VIDEO: Why the Far-Right Is Fawning Over Strongmen | Breaking The Vote – VICE News

From Hungary to Texas, the Breaking the Vote teams travel around the world to trace the steady rise of authoritarianism and its impact in the U.S.

Ukraine war: Let us rapidly join EU and cut Russia from SWIFT, says Ukrainian president Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed for Ukraine’s urgent ascension to the European Union and Russia to be cut from the SWIFT international electronic bank payment system amid the ongoing invasion. “Residential buildings destroyed by missiles and artillery are the final argument for the world to stop this occupational invasion together with us,” he said in a

Democracy in decline worldwide

For the first time since 2004, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) has recorded more autocratic states than democracies around the world. Civil society activists often represent the last bastion of resistance. Autocracies such as Russia and China on the one hand; democracies like the USA or Germany on the other. Is that the great conflict

Hungary to host global right-wing populists in support of PM Orban

Hungary will in March host right-wing participants from the United States and Europe including the leader of Spain’s Vox party at a conference linked to U.S. conservatives, a leading pro-government think-tank said on Wednesday. The gathering of American conservatives along with leaders and activists from Europe and Latin America will feature Prime Minister Viktor Orban

In democracy’s birthplace, pope warns of populist threats

Pope Francis warned Saturday that the “easy answers” of populism and authoritarianism are threatening democracy in Europe and called for fresh dedication to promoting the common good. Arriving in Greece, the birthplace of democracy, Francis used a speech to Greek political and cultural leaders to warn Europe at large about the threats facing the continent.

Democracy slipping away at record rate, intergovernmental body warns

A greater number of countries are sliding towards authoritarianism, while the number of established democracies under threat has never been so high, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) said on Monday. Populist politics, the use of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions to silence critics, a tendency of countries to mimic the anti-democratic behaviour of

Israeli spyware company NSO Group placed on US blacklist

Decision against company at heart of Pegasus project reflects deep concern about impact of spyware on US national security interests NSO Group has been placed on a US blacklist by the Biden administration after it determined the Israeli spyware maker has acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US”. The finding by

Covid: Record German cases as WHO warns of Europe deaths

Germany has recorded almost 34,000 daily Covid cases in the past 24 hours, its highest number so far, in what the health minister is calling a “massive pandemic of the unvaccinated”. Sixteen million Germans have not had a jab. However hospital intensive care cases are still lower than in spring. The World Health Organization has

CPAC set to stage far-right conference in Hungary, as federal prosecutors zero in

Viktor Orbán’s right-wing paradise will host its own version of CPAC, as U.S. organization faces federal probe The American Conservative Union, the conservative grassroots organization that puts on the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC, is taking its tested model for hosting right-wing gatherings to the authoritarian nation of Hungary.  CPAC events have been held in various

Authoritarianism: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

John Oliver discusses the growing number of authoritarian leaders around the world, their common characteristics, and whether or not one of them is currently our president.