autocracies

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Soros Drops $1B to 'Stop Drift Away From Democracy'
Philanthropist
Makes $1B
Promise
Jan 25, 2020 5:15 PM CST

Philanthropist Makes $1B Promise

George Soros plans worldwide network of universities

(Newser) - George Soros made a big promise Thursday, and it's gonna cost him. The wealthy philanthropist announced he'll donate $1 billion toward liberal-arts education in a worldwide network of universities, the Guardian reports. It will be "the most important and enduring project of my life," he said...

'Unprecedented' Move Against School Founded by Soros

Central European University says it's been forced out of Hungary, the first school in EU to be booted

(Newser) - Central European University is said to be the best graduate school in Hungary, but it just became the first university to get kicked out of an EU nation. The Washington Post calls it "one of the surest signals to date of autocracy's return to the country," and...

Know What Famine Victims Don't Need? Rock Stars
Know What Famine Victims Don't Need? Rock Stars
OPINION
Apr 29, 2014 12:50 PM CDT

Know What Famine Victims Don't Need? Rock Stars

Slate columnist: In fact, they might be doing more harm than good

(Newser) - Rock stars have been joining together on behalf of Africa's famine victims since the days of Live Aid in the 1980s, but these well-meaning ventures might actually be making the problem worse, writes William Easterly at Slate . For one thing, celebrity relief concerts tend to reinforce the stereotype that...

Lay Off Israel, Human Rights Watch: Founder
Lay Off Israel, Human Rights Watch: Founder
OPINION
Oct 20, 2009 9:42 AM CDT

Lay Off Israel, Human Rights Watch: Founder

Group founded to light closed societies has gone astray

(Newser) - Human Rights Watch has lost its way, writes founder and chairman emeritus Robert L. Bernstein. The once even-handed organization has launched a jeremiad against Israel—a liberal democracy with a “vibrant free press”—while effectively ignoring abuses in closed, autocratic societies in the region it was created to...

In China and Russia, a 'Springtime for Autocrats'
In China and Russia,
a 'Springtime for Autocrats'
ANALYSIS
Aug 17, 2008 2:36 PM CDT

In China and Russia, a 'Springtime for Autocrats'

Is the Age of Authoritarianism upon us?

(Newser) - The autocratic world powers that were crumbling in the late 1980s may yet have their day, and sooner than we think, writes executive editor Bill Keller in the New York Times. As China keeps its stranglehold on free speech despite promises to the IOC, and Russia tests how far it...

McCain's Foreign Policy Could Ignite Cold War II

Republican's 'cowboy antagonism' would sow discord with Russia, China, others

(Newser) - John McCain’s foreign policy—“combustible” and “idealist”—could provoke a second Cold War, pitting the world’s democracies against its autocracies, John Judis writes in the New Republic—at best creating “gratuitous tensions” and at worst wholly “reproducing” the USSR-US “confrontation.” Mac’...

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