Eastern Europe: A Wellspring of Liberalism?

[applegrove]

Last edited Thu Jul 11, 2019, 09:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Fareed's Global Briefing at CNN

"SNIP.....

Once a hotbed of populist nationalism, Central and Eastern Europe are now a source of hope for liberal democracy, Jeffrey A. Stacey writes in a New York Times op-ed. Citing Slovakia’s election of a reformist president, liberal victories in local Polish elections, massive protests against the Czech Republic’s prime minister, Austria’s far-right scandal, and anti-Russian protests in Georgia, Stacey writes that in “a seemingly unlikely region, a rear-guard action has quietly begun to challenge the ‘populist surge.’”

As Roger Cohen wrote in a New York Times column, Greece has taken its own turn away from populism. Along with the underperformance of far-right parties in the recent EU elections, these Eastern developments show that the “vaunted liberal international order, however damaged, remains intact to a significant degree,” in Stacey’s view.

...SNIP"

[Initech]

1. You know what they say about it being always darkest before the dawn.

You can't get much darker than where we're at right now. Hopefully we will start swinging the other way before it's too late.

[applegrove]

2. Yes. There is hope.