John Broich – How Journalists Covered the Rise of Mussolini and Hitler

How to cover the rise of a political leader who’s left a paper trail of anti-constitutionalism, racism and the encouragement of violence? Does the press take the position that its subject acts outside the norms of society? Or does it take the position that someone who wins a fair election is by definition “normal,” because his leadership reflects the will …

Bob Burnett – Trump and Hitler

It’s impossible to read Volker Ulrich’s remarkable biography, “Hitler, Ascent: 1889-1939,” without being struck by the parallels between Adolph Hitler and Donald Trump. 1.They were both charismatic political leaders. Watching grainy newsreel footage of Hitler speaking, it’s difficult to imagine what a hypnotic spell he cast on his pre-war German audiences. Just as it’s difficult to understand the impact of …

William Cook – Angela Merkel wants to be liberal Europe’s answer to Donald Trump

So, Angela Merkel has ignored the Spectator’s advice and has decided to run for a fourth term as German Chancellor in next year’s federal elections. If she wins and serves a full term, she’ll overtake Helmut Kohl as the longest serving German Chancellor since Bismarck. What does Merkel’s bid for four more years mean for Germany – and Britain? And …

Scandalous Poll: 84% of Ukrainians want Putin as their president

The Ukrainian publication Nedelya.UA conducted a poll among its readers asking the following question: “Which politician would you entrust with the governance of your country?”  The survey was participated in by 41,600 readers and showed the following figures: 84% (34,900) of Ukrainian respondents want to see Vladimir Putin as president of Ukraine. In second place with 5% (2,000) was Belarusian …

John Harris – Does the left have a future?

There is more than one spectre haunting modern Europe: terrorism, the revival of the far right, the instability of Turkey, the fracturing of the EU project. And in mainstream politics, all across the continent, the traditional parties of the left are in crisis. In Germany, the Social Democratic party, once a titanic party of government, has fallen below 20% in the …

Roman Europe?

BERLIN/VENICE – As the European Union begins to disintegrate, who can provide the leadership to save it? German Chancellor Angela Merkel is widely credited with finally answering Henry Kissinger’s famous question about the Western alliance: “What is the phone number for Europe?” But if Europe’s phone number has a German dialing code, it goes through to an automated answer: “Nein …

Calling Corporate-Backed Deals an “Indisputable” Good, Obama Makes Pitch for TTIP

Despite the tens of thousands of people who marched against the deal in Germany ahead of his arrival and the steady drop in support for such neoliberal trade deals overall, President Barack Obama stood next to Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday and defended the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and said similar past deals have been an “indisputable” benefit to the U.S. economy. …

Greece’s Varoufakis to Launch Pan-European Progressive Movement

Hoping to show Europeans they have an alternative to the prevailing system of “authoritarianism” and austerity, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has announced a new cross-continent movement with a “simple, common agenda:” To democratize Europe. The movement, known as the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (or DiEM 25), will be launched on February 9 at Berlin’s Volksbühne theater. Varoufakis, …

Turkey’s Push to Create New Ottoman Empire ‘Blowing Up in its Own Face’

Turkey is taking advantage of neighbors’ crises to loot resources from them, and the government’s ‘neo-Ottomanism’ policy has led to the brink of civil war, geopolitical analyst Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya told Sputnik. The Turkish government’s links with Daesh, and looting of oil from Syria and Iraq has been an open secret in the Middle East for years, voiced by Turkish citizens living on the border, the Turkish …

THOMAS S. HARRINGTON – US Caught Faking It in Syria

The great danger of faking your ability to do something in the public square is that someone with an actual desire to the job you are pretending to do might come along and show you up. This is what has just happened to the US in Syria with the entrance of Russia into the fight against ISIL. And as is generally …