On Friday, anti-democratic right-wing populist nationalist authoritarian PM with a long history of racist comments Boris Johnson, is meeting with Putin ally Viktor Orbán.
Under Orbán's leadership, Hungary has experienced democratic backsliding & a lurch towards authoritarianism.
Orbán's populism, social-national conservatism, soft Euroscepticism & advocacy of what he describes as an "illiberal state" have attracted significant European & international attention & criticism from domestic & foreign leaders, including Angela Merkel, but praise from Johnson.
Orbán has gradually undermined the rule of law, established tight control over the country’s independent institutions, adopted a new constitution & fundamentally changing electoral laws & the system of campaign financing.
Johnson's 👏 Govt 👏 is 👏 doing👏 the 👏same.#NotADrill
Orbán's Govt has captured the public media & taken control over much private media through an extensive network of Govt-friendly oligarchs.
Orbán's regime is close to Andrew Neil too, the @BBC is now led by Tory stooges, & Ofcom may be run by Paul Dacre.
These developments grant Fidesz-KDNP extraordinary advantage over the opposition: Hungary today can no longer be regarded as a democracy but belongs to the growing group of hybrid regimes, sitting in the “gray zone” between democracies & pure autocracies.
In 2017, Boris Johnson met Steve Bannon in the US, & Bannon met with Jacob Rees-Mogg in London.
In 2018, Bannon met with Michael Gove, & Bannon was filmed saying “I’ve been talking to him (Boris Johnson) all weekend about this speech. We went back and forth over the text.”
Also in 2018, Bannon advised Viktor Orban.
The links between far-right provocateur Bannon, Libertarian US billionaire-funded US & Tufton St free-market think tanks & the Spiked mob, the far-right Orbán regime & the UK Govt, are well-established & profoundly disturbing.
WAKE UP!
Some people argue Boris Johnson's "friend" Viktor Orban can't be an antisemite - as well as a xenophobic racist - because he's mates with Netanyahu.
The first asks "Is it OK to smoke while I'm praying?"
The Pope replies "No! You should be focused on God!"
The second Priest asks "Is it OK to pray while I'm smoking?"
The Pope replies "Of course, there's never a bad time to pray"
Nigel Farage’s rhetorical technique of framing controversial or inflammatory statements as questions, often defended as “just asking questions,” is a well-documented strategy - sometimes called “JAQing off” in online discourse - that has drawn significant criticism.
This approach involves posing questions to imply a controversial viewpoint without explicitly endorsing it, thereby maintaining plausible deniability. Farage often uses this strategy to raise issues around immigration, national identity, and 'wokeness' or 'political correctness'.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was a response to the atrocities of WWII and the Holocaust, designed to prevent such horrors reoccurring.
Withdrawing risks weakening human rights, international isolation, destabilised peace agreements, and authoritarian drift.
Adopted in 1950 by the Council of Europe, the ECHR was a collective response to the Holocaust, during which about 11 million people, including 6 million Jews, were systematically exterminated, exposing the urgent need for a legal framework to prevent such horrors from recurring.
The Council of Europe, established in 1949 to promote democracy, rule of law, and human rights, made the ECHR a cornerstone of its mission.
Influenced by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the ECHR ensured states uphold fundamental rights.
Comparing political rhetoric across eras is a sensitive task, as context, intent, and historical outcomes differ vastly.
In 1990, Ivana Trump said her husband Donald owned a copy of “My New Order” – a printed collection of Hitler's speeches – which he kept by the bedside...
Some of Trump’s statements have been noted by historians, critics, and media for echoing themes or phrasing used by Adolf Hitler, particularly in their dehumanizing language, scapegoating of groups, and authoritarian undertones.
Below, with @grok's help, I’ll provide examples of Trump’s quotes that have been cited as resembling Hitler’s rhetoric, alongside Hitler’s statements for comparison, drawing from credible sources, focusing on specific language & themes, ensuring accuracy, & avoiding exaggeration.
Most people know very little about Trump's new best friend, El Salvador’s strongman leader, Nayib Bukele, who's been sat in the White House being adored by Trump and his team of fawning, dangerously unhinged sociopathic bootlickers...
Read this excellent article by Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University, Amalendu Misra, the author of seven critically acclaimed monographs on conflict and peace, whose primary research concerns violence in the political process.
Trump has unleashed a string of controversial policies since returning to the White House that have put his administration at odds with most of the world. He's also forged an alliance with one country that is willing to do his bidding abroad: El Salvador.
The techno-dystopia many have warned about looks a lot closer today, after @WIRED revealed that Peter Thiel's #Palantir (which has a £500 million contract with #NHS England to manage our patient data across NHS trusts) is involved in Elon Musk’s DOGE.
If you're unaware of who unhinged billionaire tech-bro Peter Thiel is, and why he should have nothing to do with the UK or our #NHS, or how he groomed and installed his protégé JD Vance in the White House, or how he's not keen on democracy, read this:
The BMA are concerned about patient data privacy & Palantir’s ties to US intelligence.
DOGE, Palantir, & IRS representatives have been collaborating to build a single API layer above all IRS databases at an event previously characterized as a “hackathon.” publictechnology.net/2023/11/22/hea…
🧵 A scholar who specialises in how Universities respond to authoritarian pressure across different political systems, cultural contexts & historical moments warns that compliance with the Trump administration will not protect their funding & independence. theconversation.com/universities-i…
Many American universities, widely seen globally as beacons of academic integrity and free speech, are giving in to demands from the Trump administration, which has been targeting academia since it took office.
Even before seizing power in 1933, the Nazi Party was closely monitoring German universities through nationalist student groups & sympathetic faculty, flagging professors deemed politically unreliable – particularly Jews, Marxists, liberals & pacifists.