New York Times (March 29)
The Covid-19 crisis has awakened “a sleeping giant” in China. “How the ruling Communist Party manages the coming months will help shape how hundreds of millions of young people see its authoritarian political bargain for decades to come.” The “generational awakening… could match the defining effects of World War II” and it “could disrupt the social stability on which the Communist Party depends.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Awakened, CCP, China, COVID-19, Crisis, Disrupt, Sleeping giant, Social stability, WWII, Young
Washington Post (February 20)
“China has an immense challenge coping with the outbreak. Its success or failure will affect the whole world. It has now mounted an enormous containment effort. But these early weeks of the epidemic reveal the hazards of an authoritarian system that hides the truth from its own people” as President Xi Jinping knew about the threat on January 7, if not earlier.
Tags: Authoritarian, Challenge, China, Containment, Epidemic, Failure, Hazards, Outbreak, Success, Truth
Wall Street Journal (June 18)
“The boom in U.S. oil production…has become a strategic advantage against authoritarian governments that want to use oil as a weapon. Europe’s weak economy doesn’t have to cope with an oil shock, and the U.S. can squeeze Iran’s exports without damaging the global economy.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Boom, Economy, Exports, Iran, Oil, Production, Shock, Strategic advantage, U.S., Weapon. Europe
Washington Post (November 5)
“While accompanied by the rhetoric of reform,” the purge in Saudi Arabia “resembles the approach of authoritarian regimes such as China. President Xi Jinping has used a similar anti-corruption theme to replace a generation of party and military leaders and to alter the collective leadership style adopted by recent Chinese rulers.” It remains to be seen whether the Crown Prince who’s pulling the strings, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), has bitten off too much or if he will succeed with this “very risky power play.”
Tags: Anti-corruption, Authoritarian, China, Crown Prince, MBS, Power play, Purge, Reform, Regimes, Rhetoric, Risky, Saudi Arabia, Xi
New York Times (January 6)
Turkey’s President “had already built a disturbing record as an authoritarian leader willing to trample on human rights, the rule of law and political and press freedoms,” but this week he hit a new low when citing Hitler’s Germany as precedent for expanding his powers. “Erdogan has fallen far from the days when he could be regarded as a respected leader of a Muslim-majority democracy and a trusted partner in the region.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Democracy, Disturbing, Germany, Hitler, Human rights, Muslim, Press freedom, Rule, Turkey
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
Washington Post (December 3)
“In authoritarian politics, as in life, attitude is everything, or almost everything.” Vladimir Putin has demonstrated a relentless desire to hold onto power by any means necessary. “Those who hope that falling oil prices, or Western sanctions, or a combination of the two, will force a change of course in Moscow — much less a change of regime — must reckon with the fact that Putin has seen that scenario once already, in Gorbachev’s time. And he seems determined that the sequel, if any, will end differently.”
Tags: Attitude, Authoritarian, Gorbachev, Moscow, Oil prices, Politics, Power, Putin, Western sanctions
New York Times (May 30)
Following the recent coup in Thailand, “the military is operating an increasingly authoritarian government intent on silencing all forms of dissent or disobedience.” If the military truly intends to deliver a “genuine democracy,” it needs to “provide a plan for a return to civilian rule, including setting a date for an election.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Civilian rule, Democracy, Disobedience, Dissent, Election, Government, Military, oup, Silencing, Thailand
Wall Street Journal (February 21, 2014)
“Americans are only waking up to the crisis” in the Ukraine, “but they should care how this turns out. The U.S. should want to pull Ukraine into the Western orbit as a matter of human dignity and strategic interest.” If the Ukraine leans toward Europe, it will “join the company of free nations and fulfill the aspirations of its people. A Ukraine tilted toward the corrupt authoritarian regimes allied with Moscow will be a source of regional unrest at best, and part of a revived Russian empire if Mr. Putin has his way.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Crisis, Europe, Human dignity, Moscow, Putin, Regimes, Russian empire, Strategic interest, U.S., Ukraine, Unrest
