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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: authoritarianism

authoritarianism stories: 8 news summaries

Today's Hot Topic in Syrian Blogosphere: Masturbation

Regime doesn't seem to mind as long as it doesn't challenge authority

Oct 4, 09 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - Syria’s authoritarian regime has been quick to lock up bloggers who tweak it even slightly, but it seems to have turned the other cheek as a flame war over masturbation has erupted. One blogger’s call for a crackdown on the evidently widespread “secret habit” elicited a push... More »

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Internet • Syria • blog • authoritarianism • Internet censorship • web censorship • masturbation

Berlusconi Irate Over Pesky Media Questions

Italian PM walks out of interview when asked about teen model

May 24, 09 10:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi owns nearly half of Italy’s television stations—but not La Repubblica, the Italian daily that has incensed the PM with questions about his connection to an 18-year-old model, the Guardian reports. When a reporter asked about Berlusconi's appearance at her birthday party, Berlusconi took offense, saying... More »

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media • newspaper • Italy • prime minister • parliament • authoritarianism • Silvio Berlusconi • La Repubblica • investigative journalism • Noemi Letizia

ANALYSIS

Medvedev, Putin Move to Tighten Grip on Russia

Extending president's term would lock in power for a generation

Nov 6, 08 7:20 AM CST
(Newser) - Dmitry Medvedev's proposal yesterday to extend the Russian president's term from 4 years to 6 looks like another step in Russia's "alarming and rapid drift towards authoritarianism," the Guardian reports. The move came as a Russian newspaper, citing sources in the Kremlin, claimed that Medvedev could resign as... More »

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Russia • Vladimir Putin • Kremlin • authoritarianism • Dmitry Medvedev • Russian president

Elisabeth Fritzl Describes Life Under Josef

Father would threaten
to hurt kids if daughter resisted rape

Sep 10, 08 2:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - Elisabeth Fritzl describes as horrific life under the control of father Josef in the Austrian cellar where she and her children lived, the Telegraph reports. "He was very brutal against me," the 42-year-old said of the man who fathered seven children with her. Elisabeth, discovered in April, detailed... More »

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crime • Austria • slavery • authoritarianism • Josef Fritzl • Elisabeth Fritzl

OPINION

Modern Bullies Aren't
World's Real Threat

Putin, Jintao no Stalin, Mao; today's rulers can't ignore democracy

Aug 23, 08 4:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - The world's strong-arm autocrats are surging to the fore, ignoring human rights, denying election results, and barging into neighboring nations. But Hu Jintao, Robert Mugabe and Vladimir Putin are not Mao, Hitler, or Stalin, Francis Fukuyama writes in the Washington Post. That “sort of ideological tyrant no longer... More »

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Robert Mugabe • Vladimir Putin • Hu Jintao • Hugo Chávez • authoritarianism • Francis Fukuyama • autocrat • liberal democracy

 Slowly but Steadily,
 Rights Gaining in China 

Dynamic economy means people's freedoms are slowly growing

Aug 2, 08 9:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - With the Olympics casting an unflattering spotlight on the state of human rights in China, the New York Times takes a longer view, reporting that freedoms have gradually expanded over decades of economic reform. Repression remains in public expression and assembly, but Chinese people can now often live where they... More »

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China • human rights • authoritarianism • Chinese judiciary • Chinese Communist party

OPINION

India, China Growth Breaks Western Mold

Essayist says market reforms are only part
of the big picture

Feb 3, 08 7:33 AM CST
(Newser) - Conventional wisdom chalks up the economic booms in China and India to their moves toward global capitalism in the '90s. It's a comforting thought for the West, writes Pranab Bardhan in the Boston Review, but the truth is far more complex. The astounding growth in both countries started well before... More »

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China • India • democracy • economics • urbanization • authoritarianism • boom economy • inequality • rural poverty

Critics Blast Bush on Pakistan

Bush team can't back up its talk of democracy, writers say

Nov 6, 07 7:49 PM CST
(Newser) - Bush is leveling only tepid criticism of Pervez Musharraf’s state of emergency, showing the same “hypocrisy” and “knee-jerk support for authoritarianism” that has always defined his relationship with Pakistan, argues Salon’s Juan Cole. Musharraf’s move shatters even the pretense of a commitment to democracy, but... More »

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Pakistan • Pervez Musharraf • democracy • hypocrisy • authoritarianism • George W. Bush

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