Tag Archives: autocrats

CBS News reports: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will be sworn in for his second term Tuesday morning, but his speech is expected to carry a different tone than the one he gave when he first took office in 2019. When Governor DeSantis took office in 2019 vowed to cut bureaucratic red tape, lower health care costs and protect Florida’s environment. …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump is expected to order a review of a law that has long protected Twitter, Facebook and Alphabet’s Google from being responsible for the material posted by their users, according to a draft executive order and a source familiar with the situation. The executive order would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to propose and clarify …

Foreign Policy reports: In another move aimed at consolidating control over policy and messaging, the Trump administration is sending a White House loyalist to serve in a key Defense Department policy role that officials are worried is aimed at weeding out civilians not loyal to the president, Foreign Policy has learned. Michael Cutrone, who has been detailed as Vice President …

Politico reports: Hungary is no longer a democracy, Poland is about to go down the same path, democracy in the Balkans is eroding because of Chinese and Russian influence, and the EU is doing nothing to stop it all, according to the NGO Freedom House’s latest Nations in Transit report, out Wednesday. In the study, which covers 29 countries from …

Agence France-Presse reports: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said the World Health Organization encourages homosexuality and masturbation among young children, his latest clash with an organization whose advice on social distancing and other anti-coronavirus measures he has repeatedly questioned. The far-right leader made the claim, without citing a source, in a Facebook post he later deleted. “This is the World Health …

The Washington Post reports: Brazil’s supreme court has authorized an investigation of alleged corruption and obstruction of justice by President Jair Bolsonaro after the country’s outgoing justice minister accused him of attempting to interfere with federal police probes. The 60-day investigation, approved Monday by Supreme Federal Court Justice José Celso de Mello Filho, plunges Brazil into a new political crisis …

Reuters reports: Constitutional changes allowing Vladimir Putin to run for president again in 2024 sailed through Russia’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday, opening the way for him to potentially stay in power until 2036. The 450-seat State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday voted in favor of the change, along with other amendments to the constitution, by …

The New York Times reports: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Tuesday that he would support legislation that would allow him to run for a fifth term as president in 2024. The proposal, unexpectedly floated by a lawmaker at a session of Russia’s lower house of Parliament on Tuesday, would allow Mr. Putin — who is 67 years …

The New York Times reports: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has detained three members of the royal family, including a brother of the king and a former crown prince, a sign of how fully Crown Prince Mohammed has consolidated power, and that he may have seen a potential threat to it. The detentions were disclosed Friday by a member of …

The Guardian reports: The president is heading to his private resort club Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida, later today and is holding a fundraiser this evening. But Donald Trump revealed this morning that he is also meeting with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro at the club this weekend. “He wanted to have dinner,” Trump told reporters. The meeting is expected …

The Guardian reports: Vladimir Putin has proposed changes to Russia’s constitution that would limit the power of a potential successor if he steps down in 2024, indicating he may occupy a beefed-up role as Russia’s prime minister or in the government’s state council. In a televised speech before senior officials, Putin suggested amending Russia’s constitution to limit a future president …