins amid fears of violence, unrest,” declared a headline in nationalist tabloid Global Times. “The US election, once considered a highlight of the so-called ‘beacon of democracy,’ may now become the starting gun of ‘social unrest,’” the state-run Beijing Daily claimed in a commentary on social media. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesOn Chinese social media, the US election featured high among the trending topics throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. “(It) doesn’t matter who it is (that wins),” one social media user wrote in a popular comment on Weibo.

Persons: hasn’t, Xi Jinping, ”, ’, Nicolas Economou, Li Shuo, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Trump’s, Joe Biden, Biden Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, America, Global Times, White House, Capitol, Beijing Daily, ”, CNN, Huawei, Biden Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing, United States, China, Washington, Washington , DC, Weibo, Taiwan

Though Austria is a member of the European Union, its far-right party leading the polls has strong links with Russian President Vladimir Putin — the bloc’s arch nemesis. The chairman and top candidate of the Freedom Party of Austria Herbert Kickl waves to supporters after kicking off his party's electoral campaign on September 7, 2024 in Graz, Austria. Kickl’s vision is to build “Fortress Austria” and “Fortress Europe,” as he put it during a debate on Austrian public television Thursday night. In 2016, party leader Heinz-Christian Strache signed a formal “cooperation pact” with Putin’s United Russia party. The FPÖ’s return is far from certain, currently polling at 27%, narrowly ahead of the ruling Austrian People’s Party on 25% and the Social Democratic Party of Austria on 21%, according to European polling aggregator PolitPro.

Persons: that’s, Adolf Hitler —, it’s, Vladimir Putin —, Peter Filzmaier, Kerms, Herbert Kickl, ”, Hitler, Kickl, Freedom Party of Austria Herbert Kickl, Alex Halada, Nazi ”, “, Karl Nehammer, Andreas Babler, Joe Klamar, Gabriela Bacher, Donald Trump, Heinz, Christian Strache, Karin Kneissl, Putin, Strache, Victor Orban, Bacher Organizations: Freedom Party, NATO, Ukraine, Moscow, European Union, Gratz, Freedom Party of Austria, Getty, Immigrants, “, Austrian, Nazi, Austrian People’s Party, Social Democratic Party, NBC, Trump, NBC News, Putin’s United, Social Democratic Party of Austria Locations: Austria, Russia, Europe, Graz, AFP, East, North Africa, Jerusalem, Austrian, Vienna, American, Austrian Republic, Ukraine, Putin’s United Russia, Russian, Moscow, Slovakia, Hungary, Republic

☆ The Trump Shooting Sparks Fears for Our Politics. There Is a Fix. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-19 | by ( Daron Acemoglu | James A. Robinson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Remember the 1990s, when everybody thought liberal democracy was the only game in town and the end of history was upon us? The near-assassination of former President Donald Trump has buttressed, instead, a feeling that crisis is upon us. Trust in public schools, banks, large firms, the news media and even religious organizations have similarly plummeted since the 1970s. We need a new democratic social contract that people can believe in, which is most likely to come from the Democratic Party. It must include a commitment to close the cultural chasm that has opened between the Democratic Party and many working-class Americans.

Persons: Donald Trump Organizations: Gallup, Trust, Democratic Party

☆ I reread JD Vance's 'Hillbilly Elegy.' He hasn't transformed as much as you think.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-18 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

To reread "Hillbilly Elegy" now, as I did this week, is to feel a sense of disorientation. JD Vance the author sounds a lot different than JD Vance the politician. Personally, I first read "Hillbilly Elegy" in college, in an earnest if somewhat contrived attempt to better understand communities unlike mine. On stage, he recounted a story that also appears in "Hillbilly Elegy," where Mamaw bluntly threatens violence against one of Vance's friends. There are hints of this in "Hillbilly Elegy" as well: He served as a public affairs Marine, where he was trained in the art of media relations, including "how stay on message."

Persons: JD Vance, It's, Vance, Donald Trump's, Trumper, Trump, I've, who's, Vance didn't, JD, Alex Wong, Mamaw, Mom, Brett Kavanaugh, there's, New York Times's Ross Douthat, There's, he's, Usha, Mike Johnson, Kamil Krzacynski, — Vance Organizations: Service, Republican, audience's, Democratic, Capitol Hill, Republican National Convention, Supreme, New, GOP, Marine, Yale Law School, Getty Locations: Ohio, Middletown , Ohio, Appalachia, Middletown, Washington, New York, Ukraine, AFP

☆ As the US reels from the Trump assassination attempt, China sees weakness
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-15 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewA gunman's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has flung the US back into the spotlight in China. The FBI says the 20-year-old rally shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, used a legally purchased 5.56mm AR-style rifle to attack Trump. another user wrote. One Chinese professor told the outlet that the attack on Trump showed the"ongoing rampant gun violence issue in the US." One user reposted a photoshop edit of Trump raising his fist against the backdrop of the Chinese flag.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Trump, Dylan Loh, Loh, Biden, China's, Xi Jinping, it's, Xi, Mike Johnson Organizations: Service, Republican, Business, FBI, National University of Singapore, Global Times, Trump, Renmin University of China, Capitol Locations: China, Trump's, Weibo, Gotham City, Beijing, United States

☆ The UK Election Puts Britain in New Political Territory - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( Rory Stewart | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The British Labour Party has won its largest majority since the founding of the party over a century ago, securing at least 412 of the House of Commons’s 650 seats. And in an age of populism and polarization, it has done so on a moderate, centrist platform. There is no clear sign that British voters are any more enthusiastic than voters anywhere else for the socially liberal, fiscally conservative politics that this incarnation of the Labour Party represents. The Conservative Party has been reduced to 121 seats, with two seats left to declare, the worst defeat in its 190-year history. It lost vote share not only to Labour and the centrist, pro-European Liberal Democrats, but also to the hard-right, anti-immigrant Reform U.K., led by Nigel Farage, an ally of Donald Trump.

Persons: Labour —, Keir Starmer, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Nigel Farage, Donald Trump Organizations: British Labour Party, Labour, Crown, Labour Party, Conservative Party, European Liberal Democrats, U.K

☆ Emerging From Orban’s Shadow, a Former Ally Tries to Steal His Limelight
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-17 | by ( Andrew Higgins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Railing against the right-wing government that until recently counted him as a trusted insider, Hungary’s most popular and improbable opposition leader stood on the back of a flatbed truck surrounded by cheering followers. “Step by step, brick by brick, we will take back our country,” shouted the opposition leader, Peter Magyar, reciting what, during a tour of towns and villages across Hungary, has been the crowd-pleasing mantra of the 43-year-old’s upstart political movement. Making the moment all the more provocative was the location that Mr. Magyar chose for the rally: just down the road from a house that Prime Minister Viktor Orban owns in Felcsut, the village where the leader grew up. Since taking power 14 years ago, Mr. Orban has won four general elections in a row, refashioning Hungary into an “illiberal democracy” often more in tune with China and Russia than with its nominal allies in NATO and the European Union. Now, for the first time in years, the country has been swept by a sense that change, though not imminent, is possible.

Persons: ”, Peter Magyar, Magyar, Viktor Orban, Orban Organizations: NATO, European Union Locations: Hungary, Felcsut, China, Russia

☆ 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

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