Years after communism failed spectacularly with the demise of the Soviet Union, long after the horrendous deeds of the collectivist dictatorships became well known, there are still people who have the audacity to laud mass murderers of the likes of Fidel Castro.
Recent developments in India continued to steal headlines in the past couple of weeks. A surprising upshot was reported in both China and Vietnam while Spain and cannabis in the U.S. also generated significant interest.
The non-partisan or opposition media in Hungary is in decline as the influence of the government increases, since the populist governing party owns a large part of the local media. The government takes more and more drastic steps to silence voices of dissent.
In January 1982, after the martial law was introduced, Professors of the Warsaw University Tomasz Dybowski, refused to shake hands with Professor Sylwester Zawadzki – the then Minister of Justice – addressing him in the following manner: “for me, you are no longer a professor”. Now, it is high time to bring such gestrures back.
The answer to populism is not more populism. Demagogues can be defeated without lies. In the recent U.S. election two extremely untrustworthy candidates tried to outbid each other in telling the biggest lies. You can promise blood, sweat and tears and still be loved.
While it might be too harsh to say that Hungary was near bankrupcy in 2010, or when it was put in the junk category in 2014 we could argue that it was only an overreaction of the market. Still, it would be wrong to say that ’Hungary is doing better’, especially on the regional level.
And that’s how Law and Justice will put the safety of our country on the plater and place it in the hands of Rex Tillerson, for whom keeping Warsaw in the American sphere of influence lost any appeal along with the failure of shale gas extraction on our territory. And Tillerson will pass the plater on to his friends in the East.
Georgia became an independent nation in 1991 after 190 years of, first, annexation by Russia and then forceful incorporation in the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Georgia experienced the most dramatic peacetime economic decline in human history – a 75% drop in GDP. The country needed to restart its economy, and quickly.
South Korea has embarked on a completely opposite course by recently announcing its intention to regulate digital currencies. The Financial Services Commission decided to proceed with further regulation in the light of the increasing popularity of Bitcoin in the country.
We like, we share, we comment. And hence we feel that we did something good. Online activity and social media instead of encouraging being more active in real life, became a substitute of real action. Meanwhile, those who rule our countries will not get scared because of our “likes”.
