Links I liked
“How rogue can Turkey go?” This is a rather depressing assessment of the frayed state of relations between Turkey and “the West”. And it does hardly delve into the whole issue of human rights abuses. Talking about depressing yet oddly fascinating stuff, there is going to be a new season of the fantastic Power Corrupts…
In Germany, these problems have been under-estimated, under-reported, and outright downplayed for a very long time: Elite German Police Unit Was Crawling With Far-Right ‘Preppers’ Gearing Up for a Race War If you are worried about the effect of disinformation on democracy, the UK is a very scary place right now: Google bans eight different Tory…
Over at Crooked Timber, John Quiggin asks an odd yet interesting question: Would Republican voters rather live under a government like that of Russia, or one like that of California? Barbara McQuade, an actual law professor and former US attorney, argues that what the testimonies from the impeachment hearings add up to bribery. Still not sure if…
The AfD have launched their very own culture war (German style). Over at the Atlantic, Eliza Apperly reports. Is it uncivil to protest an uncivil president at a sports event? Mc Sweeny’s has a wonderful spoof essay on that topic: “Booing Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament demonstrates Hogwarts’ lack of civil discourse” If you are a political…
Even Canadian politeness has its limits: someone writing for the Globe and Mail thinks that BoJo is really, seriously rubbish. Amusing (and spot on). Want to know what relative deprivation is and does? Look no further: “Germany’s far-right AfD stronghold: Life is good, but ‘people are scared'” Not much to see here, just a far-right…
Talking about the Anthropocene seems to be a stupid thing, for various reasons. Intriguing article full of very large numbers. Life imitating satire: hardliner Andre Poggenburg left the AfD to set up his own party. Seven months down the line, he tries to dissolve the new party, fails, and leaves (in German). Why don’t you watch,…
Apparently there is a market for left-wing authoritarian parties in Western Europe: “The consequences of supply gaps in two-dimensional policy spaces for voter turnout and political support” The plight of Ciudadanos, and Liberal parties more generally Terrorism does increase with immigration – but only homegrown, right-wing terrorism What a wonderful distraction: doing algebra and calculus…
Greece is going to the polls this coming Sunday. Zoe Alipranti thinks she knows who is going to win “The invention of Essex: how a county became a caricature” is an excellent feature about the political economy of one (seriously under-appreciated) county. Some Trump supporters are actually stock-photo/video models. Are you surprised?
On a very slow news day, two third-tier politicians for the centre-right CDU phantasise over future coalitions with the “moderates/liberals” within the AfD (where would they find them?). Ah yes, they also want to re-unite “the National” and “the Social”, which, by the lego-like greatness of the German language, becomes the “National-Social”. James F. Downes…
Bonnie N. Field has written a very clear explainer on the issue of minority governments in Spain for the EUROPP blog. Read it. Over at Europe Elects, Alexander Sarti explains how they predicted the distribution of seats in the European Parliament. By and large, it seems to have worked rather well. Somewhere along the way,…