Новости за 16.06.2016

It’s a firmly established defense of the superdelegate system that the 700 or so Democratic Party luminaries who can cast votes for any candidate of their choice have never once decided the nomination. DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz cited this in justifying their existence, and it popped up in Samantha Bee’s widely shared explanation-cum-defense of superdelegates. Rather than a mechanism for overturning the will of the voters, the argument goes, the superdelegates are simply a safeguard against an insurgent “fringe” candidate—say... Читать дальше...

If anyone’s earned the right to inveigh against the grotesque privileges of today’s Washington elites, it’s Michelle Fields, the Breitbart News reporter manhandled by Donald Trump’s thuggish chief of staff, Corey Lewandowski, at a Florida fundraiser. The encounter prompted Fields to file criminal charges (since dismissed) and to resign her post at Breitbart, which has been functioning as an all-but-official PR arm of the Trump campaign. (She’s now at the Huffington Post.)

This article first appeared at NACLA magazine. 

“Macri’s first 100 days were a hit on people’s pocket.” So said Argentina’s former president and current senator Carlos Menem in mid-April of this year. It was a particularly striking comment coming from someone who, during his own presidency in the 1990s, implemented such a severe austerity program that he quickly became a poster-child for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  But in many ways Menem’s words underscore just how far-reaching... Читать дальше...

The current refugee crisis is the worst that Europe has seen since World War II, and in many countries, it remains in the political center stage. As Syrian and other refugees continue to flee to Europe to escape violence and destitution, the EU has struck a controversial new deal to stem the flow of asylum seekers. Public opinion on the issue remains sharply divided, with those expressing solidarity with refugees facing a re-energized, anti-migrant far right. Meanwhile, countless refugees remain... Читать дальше...