New York Times (May 24)
For today’s dictator, “soaring approval ratings are a more cost-effective path to dominance than terror.” While a few violent dictators still remain, there has been a sea change in methods. “A new brand of authoritarian government has evolved that is better adapted to an era of global media, economic interdependence and information technology.” So-called ‘soft’ dictators like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Peru’s Alberto Fujimori and Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad “concentrate power, stifling opposition and eliminating checks and balances, while using hardly any violence.”
Tags: Approval, Authoritarian, Cost-effective, Erdogan, Fujimori, Government, IT, Mahathir, Malaysia, Media, Opposition, Peru, Soft dictators, Terror, Turkey, Violence
LA Times (December 22)
“At the latest round of international climate talks this month in Lima, Peru, melting glaciers in the Andes and recent droughts provided a fitting backdrop for the negotiators’ recognition that it is too late to prevent climate change…. They now confront an issue that many had hoped to avoid: adaptation.”
Tags: Adaptation, Andes, Climate change, Climate talks, Droughts, Glaciers, Lima, Negotiators, Peru, Prevention
USA Today (December 16)
“For 22 years, the nations of the world have been discussing ways to prevent catastrophic damage to the Earth’s climate caused by emissions of greenhouse gases…. About the best that can be said for the accord announced in Peru on Sunday, after two weeks of talks among nearly 200 nations, is that even a weak deal is better than no deal.”
Tags: Accord, Catastrophic, Climate, Damage, Deal, Earth, Emissions, Greenhouse gases, Peru, Prevent, World
