it's a beaut. Good one. We knew the West left a screwed up legacy in Africa, the map underlines that as a fact. And it doesn't help the picture that Israel, i think, looks blue. Then again i guess it's not so unfair as it does say "flawed."
It really is a top map and am tempted to repeat it, Will leave it as yours though and add ..
Why do Europe’s strongmen love Trump?
"After 50 Years, This Right-Wing Law Factory Is Crazier Than Ever "The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: ‘We Are Seeing Them Emboldened’""
Please America, don't let Trump take you down his 'it's all about me' sinkhole.
For Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ilham Aliyev, and others, a second Trump term provides strategic openings and a dismantling of a liberal order that troubles their ties with the West.
[...]
Of the more than 50 elections taking place around the world in 2024, the most consequential one is in the United States, with two presumptive candidates offering radically different views of world order: Donald Trump’s America-First, economic nationalist agenda vs. Joe Biden’s transatlanticist pledge to preserve the world of alliances that America has built since World War II.
[...]
Inside Europe, there are leaders on the far-right, most notably France’s Marine Le Pen and Britain’s Brexit-champion Nigel Farage, who have struck a good relationship with the Trump world and would arguably welcome .. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN17Y2DM/ .. a Republican White House. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a closet .. https://www.politico.eu/article/giorgia-meloni-europe-donald-trump-ursula-von-der-leyen/ .. Trump supporter (though she has delighted Europeans with her eagerness to stand by Ukraine). The European far-right overlaps with Trump’s MAGA base in several ways, but mostly in its fearmongering on “globalist elites” and discourse on equality, diversity, and immigration. Europe’s far-right insurrectionaries think of themselves as part of the same anti-liberal revolution as Trump.
[...]
For Orbán, Trump’s appeal is both ideological and strategic—and not unrequited. Hungary’s long-time leader has an iconic stature on the MAGA right and has provided something of a template on how to capture a state and its institutions for an illiberal transformation. Orbán calls it “Christian democratic politics, conservative civic politics and patriotic politics ..https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-viktor-orban-europe-hungary-budapest-6480ac99541044d6ff08d8005cf725ca “—read anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigration, anti-liberal. American conservatives and their institutions, including Tucker Carlson and the Heritage Foundation, have hailed the Hungarian leader as an oracle, providing speaking opportunities to inspire U.S. conservatives.
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Europeans worry that a second Trump term would start with Washington arm-twisting Ukraine to start talks with Russia, without a proper assurance of Western support and long-term security guarantees for Kyiv. The U.S. Congress’ Ukraine funding debate and Trump-allied Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s hand-wringing over the funding bill already reveal the direction of travel.
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Most Russia watchers believe that Putin, an ex-KGB officer who is a master of obfuscation, is trolling the American electorate ahead of the November elections and providing the Trump campaign with a useful talking point ..
. Brookings scholar and Russia expert Angela Stent told me, “Putin feels?that he increasingly has the upper hand in dealing?with a divided, polarized America. Kremlin politics?are such a black box that Western publics hang on every word he says, believing?that he signals his true intentions. In the matter of American?elections, he does not. Having hinted many?times that he prefers Trump, Putin’s unexpected endorsement of Biden intentionally caused great confusion. Of course, he is toying with the U.S. public, but the Trump campaign has a new slogan: a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Vladimir Putin.”
[...]
Trump’s return to the White House may also provide an opportunity for Turkey to expand its military control over Iraq and Syria—and settle scores with the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds that Ankara considers to be terrorists. The issue has been a major irritant in Turkey’s relations with the United States and Turkish officials believe Trump was prevented by the U.S. bureaucracy (“the deep state”) from addressing the issue. Ankara is now hoping that Trump will be able to finish the job he started .. https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-slams-ridiculous-endless-wars-as-he-defends-dramatic-shift-in-syria-policy-turkey-erdogan-kurds-isis/ .. in 2019 and withdraw U.S. troops from Syria (“I held off this fight for … almost 3 years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home”). Such a move would allow Ankara to extend its territorial control inside the Syrian border and, as a bonus, consolidate nationalist voters around Erdogan once again.
[...]
Strongmen, middle powers, and democracy
The Eurasian land mass has not been hospitable for democracy, and, with the exception of Georgia and Armenia, authoritarianism is rampant across Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the neighboring Middle East. The handful of instances when societies pushed for openings have been met with repression. With the exceptions of Israel and Turkey, democratic pluralism is lacking, and civil society remains weak in many countries. Iraq and Lebanon offer competitive political systems but fail their citizens in governance and accountability. Elsewhere it is lifetime leaders, kings, emirs, and elected autocrats.
This makes external relations critical for legitimacy and maintenance of power.
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