Tag: Dictators
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Election victory threatens Japanese pacifism
Should Japan finally have an official army? Prime Minister Abe is on track to win another “supermajority”. Now he plans to change his country’s constitution, which banned the military in 1947.
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Stalin satire is offensive, says historian
Is it right to turn Joseph Stalin’s brutal reign into comedy? That is what The Death of Stalin has done. The film, which opens today, has been...
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Hero, martyr, doctor, revolutionary, killer
Should we celebrate Che Guevara? To mark the 50th anniversary of his death today the Cuban president laid a white rose on his tomb and Ireland issued a set of commemorative stamps.
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‘US has declared war,’ says North Korea
War? Just how seriously should we take this? As a consequence, North Korea said yesterday, it had the “right” to shoot down US bombers. The White House dismissed the claim as “absurd”.
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South Korea plans ‘decapitation unit’ for Kim
Would simply killing Kim Jong-un make the world safer? South Korea will set up a unit to do just that in order to scare the North’s leadership. But many fear it would only make things worse.
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NATO boss: World at historic danger point
Is he right? Tensions with Russia are boiling over as it plans military manoeuvres this week. The nuclear threat from North Korea intensifies. But others say we live in the best of times.
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After IS: a new fight to unite Iraq
Iraq’s Islamic State nightmare is slowly drawing to its close. But defeating the militants will still leave a society mired in complex tensions. Can Iraq ever become a normal nation again?
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Alarm bells as North Korea tensions mount
Early this morning President Trump made two phone calls to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping about the threat from North Korea. Is he preparing to attack?
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All-powerful Erdogan is ‘Turkey’s new sultan’
The president of Turkey has won a crucial vote to extend his powers. Many commentators are now likening him to the sultans and emperors of the old Ottoman empire. Is this analysis correct?
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Obama’s secret North Korea cyberwar revealed
On Sunday night North Korea defied a UN ban by launching four ballistic missiles. Now it has been disclosed that for years the USA has been engaged in a secret cyberwar against the country.
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Kim Jong-nam’s death: a North Korean whodunnit
Last week the exiled half-brother of the North Korean leader was poisoned at Kuala Lumpur airport. Now North Korea has accused Malaysia of trying to “politicise” the death. What is going on?
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Amnesty: ‘divisive politics at 1930s levels’
The human rights organisation has warned that in the last year divisive politics of “us vs them” has reached dangerous levels. It likened the mood to the 1930s. Is this a fair comparison?
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Liberty in danger warn both left and right
A shocking graphic on a magazine has sparked outrage. Meanwhile two acclaimed writers from opposite sides of the political divide have published trenchant warnings about a Trump autocracy.
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Castro: a cruel tyrant mourned by millions
His history of murder and oppression is appalling. But Fidel Castro’s death on Saturday brought tributes from many Western politicians. How can anyone admire a man with his record?
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World order prepares for a Trump shake-up
From his praise for Putin to the Mexican wall, Donald Trump’s foreign policy was the most vivid part of his campaign. It was also the vaguest. What does his presidency mean for the world?