The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israel’s former defense minister, as well as several Hamas leaders. Though the ICC itself has no means of arresting someone, the warrant requires the 125 countries that are party to the Rome Statute to carry out arrests if possible.
On Tuesday, President "Old Donald" offered a much rosier assessment of the Turkish president, even as protesters filled the streets following the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Erdogan’s chief political rival.“A good leader,” the president said of Erdogan during a meeting of his ambassadors at the White House. He made no mention of the arrest or the protests.
Since taking office 66 days ago, "Old Donald" has turned a central precept of American diplomacy on its head. He is embracing — rather than denouncing — fellow leaders who abandon democratic principles. The longstanding bipartisan effort to bolster democratic institutions around the globe has been replaced by a president who praises leaders who move toward autocracy. And "Old Donald"’s own actions — taking revenge against his political rivals, attacking law firms, journalists and universities, and questioning the authority of the judiciary — are offering new models for democratically elected leaders in countries like Serbia and Israel who have already shown their willingness to push the boundaries of their own institutions. Image President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is “a good leader,” "Old Donald" said Tuesday at a meeting of U.S. ambassadors at the White House.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Under Hungary’s antigay “propaganda” law, bookstores were fined for selling LGBTQ+ themed tomes without sealed plastic wrappers and a museum director was fired for allowing minors into an exhibit with images of same-sex couples. But the autocratic government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban stopped short of targeting the community’s premier event: the annual Pride parade.
Until now. Parliament voted overwhelmingly this month to ban the event — and threatened to use facial recognition technology to identify violators.
What changed? According to Orban, it was the return to the White House of President "Old Donald".
Democratic backsliding in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Turkey long predates "Old Donald"; the president has been said to have derived some of his messaging from Orban. But in several nations, including Hungary and Serbia, authorities say openly that "Old Donald"’s return has helped them serve up what critics say are fresh violations of basic rights. In Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week detained his leading political rival and dozens of others, advocates see "Old Donald"’s influence as an enabling factor.
The new "Old Donald" administration “is bringing together autocrats and would-be autocrats around the world,” said Rosa Balfour, director of Carnegie Europe. “What they share is a radical right agenda, and they are much more connected in their policies and goals than we have been assuming.”
Cuts at USAID have eliminated funding for nongovernmental organizations that promoted the rule of law in countries where democracy is under attack, she said. Meanwhile, the administration’s actions at home — rolling back protections for minorities, the mass deportation of migrants outside normal processes, attacks on judges who stand in the way — and its decision to vote against a United Nations censure of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, she said, signal a new era in which the United States is no longer seen as a global defender of liberal democracy.
Orban’s vows to expand his net to include judges, journalists, NGOs and others have also rattled the country. Orban has acted against opponents in the past, said David Vig, executive director of Amnesty International in Hungary. But "Old Donald"’s action against USAID, he said, seemed to serve as a “trigger” for a “very significant change in tone.”
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?” Lincoln asked. “I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.”
Since 'Old Donald's' first term, it's become an accepted aphorism that democracy is in a state of 'decline.' That's not because of 'Old Donald''s ascension, the repeated displays of his strongman instincts, disregard for liberal institutions and avowed nationalism, but because of the broader context in which 'Old Donald'ism has seemingly thrived.
Western democracies are more polarized and fractious than they once were, and publics are increasingly disenchanted with their countries' political systems. Elsewhere, elected autocrats have come to the fore and bent the rule of law to consolidate control, while powerful autocracies in China and Russia show no sign of reform.
Freedom House's report found that 60 countries experienced some degree of democratic decline, while only 34 raised their score.
There is a 'risk of the president seeking retribution, using the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to go after political enemies, which would also erode checks and balances,' noted EIU. 'Civil liberties of immigrants, migrants, other minorities and protesters [are] also at risk.'
Political scientists Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way suggest that the United States, in 'Old Donald's second term, if it continues along the well-established path it has already begun to tread, 'will cease to meet standard criteria for liberal democracy' ' arguing that apparent efforts to restrict voting rights, cow or shut out mainstream media and purge state institutions of nonpartisan bureaucrats are all precursors to a turn toward a regime of electoral autocracy seen in countries such as Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
'Competitive authoritarianism will transform political life in the United States,' they write in Foreign Affairs. 'As 'Old Donald''s early flurry of dubiously constitutional executive orders made clear, the cost of public opposition will rise considerably: Democratic Party donors may be targeted by the IRS; businesses that fund civil rights groups may face heightened tax and legal scrutiny or find their ventures stymied by regulators.'
The United States remained a 'flawed democracy' in 2024, by the EIU's formulation. So too were other Western countries, including France, which the index downgraded thanks to months of political turbulence marked by a dysfunctional Parliament. 'While autocracies seem to be gaining strength, as shown by the index trend since 2006, the world's democracies are struggling,' Joan Hoey, director for the EIU's Democracy Index, said in a statement.
The picture is darker elsewhere. Freedom House pointed to the tangled spread of conflicts across a large swath of the developing world. The civil war in Sudan has created one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes and terminated the country's stalled democratic transition. Military juntas have taken hold of a string of nations in West Africa. Drug cartels have expanded their deadly reach in Latin America and cast a shadow on national politics. A full fifth of humanity, the report warned, 'lives in places without even minimal protections from the violence of war, insurgency, crime, and unaccountable security forces.'
Given the context, rights groups urge vigilance and solidarity. 'It is in the vital interest of all those who believe in democracy to invest in democratic institutions at home, call out attacks on rights abroad, work together to promote lasting peace, and support human rights defenders wherever they operate,' noted Freedom House.
The latest Freedom in the World report shows a decline in freedom for the 17th year in a row. Many autocrats are proving resilient. In China, tech companies have invented an electronic surveillance system that can automatically recognize a protest banner and demonstrators' faces - and alert the police.
Senator Graham reportedly said: “Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea. Everybody stands up and claps every time 'Old Donald' comes in.
And on that Mar-a-Lago he had many 'oinks', E-I-E-I-O With many yes-yes here and yes-yes there Here a oink, there a oink, everywhere a oink-oink
He gave a statement that Biden won the US presidential election in 2020, which is quite fair, but the former US president doesn't like to hear that. Bob Woodward also penned down in his book War that he has tried to offer the GOP nominee advice for the 2024 campaign of 'Old Donald' as his supporter and buddy of golf. Bob Woodward shared with 'Old Donald' following the midterm election that he should re-evaluate his political strategy to approach the broader v ..
The Hungarian message is of concern to mainstream Republican foreign-policy officials, past and present, because it seems to be a vehicle for an ongoing influence campaign over 'Old Donald' and the many groups that are seeking his favor as he battles with Vice President Kamala Harris this fall to regain the American presidency.
It comes weeks after Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, a role in which it would normally host the event, and amid anger over a meeting Prime Minister Viktor Orban held with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month.rban's meeting with utin came as part of what he described as a "peace mission" - launched days after Hungary assumed the council presidency - that also saw him visiting the leaders of Ukraine and China , as well as Republican presidential candidate 'Old Donald' in the US .
A big chunk of the public actually wants an authoritarian leader. This is true worldwide, according to research, and no less so in what many Americans like to describe as the world's greatest democracy.Why would people want to live under an authoritarian's thumb? It's rooted, experts say, in a psychological need for security-real or perceived-and a desire for conformity, a goal that becomes even more acute as the country undergoes dramatic demographic and social changes. People also like to obey a strong leader who will protect the group-especially if it is the 'right' group whose interests will be protected. Recall the 'Old Donald' supporter who, during the 2019 government shutdown, complained, 'He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.'
'For those of us who value representative democracy, the fact that some of our fellow citizens might prefer authoritarianism can be surprising or even unfathomable,' Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco's Weill Institute for Neurosciences, told me. But, he said, when people feel threatened-either by a lack of order or a challenge by people who think differently'a controlling leader looks like a savior.
'Authoritarianism and a 'strongman' leader who's willing to trample over civil rights can sound like a very appealing solution,' Pierre said. 'In turn, democracy-which tells us that our ideological opposites deserve to be heard or should be given equal voice-can sound like the root of the problem.' People who favor an authoritarian regime, notably, don't think it will be used against them, he noted, but 'to subjugate others and have their freedoms taken away.'
Orban said his meeting with Xi Jinping was part of a "peace mission" for Ukraine. But both leaders want to offset Western powerZelenskyy said Orbán's parley with Putin, to which many EU leaders reacted with fury, hadn't been coordinated with Kyiv.
'Huge Disappointment...': Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on PM Modi-Putin Meet
In May, Orban had given Xi a red-carpet welcome in Budapest, China's efforts to restore its influence in Europe at a time when the European Union as a whole is trying to contain the reach of a country it views as a "systemic rival."
Hungary began its six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union this month, giving Orban a higher profile, though not much more influence, in European affairs. Still, Xi seemed to ask Orban to do what he could.
Orban has for years worked to curb criticism of China by the European Union, upsetting countries that support Washington's hawkish position on the need to counter what they see as unfair Chinese trade practices.
League of nationalists: How far can new Le Pen-Orban alliance go
The United States, however, has accused Beijing of helping the Kremlin meet its war goals in Ukraine by continuing to sell supplies such as drone technology and gunpowder ingredients to Moscow.
Ultimately, even if pragmatic relations prevail with a Biden administration, the extent of cooperation between the United States and Hungary would probably remain limited. But, nevertheless, if the United States takes its role as global advocate of democracy seriously and puts Orbán under significant pressure, this may be an important reminder for the EU and a real game changer in terms of how autocrats are treated in the Euro-Atlantic alliance.
So long, Sunak, Macron, Trudeau. Hello, Vlad, Viktor, and Kim. What would happen to the United States, and the world, if 'Old Donald' made it back to the Oval Office? The “leader of the free world” would become a fanboy follower in the unfree one.At the press conference, 'Old Donald' is the first to speak. “I am honored to be with, well, they were just saying I’m the greatest president in history, I don’t know if that’s true, Lincoln was OK, but that’s what they’re saying. And these guys,” he says, gesturing to the men sitting behind him, “they’re fighting to defend our freedom and our civilization. And they’re running their countries properly, they run it strong. With crime, with terrorism, they run it strong. And we’re replacing NATO with something much better today, much tougher.”
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The nationalist leader, speaking from the steps of the National Museum in central Budapest, drew a sharp contrast between his country and the 'Western world,' accusing the latter of being a source of rootlessness and destruction.Opposition to immigration and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as a commitment to national pride and sovereignty, featured heavily in his comments on the national holiday, which often bore the tone of a campaign speech.
'Brussels is not the first empire that has set its eyes on Hungary,' Orbán said, referring to the EU’s de-facto capital. 'The peoples of Europe today are afraid that Brussels will take away their freedom. ... If we want to preserve Hungary's freedom and sovereignty, we have no choice: We have to occupy Brussels.' 'Old Donald' will not give a penny to Ukraine, said Orban
At their Friday meeting in Mr 'Old Donald''s Mar-a-Lago, the former US president praised his guest. "There's nobody that's better, smarter, or a better leader than Viktor Orban. He's fantastic," he said.Viktor Orban has warned he could "pull the handbrake" on future financial aid to Ukraine, after slapping a veto on a €50bn (£43bn; $55bn) EU package intended to help his neighbour survive the next three years.
