Tag Archives: dictators

From the Lincoln Project: The Lincoln Project recognizes the long and distinguished national service of General Milley and honors him for it. Likewise, the Lincoln Project appreciates the service of Secretary of Defense Esper. Nevertheless, their participation in the infamous events of June 1st was an egregious lapse in judgement, and they should resign their offices. On that day, in …

The BBC reports: US President Donald Trump has said he is “glad” that Kim Jong-un has re-emerged and appears to be healthy. “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!” Mr Trump tweeted, after the North Korean leader reportedly attended the opening of a fertiliser plant. It was Mr Kim’s first public appearance in almost three …

Reuters reports: North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said on Saturday leader Kim Jong Un attended the completion of a fertilizer plant in a region north of the capital, Pyongyang, in the first report of his public activity since April 11. Reuters could not independently verify the KCNA report. There has been speculation about his health after he missed the …

The New York Daily News reports: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is in a “vegetative state” after he underwent heart surgery earlier this month, a Japanese magazine says. The weekly Shukan Gendai reported Friday that a Chinese medic sent to North Korea as part of a team to treat Kim believed a delay in a simple procedure left the …

Mediaite reports: Last night there was a CNN report saying the U.S. is monitoring intelligence that Kim Jong Un is in “grave danger” after surgery. President Donald Trump was asked at Tuesday’s coronavirus press briefing by Fox News’ Bret Baier, “What can you tell us about the status of Kim Jong Un?” “Well, these are reports that came out, and …

Reuters reports: South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ill after media outlets said he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was in “grave danger” CNN cited a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter as saying Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in grave danger after …

NBC News reports: Donald Trump may think his authority to reopen the states is absolute, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo begs to differ. Trump stunned during his Monday night news conference when he said it was up to him and not the governors to decide when to reopen daily life in coronavirus-stricken states, and that as president “the authority …

Raw Story reports: At President Donald Trump’s latest White House coronavirus task force briefing, reporters pressed him on his claims that he can reopen the economy, pointing out that the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution clearly leaves the matter to state governments. Trump’s response was to utterly deny this was the case — and to insist that he had the …

NPR reports: The Central Asian country of Turkmenistan claims it has no coronavirus cases. But if you happen to utter the word “coronavirus” while waiting, say, for the bus in the white-marbled capital Ashgabat, there’s a good chance you’ll be arrested. That’s because the Turkmen government, run since 2006 by the flamboyant dentist-rapper strongman Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has reportedly banned the …

The Guardian reports: Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for spreading misinformation and gives no clear time limit to a state of emergency that allows the nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to rule by decree. Parliament voted by 137 to 53 to pass the measures on Monday afternoon, with the two-thirds majority …

Axios reports: Belarus is the only European country that is still playing soccer. Why? Because President Alexander Lukashenko, a man often referred to as “Europe’s last dictator,” said so. Belarus was part of the Soviet Union until it was dissolved in 1991. Lukashenko has been president since 1994 and has continued many Soviet-era policies. The coronavirus “is just another psychosis, …

USA Today reports: Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian leader who for nearly 30 years was the resolute face of stability in the Mideast before being forced by the military to resign after 18-day nationwide protests that were part of the Arab world’s 2011 pro-democracy upheaval, died on Tuesday. He was 91. Throughout his rule, he was a stalwart U.S. ally, a …

Business Insider reports: If Americans are concerned that President Donald Trump and Republicans are moving the US toward becoming a one-party, authoritarian state, they are running out of time to stop them, experts warned. Trump has exhibited autocratic impulses since his 2016 campaign and from the moment he entered the White House. The president has attacked virtually every democratic institution …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump praised China’s death penalty for drug dealers, Monday, though he added he doesn’t know if the United States “is ready” for similar sentences. “Criminal in China for drugs by the way means that’s serious. They’re getting a maximum penalty,” Trump noted. “And you know what the maximum penalty is in China for that, and it …

The New York Times reports: John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, privately told Attorney General William P. Barr last year that he had concerns that President Trump was effectively granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Barr responded by pointing to a pair of Justice …

Reuters reports: The Philippines has banned two U.S. lawmakers from visiting and will introduce tighter entry restrictions for U.S. citizens should Washington enforce sanctions over the detention of a top government critic, the president’s spokesman said on Friday. President Rodrigo Duterte will impose a requirement on U.S. nationals to get visas should any Philippine officials involved in the incarceration of …

The BBC reports: General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former military leader, has been sentenced to death at a special court hearing in Islamabad. The three-member court sentenced him over a high treason charge that has been pending since 2013. Gen Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 and served as the country’s president from 2001 to 2008. He is …

The New York Times reports: Egyptian security forces arrested a senior editor of the country’s last significant independent news outlet on Saturday, in a new peak to a six-year-old crackdown on press freedom under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The editor in chief of the outlet, the online publication Mada Masr, said Saturday that a few weeks ago, the authorities had …

Politico Europe reports: Spain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Francisco Franco’s remains can be removed from the Valley of the Fallen, endorsing the Socialist government’s plans against his descendants’ will. The generalísimo’s body is set to be disinterred from the giant mausoleum on the outskirts of Madrid — a basilica dug into a hillside topped by a cross 150 …

Axios reports: Searching a room for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at last month’s G7 summit in France, President Trump called out: “Where’s my favorite dictator?” Why it matters: Sisi really is a dictator, and he really is closely allied with the Trump administration. Trump is untroubled by the idea of partnering with authoritarians, but his remark was “met by …