segunda-feira, 5 de maio de 2025
24.02.2025 : Far-right AfD becomes strongest party in eastern German states
Far-right
AfD becomes strongest party in eastern German states
East-West
divide deepens in German politics as far-right AfD dominates eastern states
while failing to gain similar support in west
Anadolu
staff |
24.02.2025 -
Update : 24.02.2025
The
far-right AfD party won the most votes in five eastern German states in
Sunday’s parliamentary elections, reflecting a growing polarization in the
country.
The
anti-immigrant party secured 20.8% nationwide, but its vote share in the five
ex-communist federal states was significantly higher.
The party
emerged as the dominant political force by scoring 38.6% in Thuringia, 37.3% in
Saxony, 37.1% in Saxony-Anhalt, 35% in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and 32.5% in
Brandenburg. In contrast, the party averaged 18% in western German states.
Far-right
candidates claimed victory in most constituencies across the eastern states,
with few exceptions. The AfD achieved its strongest showing in the eastern town
of Goerlitz with 46.7%, while its lowest support came from the western city of
Cologne at 6.3%.
In Sunday's
parliamentary elections, the anti-immigrant party doubled its vote share
nationwide from 10.3% in 2021. Though now the second-largest group in
parliament, the party remains isolated, with all other political parties
refusing to form a coalition with them due to the party’s anti-democratic
tendencies.
Election day
polling by infratest dimap revealed that most AfD voters were primarily
concerned about immigration and domestic security. Of those surveyed, 38%
supported the AfD mainly for its anti-immigration stance, while 33% cited
domestic security as their primary reason.
As many as
94% of AfD supporters agreed that “all migrants without legal status should be
deported as quickly as possible.” Nearly all voters said the AfD was the only
party that understood that many “people no longer feel secure.”
According to
the representative poll, 54% of AfD voters said they believed in the party's
policies, while 39% voted for the AfD to protest or express disappointment with
other parties.
Should Germany ban AfD? What impact could this have?
Should
Germany ban AfD? What impact could this have?
By Giulia
Carbonaro
Published on
14/06/2023 - 10:44 GMT+2•Updated 22/01/2024 - 12:02 GMT+1
https://www.euronews.com/2023/06/14/should-germany-ban-afd-what-impact-could-this-have
Protests
against the far-right party swept through Germany over the weekend. But should
the AfD be banned?
More than
800,000 people took to the streets of Germany's major cities this weekend to
denounce Alternative for Germany
The demos
followed news last week that some members of the far-right party had attended a
secret meeting last November where they allegedly discussed plans for mass
deportations of immigrants and Germans with a migrant background.
With slogans
such as "ban the AfD now", "all against fascism",
"united against hate" or "never again", referring to the
genocide of European Jews during the Second World War, Germans have been
protesting since the investigative media Correctiv published the story.
"I want
to say it loud and clear: right-wing extremists are attacking our
democracy," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday in a video
message to the more than 20 million German citizens with a migrant background.
Growing
concern about AfD
For its
part, the AfD has dismissed the report as a "fairy tale" and said the
media had "inflated" the meeting.
But the
scandal has revived a row on whether the far-right party should be banned.
Last month,
AfD won its first mayoralty in a town in Saxony. At the national level, the AfD
is on 22%, just behind the Christian Democratic Union and its partner, the
Christian Social Union of Bavaria, on 31%.
There is
concern in the country about the rise of the far right, which has 78 seats in
the Bundestag, Germany's parliament.
The party
has been declared 'demonstrably extremist' by the Office for the Protection of
the Constitution in Saxony and 42% of Germans are in favour of banning it,
according to an Ipsos poll.
But could
AfD be banned?
In June, a
study by the German Institute for Human Rights on the possibility of banning
AfD put the issue in the spotlight.
The study
said the AfD poses such a danger to the country's democratic order “it could be
banned by the Federal Constitutional Court.”
AfD can be
legally banned because its explicit goals are “to eliminate the free democratic
basic order” and “abolish the guarantee of human dignity” enshrined in
Germany’s constitution, claims the institute.
Set up in
2013, the AfD has been accused of harbouring anti-democratic tendencies, though
it officially supports democracy in Germany.
Banning the
AfD has been floated in Germany before. A court last year ruled the party
should be considered a potential threat to democracy, paving the way for it to
be put under surveillance by national security services.
In 2023,
Germany decided to label AfD’s youth wing, the Young Alternative for Germany,
as an extremist group. The formal accusation of extremism is as far as the
country can go without issuing an outright ban.
Domestic
intelligence services have also labelled the Thuringia state chapter of the
party a right-wing extremist group. Earlier this week, its leader Björn Höcke
was accused of purposefully using a Nazi slogan at a May 2021 campaign event.
But while
the Germany Institute for Human Rights’ study reignited a debate around banning
the party in Germany, AfD took advantage of the situation, turning their
condemnation into a call to arms for supporters.
The
far-right party - which opposes Islam, immigration and the EU - is worrying
Germany's political class, with support climbing in recent months.
Proposals to
ban AfD have “backfired massively because the AfD took it upon themselves to
paint a different picture in the media,” according to Una Ivona Titz, a
journalist and researcher at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, a group focused on
extremism and the far-right.
“Right now,
they’re garnering a lot of support on Telegram because they’re rallying their
supporters and they’re painting themselves as a persecuted party within an
unjust system which they’re fighting from within,” she told Euronews.
While the
study aimed to increase awareness over the threats posed by AfD, “what we’re
seeing is that it has emboldened them and actually helped them bolster the
image of AfD,” Titz explained.
Previous
attempts at banning an elected party in Germany have failed and backfired
against its organisers -- with a tentative ban on far-right party NPD in 2017
being rejected by the second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court.
Politicians
also appear to be cautious about suggesting to ban AfD.
“The study
has gained traction as an online debate and has then subsequently been picked
up by politicians from the entire political spectrum,” Titz said. “So you had
politicians from the CDU, from SBT, and from the left boycotting the proposal
of a ban or being sceptical towards the ban because they saw it as a misplaced
attempt.”
“For
example, Sebastian Hoffmann [from SPD] talked about the AfD as an
anti-constitutional party, but, on the other hand, he sees the primary goal of
politics as putting the AfD in a sort of political limbo where it becomes no
longer electable and thus avoiding a ban.”
An
impossible dilemma
The idea of
banning a party is not only politically fraught, but also poses a moral dilemma
for many. As Princeton professor Jan-Werner Mueller put it in a 2013 article,
democracies are “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” ban extremist
parties.
While
forbidding a popular party can undermine the pillars of democracy, he says
leaving a country exposed to the threat of extremism can be dangerous and
“ultimately leave no democracy to defend.”
That’s why
countries have generally avoided banning extremist parties, and have explored
different approaches.
“There’s a
spectrum of how deep the state can go to act against extremist groups,” Lorenzo
Vidino, Director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University,
told Euronews. “And that is based on different histories, different
constitutional, different social and cultural approaches."
"There’s
no right or wrong way.”
On one end
of the spectrum, Vidino pointed to the US approach, which is based “on an
extreme tolerance of the intolerant”, meaning domestic groups that are
considered extremist can be tolerated.
“The Ku Klux
Klan is legal in America," he said. "They can hold rallies, burn
crosses - they occasionally do that. That’s for a variety of reasons based on
the Constitution and freedom of speech.”
These groups
are still monitored by the state, “but it’s basically impossible to ban a
domestic extremist group in America,” Vidino said.
At the other
end of the spectrum, he points to countries like Germany. “There’s very low
tolerance of extremist groups, even if not directly violent."
"That
of course stems from German recent history.”
Even in
countries where extremist parties can be banned, the decision “is never one
that’s taken lightly, for a variety of reasons,” Vidino said.
“First of
all, there’s a complicated legal process. But there’s also a political side to
it, that leads to the question of whether we would also then ban extremist
groups on the left, like environmental ones.”
There’s also
a practical issue, Vidino said. “If you ban a group, it doesn’t just disappear.
AfD has millions of supporters - the problem it poses isn’t solved after you
ban the party. In fact, you might lose the control you have over it by
dissolving the party.”
What to do
then?
Vidino said
the best tool to counter extremist parties is monitoring.
But there
are others.
According to
Titz, one solution that has proven effective in weakening the appeal of
extremist far-right parties like AfD is to strengthen media literacy towards
democracy, especially in areas like the former DDR, in eastern Germany.
“You have a
high level of scepticism towards democracy as a whole, and what really helps,
statistically, is to invest in programmes right there, and keep them [AfD] on
their toes with regard to their rhetoric,” she said.
“Everything
that the AfD puts out has to be documented and monitored and counterbalanced.”
Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Plan to Escalate Gaza Campaign
Israeli
Security Cabinet Approves Plan to Escalate Gaza Campaign
It is not
clear how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy of adding tens of
thousands of soldiers will fundamentally alter a dynamic seen over 18 months of
conflict.
Michael D.
ShearAaron BoxermanAdam Rasgon
By Michael
D. ShearAaron Boxerman and Adam Rasgon
Reporting
from Jerusalem
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/world/europe/israel-buildup-soldiers-hamas-gaza.html
May 5, 2025
Updated
10:49 a.m. ET
Israel’s
security cabinet has approved plans for an escalation of the military campaign
in Gaza, endorsing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy that victory
against Hamas will come from an even bigger barrage of military might in the
weeks ahead.
“We have not
finished the war,” Mr. Netanyahu declared on Sunday as his security cabinet
signed off on expanding the fighting. “We will perform this operation with a
unified military, with a powerful army and deeply resolved soldiers.”
Israeli
officials confirmed the cabinet’s decision on Monday. David Mencer, a
government spokesman, said, “Israel is issuing tens of thousands of call-up
orders to reservists in order to strengthen and expand our operation in Gaza.”
He added
that the goal of the expanded operation was to increase the pressure on Hamas
to release the remaining hostages and to destroy all of Hamas’s infrastructure,
both above and below ground.
The campaign
calls for “the expanding and the holding of territories” in Gaza by Israeli
soldiers for an indefinite period of time, Mr. Mencer said. He said forces
would remain in areas that are seized “to prevent Hamas from taking it back.”
The cabinet
also approved a new Israeli-backed mechanism for allowing the distribution of
humanitarian help, Mr. Mencer said. Israel has blocked all aid, including food,
fuel and medicine, from entering Gaza for more than two months, the effect of
which has been “catastrophic,” doctors say. Israel has argued that the blockade
is lawful and that Gaza still has enough available provisions.
As part of
the Israeli offensive, Israel would move “the Gazan population south for its
own defense,” Mr. Mencer said. The plan echoed Israel’s actions earlier in the
war, when Israel ordered a mass evacuation of northern Gaza before its ground
invasion in late 2023.
Two
reservists who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized
to make comments to the news media said that they had received call-up orders
beginning in June.
An Israeli
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational planning,
said the understanding was that the Israeli military would move to capture more
territory beyond what it was already holding, but the official cautioned that
it was not clear whether Israel had plans to occupy all of Gaza at this point.
A full-blown
occupation would almost certainly spur international objections, as would the
forced relocation of Palestinians from their homes in the north.
And it is
not clear how additional fighters would fundamentally alter a dynamic seen over
18 months of war in which hundreds of thousands of soldiers have pummeled Hamas
fighters, with residents in Gaza caught in the middle, but have failed to
achieve Israel’s goals of destroying the militant group or releasing all
hostages.
The question
is whether a return to that kind of fighting is a road map to the end of
hostilities or merely an intensification of a deadly conflict with worsening
consequences for Palestinians and the Israeli hostages still being held by
Hamas.
Tamir
Hayman, who served as the Israeli military’s intelligence chief for four years,
said the attempts to pressure Hamas with overwhelming force had been
“exhausted” after more than a year and a half of war.
“Eliminating
Hamas as a terror organization by military force only is very difficult,” said
Mr. Hayman, who is now executive director of the Institute for National
Security Studies, a think tank in Tel Aviv. He said Israel would be better off
ending the war with Hamas, which has been weakened significantly and can be
kept in check after the fighting ends.
The Israeli
military has not provided details about how the reservists will be deployed.
But two Israeli officials, who requested anonymity to comment on military
plans, say it will involve several brigades seeking so-called operational
superiority in several parts of Gaza.
The Trump
administration has sought a new cease-fire, but Hamas has demanded an end to
the war and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, while Israel has insisted
that Hamas disarm, which the group has refused to do.
The Israeli
call-up of soldiers is also a message to Mr. Netanyahu’s hard-line supporters,
some of whom were dismayed that the military had not completed the task of
eradicating Hamas. Promising a more intense phase of the war could be good
domestic politics for him.
Israeli
officials have said they believe it was the power and intensity of their
military campaign in Gaza last year that pressured Hamas to release some of the
hostages and to accept a cease-fire in January.
Hours after
the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people in Israel,
with 251 others taken hostage, Mr. Netanyahu ordered the mobilization of
360,000 reservists, adding to the country’s standing military of about 170,000
soldiers.
In the
fighting since, more than 50,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Gaza
health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and military
deaths. About 130 hostages have been released and the Israeli military has
retrieved the bodies of at least 40 others. Around 24 hostages are thought to
be still alive, according to the Israeli government.
When Israel
and Hamas agreed to the January cease-fire deal, Mr. Netanyahu said credit
should go to the “painful blows that our heroic fighters have landed on Hamas.”
“This is
exactly how the conditions were created for the turning point in its position
and for the release of our hostages,” he said during a national address.
But other
voices, like Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, have expressed grave
doubts about the strategy. “I fear that the intensity of the fighting will
dictate the fate of the hostages,” Mr. Lapid said on Israeli Army Radio. “What
is the goal? Why are they calling up reservists? Extending regular service and
all without defining a goal — that’s not how you win a war.”
In a
statement Monday, the organization representing the families of hostages urged
the government not to widen the war.
“The
expansion of military operations puts every hostage at grave risk,” the
families said. “We implore our decision makers: Prioritize the hostages. Secure
a deal. Bring them home — before it’s too late.”
Natan
Odenheimer and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
Michael D.
Shear is a White House correspondent for The Times. He has reported on politics
for more than 30 years.
Aaron
Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in
Jerusalem.
Adam Rasgon
is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian
zionism and ethno-nationalism
Role in the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The arrival
of Zionist settlers to Palestine in the late 19th century is widely seen as the
start of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Zionists wanted to create a Jewish
state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian
Arabs as possible.In response to Ben-Gurion's 1938 quote that "politically
we are the aggressors and they [the Palestinians] defend themselves",
Israeli historian Benny Morris says, "Ben-Gurion, of course, was right.
Zionism was a colonizing and expansionist ideology and movement", and that
"Zionist ideology and practice were necessarily and elementally
expansionist." Morris describes the Zionist goal of establishing a Jewish
state in Palestine as necessarily displacing and dispossessing the Arab
population. The practical issue of establishing a Jewish state in a majority
non-Jewish and Arab region was a fundamental issue for the Zionist
movement. Zionists used the term "transfer" as a euphemism for
the removal, or ethnic cleansing, of the Arab Palestinian population. According
to Benny Morris, "the idea of transferring the Arabs out... was seen as
the chief means of assuring the stability of the 'Jewishness' of the proposed
Jewish State".
In fact, the
concept of forcibly removing the non-Jewish population from Palestine was a
notion that garnered support across the entire spectrum of Zionist groups,
including its farthest left factions from early on in the movement's
development. The concept of transfer was not only seen as desirable but also as
an ideal solution by the Zionist leadership. The notion of forcible transfer was
so appealing to this leadership that it was considered the most attractive
provision in the Peel Commission. Indeed, this sentiment was deeply ingrained
to the extent that Ben Gurion's acceptance of partition was contingent upon the
removal of the Palestinian population. He would go as far as to say that
transfer was such an ideal solution that it "must happen some day".
It was the right wing of the Zionist movement that put forward the main
arguments against transfer, their objections being primarily on practical
rather than moral grounds.
According to
Morris, the idea of ethnically cleansing the land of Palestine was to play a
large role in Zionist ideology from the inception of the movement. He explains
that "transfer" was "inevitable and inbuilt into Zionism"
and that a land which was primarily Arab could not be transformed into a Jewish
state without displacing the Arab population. Further, the stability of the
Jewish state could not be ensured given the Arab population's fear of
displacement. He explains that this would be the primary source of conflict
between the Zionist movement and the Arab population.
End of the Mandate and Expulsion of the Palestinians
Towards the end of the war, the Zionist leadership was
motivated more than ever to establish a Jewish state. Since the British were no
longer sponsoring its development, many Zionists considered it would be
necessary to establish the state by force by upending the British position in
Palestine. In this the IRA's tactics against Britain in the Irish War of
Independence served as a both a model and source of inspiration.[t] The Irgun,
the military arm of the revisionist Zionists, led by Menachem Begin, and the
Stern Gang, which at one point sought an alliance with the Nazis, would lead a
series of terrorist attacks against the British starting in 1944. This included
the King David Hotel bombing, British immigration and tax offices and police
stations. It was only by the war's end that the Haganah joined in the sabotage
against the British. The combined impact of US opinion and the attacks on
British presence eventually led the British to refer the situation to the
United Nations in 1947.
The UNSCOP found that Jews were a minority in
Palestine, owning 6% of the total land. The urgency of the condition of the
Jewish refugees in Europe motivated the committee to unanimously vote in favor
of terminating the British mandate in Palestine. The disagreement came with
regards to whether Palestine should be partitioned or if it should constitute a
federal state. American lobbying efforts, pressuring UN delegates with the
threat of withdrawal of US aid, eventually secured the General Assembly votes
in favor of the partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states
which was passed 29 November 1947.
Outbursts of violence slowly grew into a wider civil
war between the Arabs and Zionist militias. By mid-December, the Haganah had
shifted to a more "aggressive defense", abandoning notions of
restraint it had espoused from 1936 to 1939. The Haganah reprisal raids were
often disproportionate to the initial Arab offenses, which led to the spread of
violence to previously unaffected areas. The Zionist militias, employed terror
attacks against Arab civilian and militia centers. In response, Arabs planted
bombs in Jewish civilian areas, particularly in Jerusalem.
The first expulsion of Palestinians began 12 days
after the adoption of the UN resolution, and the first Palestinian village was
eliminated a month later.[135] In March of 1948, Zionist forces began
implementing Plan D, which warranted the expulsion of civilians and the
destruction of Arab towns and villages in pursuit of eliminating potentially
hostile Arab elements.According to Benny Morris Zionist forces committed 24
massacres of Palestinians in the ensuing war, in part as a form of
psychological warfare, the most notorious of which is the Deir Yassin massacre.
Between 1948 and 1949, 750,000 Palestinians would be driven out of their homes,
primarily as a result of these expulsions and massacres.
The British left Palestine (having done little to
maintain order) on May 14 as planned. The British had done little to
fascilitate a formal transfer of power;a fully functioning Jewish quasi-state
had already been operating under the British for the past several decades. The
same day, Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the state of Israel.
Israeli ministers approved a plan to capture all of Gaza and remain there – two officials say /Bezalel Smotrich: Israelis should embrace the word 'occupation'
From 3h ago
09.20 BST
Israeli
ministers approved a plan to capture all of Gaza and remain there – two
officials say
Israel’s
security cabinet approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain
there for an unspecified amount of time, two officials said, AP reports.
The plan was
approved today and is part of Israel’s efforts to increase pressure on Hamas to
free hostages and negotiate a ceasefire on Israel’s terms.
The two
officials said the plan also includes the displacement of hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians to southern Gaza. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were discussing military plans.
Updated at
09.22 BST
12m ago
12.18 BST
Bezalel
Smotrich: Israelis should embrace the word 'occupation'
Israel will
not withdraw from the Gaza Strip even if there is another hostage deal is
reached, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has insisted as he called
on Israelis to embrace the word “occupation.”
“We are
finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word
‘occupation,’” Smotrich told Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal during a
conference organised by Israel’s right-wing Besheva newspaper.
“We are
finally taking control of all humanitarian aid, so that it does not become
supplies for Hamas. We are separating Hamas from the population, cleansing the
Strip, returning the hostages — and defeating Hamas,” he said.
“The only
way to release the hostages is to subdue Hamas. Any retreat will bring about
the next October 7,” he said. “Once as we occupy and stay [in Gaza] we can talk
about sovereignty. But I did not demand that this be included among the goals
of the war. First, we will defeat Hamas and prevent it from existing.”
52m ago
11.38 BST
AFP provides
some more detail on Israel’s plans to intensify its operations in Gaza, with
the official saying Israel was planning the “conquest” of the territory.
The Israeli
official said the plan for expanded operations “will include, among other
things, the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories,
moving the Gaza population south for their protection”.
The majority
of Gaza’s population had resided in the north of the territory, particularly
Gaza City, and nearly all have been displaced at least once since the war
began.
The cabinet,
which includes prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several ministers,
“unanimously approved” the plan aimed at defeating Gaza’s rulers Hamas and
securing the return of hostages held in the territory.
The official
source said the plan included “powerful strikes against Hamas”, without
specifying their nature.
A New Trend in Global Elections: The Anti-Trump Bump
A New
Trend in Global Elections: The Anti-Trump Bump
In voting in
Canada and Australia, right-wing parties that borrowed from the MAGA playbook
were punished. Elsewhere, President Trump is having a more complex impact.
Matina
Stevis-Gridneff
By Matina
Stevis-Gridneff
Reporting
from Toronto
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/world/canada/global-elections-trump.html
May 4, 2025
The Trump
factor is shaping global politics, one election at a time — just not
necessarily to the president’s taste.
In major
votes in Canada and Australia over the past two weeks, centrists saw their
fortunes revived, while parties that had borrowed from the MAGA playbook lost
out.
President
Trump has been back in power for only three months, but already his policies,
including imposing tariffs and upending alliances, have rippled into domestic
political battles around the world.
While it is
too soon to say that anti-Trump forces are on the rise globally, it is clear
that voters have Mr. Trump somewhere on their mind as they make decisions.
Political
cousins
Canada and
Australia share a lot in common: a political system, a major mining industry, a
sovereign in King Charles. Now they also share a remarkable political story.
In both
countries, before Mr. Trump was inaugurated, the center-left ruling parties had
been in poor shape and appeared poised to lose power. The front-runners in
polls were the conservative parties, whose leaders flirted with Trumpian
politics both in style and in substance.
Within weeks
following Mr. Trump’s return to power, the Canadian and Australian political
scenarios flipped in the same way: The center-left incumbents surged ahead of
the conservative oppositions, and went on to win. And both countries’
conservative leaders lost not just the elections — they even lost their own
seats in Parliament.
Canada’s
prime minister, Mark Carney, campaigned on an explicitly anti-Trump message,
putting the American president’s threats to Canada at the heart of his
campaign. Australia’s leader, Anthony Albanese, did not. But both men got an
anti-Trump bump.
Conservative
leaders faced a scathing rejection at the ballot box. Pierre Poilievre, the
head of the Canadian conservatives, and Peter Dutton, the leader of those in
Australia, struggled to shake off a damaging association with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Dutton
had walked back or moderated some Trumpian policy proposals when they proved to
be unpopular, like radically slashing the public sector work force. Mr.
Poilievre never really pivoted away from the Trump approach, even after the
American president threatened Canada’s sovereignty.
Charles
Edel, the Australia chair at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, a think tank, called the election in Australia a “blowout.” And he
suggested that it had resulted, at least in part, from Mr. Trump’s implicit
intrusion into the election, even if it had been mostly focused on domestic
issues.
“There were
enough similarities to the Canadian election to suggest that the conservatives’
fortunes fell as Trump’s tariffs and attacks on America’s allies ramped up,” he
wrote in an email.
In Canada,
some saw the Australian election result as a sign of solidarity from their
cousins to the far south. “Albo Up!” an online meme said, swapping Mr.
Albanese’s nickname into Mr. Carney’s hockey-inspired anti-Trump slogan:
“Elbows Up!”
Flight to
safety
Mr. Carney
benefited from a perception among voters that he would be a stable hand to
manage Mr. Trump and his unpredictable impact on Canada’s economy, which is
deeply integrated with America’s and already hurting because of tariffs and
uncertainty. His background as an economic policymaker also worked in his
favor.
Across the
world, in Singapore, the argument for stability in times of turmoil also
appeared to help the incumbent People’s Action Party.
Last month,
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in Parliament that Singapore would sustain a
bigger hit from the new American tariffs because of its reliance on global
trade. He called on Singaporeans to brace for more shocks, and predicted slower
growth.
Much like
Mr. Carney, who declared the old relationship between Canada and the United
States “over,” Mr. Wong issued a gloomy warning ahead of elections. “The global
conditions that enabled Singapore’s success over the past decades may no longer
hold,” he said.
On Saturday,
voters returned his party to power, an outcome that was never in doubt but was
still seen as bolstered by the “flight to safety” strategy that the party
deployed.
“This is
another case of the Trump effect,” said Cherian George, who has written books
about Singaporean politics. “The sense of deep concern about Trump’s trade wars
is driving a decisive number of voters to show strong support for the
incumbent.”
Mixed impact
In Germany,
an important Western ally that was the first to hold a national election after
Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the effect of the Trump factor has been less direct,
but it has still been felt.
Friedrich
Merz, who will be sworn in as Germany’s new chancellor on Tuesday, did not
profit politically from Mr. Trump’s election the way leaders in Canada or
Australia did in the more recent votes.
But if Mr.
Trump’s confrontation with America’s European allies on defense and trade did
not help Mr. Merz before the vote, it has helped him since.
Mr. Merz was
able to push through a suspension of spending limits in fiscally austere
Germany, which will make his job as chancellor easier. He did so by arguing
that the old certainties about American commitment to mutual defense were gone.
“Do you
seriously believe that an American government will agree to continue NATO as
before?” he asked lawmakers in March.
The
MAGA-sphere’s embrace of a far-right German party known as the AfD did not help
it, according to polls, even though Elon Musk had gone as far as to endorse the
party and to appear at one of its events by video stream.
A British
exception
An
unpredictable American president can have unpredictable consequences for
leaders abroad, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain is fast discovering.
Mr. Starmer,
a center-left leader who won his election before Mr. Trump won his, initially
gained praise for the businesslike way with which he dealt with the new
American president.
Unlike Mr.
Carney, Mr. Starmer went out of his way to avoid direct criticism of Mr. Trump,
finding common cause with him where possible and seeking to avert a rupture.
After a visit to the White House that was deemed successful, even some of Mr.
Starmer’s political opponents sounded impressed.
All the
while, a Trump ally in Britain, Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration
party Reform U.K, was struggling to fend off accusations that he sympathizes
with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
But Mr.
Starmer soon ran out of steam after failing to parlay a pleasant White House
visit into exemptions from American tariffs on British goods.
Last week,
his Labour Party was dealt a significant blow when voting took place in
regional and other elections in parts of England. It lost 187 council seats as
well as a special parliamentary election in one of its strongholds.
By contrast,
Mr. Farage’s party scored a spectacular success, not just winning that special
election, but taking two mayoralties and making sweeping gains. For the first
time, his party won control of the lowest tiers of government in several parts
of the country.
Victoria Kim
contributed reporting from Sydney; Sui-Lee Wee from Singapore; Christopher F.
Schuetze from Berlin; and Stephen Castle from London.
Matina
Stevis-Gridneff is the Canada bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of
the country.
Labour minister Lucy Powell ‘mortified’ over grooming gangs remarks
Labour
minister sorry over grooming gangs remark
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2ew9jnj2p1o
Leader of
the House of Commons Lucy Powell has sought to clarify her remarks after she
appeared to describe grooming gangs as a "dog whistle" issue,
prompting a backlash from political opponents.
During a
heated debate on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions on Friday, commentator and Reform
UK member Tim Montgomerie asked Powell if she had seen a recent Channel 4
documentary on grooming gangs.
Powell
responded "oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we" and
"let's get that dog whistle out shall we".
But on
Saturday, the Labour minister said she regarded child exploitation and grooming
with the "utmost seriousness", adding: "I'm sorry if this was
unclear."
Powell said:
"I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue
itself. As a constituency MP I've dealt with horrendous cases."
Health
Secretary Wes Streeting said politicians sometimes say things "in the heat
of debate" that "come across badly".
"She's
mortified and she does not want and would not want people who've campaigned on,
or been victims of, these most appalling crimes to think she was in any way
trying to undermine those experiences or those arguments," he told the
BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
During the
political debate programme, Montgomerie was asked about Reform UK's pledge to
replicate the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge)
- including by cutting diversity and inclusions roles within councils -
following its successes in Thursday's local elections.
Montgomerie
said the UK was "one of the most tolerant [countries] in the world",
but argued there "always needs to be more progress on racial issues".
He said:
"It's not so much the amount of money that is spent on employing diversity
officers.
"You
talk to a lot of civil servants, the amount of time they now have to spend
monitoring this issue [of diversity] above all others is an extraordinary
diversion."
Powell
called his claims "absolutely rubbish", and told Montgomerie to spend
a day with council staff to "actually see what they're dealing with".
Montgomerie
then asked Powell if she "saw the documentary on Channel 4 about rape
gangs", to which she responded: "Oh, we want to blow that little
trumpet now do we. Let's get that dog whistle out shall we."
The
documentary features five women who recount the abuse they suffered at the
hands of grooming gangs, which it said revealed failures by police and social
services.
It elicited
reaction from several high-profile Conservative figures, including former home
secretary Suella Braverman and former prime minister Liz Truss. Conservative
leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Prime
Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Wednesday there had already been an inquiry,
the recommendations of which his government would implement. He told Parliament
that Labour was "delivering truth and justice for victims".
Labour peer
Baroness Hazarika said she was "disgusted" by "sickening"
stories of grooming gangs, adding: "Many of us in the Muslim community are
absolutely as appalled as anyone else."
Following
Friday's exchange on Any Questions, shadow home secretary Chris Philp called
for Powell to resign over her remarks, which he said "belittles thousands
of girls who were raped by grooming gangs over decades".
Robert
Jenrick, the shadow lord chancellor, said Powell's comments were "a
disgusting betrayal of the victims".
A Reform UK
spokesman said Powell's "abhorrent comments truly demonstrate how out of
touch the Labour Party is".
He went on:
"She does not take the mass rape of young girls by predominantly Pakistani
men seriously. The mask has slipped.
"After
these comments, Keir Starmer should consider if Lucy Powell is fit to
serve."
Powell said
the comments were made "in the heat of a discussion" and the
government was "acting to get to the truth, and deliver justice".
The BBC
understands that Downing Street accepts Powell's apology and her explanation
that her comments did not reflect her views on the issue.
2 days ago: Totale chaos op Scheveningen, relschoppers vallen agenten aan / Rioter, cop and police horse injured in 'crazy evening' at Scheveningen / Relschopper, agent en politiepaard gewond bij ‘krankzinnige avond’ op Scheveningen
Rioter,
cop and police horse injured in 'crazy evening' at Scheveningen
Yamilla van
Dijk 02-05-25, 14:13 Last update: 02-05-25, 14:48
It had been
busy all day in Scheveningen because of the beautiful weather, so the police
were already present with the necessary officers because of regular emergency
assistance. "Despite that, there were a number of disturbances," the
spokesperson said. "Messages on social media had a catalytic effect."
The group of
young people was getting bigger and bigger and as a result, tensions continued
to rise." After consultation with the deputy mayor, it was decided to
deploy the Mobile Unit. The young people did not comply with the summons to
leave the area."
The young
people turned against the Mobile Unit and pelted them with stones and glass,
among other things. After the mobile unit had carried out a few charges, calm
returned. "During this deployment, police dogs were also deployed, a
rioter was injured after a bite and transported to the hospital." An
officer and a police horse were also injured and four police cars were
destroyed.
No arrests
No arrests
have been made, but the police emphasize that violence against police officers
will absolutely not be tolerated and that strict action will be taken against
such behavior. "After last night's disturbances, the boulevard of
Scheveningen is an area in which we will be very alert this weekend and will
take extra visible and invisible measures in consultation with the municipality
of The Hague and the Public Prosecution Service."
State
Secretary Ingrid Coenradie (Justice) also emphasizes that the young people who
caused the riots should not get away with it. "These guys should know that
they are not untouchable, because this is not possible," she said Friday
morning on television program Goedemorgen Nederland.
Coenradie is
pleased that there are many images on which the perpetrators may be identified.
"Long live the camera, I would say. I think it's important to look at all
the images and be able to arrest people."
You just
have to stand there and put this madness back in line
Nine Kooiman
Nine
Kooiman, chairman of the Dutch Police Union (NPB), speaks of an 'insane
evening' in Scheveningen. "What violence against police officers. Hope
everyone got home safe and in one piece," writes Kooiman on X. "You
will just stand there and have to put this madness back in line. Kudos that
they were there, but what a task."
Police union
ACP is also baffled and finds the violence 'outrageous'. But, says chairman
Ramon Meijerink, these kinds of things happen more often. "I understand
the outrage, but the violence against emergency workers is much broader than
this incident. It happens every week, every weekend, somewhere in the
Netherlands. Only not all of them make the news."
He also
denounces the criticism of the police that no arrests were made during the
riots. "No solutions are offered by politicians," says Meijerink.
"The police are structurally short of staff. So if you want to do more,
you will also have to invest more in police officers."
Kooiman
makes the same call. "I understand the request to arrest and prosecute
these rioters, but people also have to realize that the police are
understaffed. Setting up a large-scale study in times when the NATO summit also
has to be organized, which people should do that?"
Due to the
disturbances, many shopkeepers have had to close their business and in some
cases vandalism has also been committed. The police are calling on them to
report it. "It is also possible that bystanders have become involved in
these disturbances. For them, the impact can be great." The police are
also calling on them to report.
The catering
entrepreneurs in Scheveningen are disappointed. The riots are deteriorating the
image of the seaside resort, they think. The entrepreneurs are disappointed
that things went wrong again on the first sunny days of the year. "It is
dramatic for the image," says the owner of 't Pannekoekenhuisje.
"It's a repetitive problem."
"We
have seen this more often in recent years. The image had already been
damaged," says the manager of beach pavilion Summertime. According to him,
this is not only due to violent incidents, but also, for example, to parking
problems and poor accessibility. "It's an accumulation of negativity. A
spiral that Scheveningen does not seem to be able to get out of."
These riots
are again harmful to tourism, he thinks. "I had German tourists here
yesterday. They didn't have the best first impression. I can imagine that they
won't come back."
The bar
manager of El Niño Beach Club also remembers previous larger violent incidents,
including in 2019 and 2022. "The first really sunny days it goes wrong
more often, especially in the evening. It makes you feel unsafe and it is very
frightening for the staff," he says. "We take into account who we let
work in the evenings."
The owner of
't Pannekoekenhuisje can imagine that tourists who were already in doubt may
not come to Scheveningen for the time being. Still, he remains optimistic.
"Eventually it ebbs away again. It's an image, but Scheveningen is a lot
of fun."
It makes you
feel unsafe and it is very frightening for the staff
Emergency
debate
It is not
yet known whether the city council of The Hague will hold an emergency debate
next week about the riots Thursday evening in Scheveningen. A decision will be
made on Tuesday, the registry says. The next council meeting is scheduled for
Thursday.
Opposition
parties Hart voor Den Haag and VVD have requested a debate. Richard de Mos,
party chairman of Hart voor Den Haag, also wants to know from Mayor Jan van
Zanen 'how it could have gotten so out of hand'.
VVD party
leader Lotte van Basten Batenburg speaks of 'infuriating images of rioting
scum'. She adds: "It must be made clear once and for all: you are not
welcome in Scheveningen if you exhibit this kind of behavior."
Research
The police
are currently investigating the disturbances, as well as the circumstances.
Many images are available of the disturbances. These are also being
investigated.
In addition,
the police can still use help from witnesses and owners of camera images. The
police want to get in touch with bystanders who are in possession of camera
images that clearly show a suspect committing a criminal offense. This can be
done via the telephone number 0900-8844. Those who prefer to remain anonymous
can contact Meld Misdaad Anoniem (telephone number 0800-7000).
Relschopper,
agent en politiepaard gewond bij ‘krankzinnige avond’ op Scheveningen
Yamilla van
Dijk 02-05-25, 14:13 Laatste update: 02-05-25, 14:48
Het was de
hele dag al druk op Scheveningen vanwege het mooie weer, dus was de politie
vanwege reguliere noodhulp al met de nodige agenten aanwezig. „Ondanks dat
ontstonden er een aantal opstootjes”, laat de woordvoerder weten. „Berichten op
social media hadden een katalyserend effect.”
De groep
jongeren werd steeds groter en daardoor liepen de spanningen steeds verder toe
.„Daarop is na overleg met de locoburgemeester besloten om de Mobiele Eenheid
in te zetten. De jongeren gaven geen gehoor aan de sommaties om het gebied te
verlaten.”
De jongeren
keerden zich tegen de Mobiele Eenheid en bekogelden hen onder andere met stenen
en glas. Nadat de mobiele eenheid enkele charges had uitgevoerd, keerde de rust
terug. „Tijdens deze inzet zijn ook politiehonden ingezet, een relschopper is
na een beet gewond geraakt en naar het ziekenhuis vervoerd.” Ook een agent en
een politiepaard raakten gewond en er werden vier politiewagens vernield.
Geen
aanhoudingen
Er zijn geen
aanhoudingen verricht, maar de politie benadrukt dat het geweld tegen
politieambtenaren absoluut niet getolereerd wordt en dat er streng opgetreden
wordt tegen dergelijke gedragingen. „De boulevard van Scheveningen is na de
ongeregeldheden van gisteravond een gebied waarop we het komende weekend zeer
alert zijn en extra zichtbare en onzichtbare maatregelen nemen in samenspraak
met de gemeente Den Haag en het Openbaar Ministerie.”
Ook
staatssecretaris Ingrid Coenradie (Justitie) benadrukt dat de jongeren die de
rellen veroorzaakten daar niet mee weg mogen komen. „Deze gasten moeten weten
dat ze niet onaantastbaar zijn, want dit kan niet”, zei ze vrijdagmorgen bij
televisieprogramma Goedemorgen Nederland.
Coenradie is
blij dat er veel beelden zijn waarop de daders mogelijk te identificeren zijn.
„Leve de camera, zou ik zeggen. Ik denk dat het zaak is om alle beelden te
bekijken en mensen op te kunnen pakken.’’
Je zal er
maar staan en deze waanzin weer in linie moeten zetten
Nine Kooiman
Nine
Kooiman, voorzitter van de Nederlandse Politiebond (NPB), spreekt over een
‘krankzinnige avond’ in Scheveningen. „Wat een geweld tegen politiemensen. Hoop
dat iedereen veilig en heel thuis is gekomen”, schrijft Kooiman op X. „Je zal
er maar staan en deze waanzin weer in linie moeten zetten. Hulde dat ze er
stonden, maar wat een opgave.”
Politiebond
ACP is ook verbijsterd en vindt het geweld ‘schandalig’. Maar, zegt voorzitter
Ramon Meijerink, dit soort dingen gebeuren vaker. „Ik snap de verontwaardiging,
maar het geweld tegen hulpverleners is veel breder dan dit incident. Het
gebeurt elke week, elk weekend, ergens in Nederland. Alleen halen die niet
allemaal het nieuws.”
Ook hekelt
hij de kritiek op de politie dat er bij de rellen geen aanhoudingen zijn
verricht. „Er worden geen oplossingen geboden vanuit de politiek”, zegt
Meijerink. „De politie zit structureel met een personeelstekort. Dus als je
meer wilt doen, zul je ook meer moeten investeren in politiemensen.”
Kooiman doet
dezelfde oproep. „Ik snap het verzoek om deze relschoppers op te pakken en te
vervolgen, maar mensen moeten ook beseffen dat de politie kampt met
onderbezetting. Een grootschalig onderzoek opzetten in tijden dat ook de
Navo-top georganiseerd moet worden, welke mensen moeten dat gaan doen?”
Door de
ongeregeldheden hebben vele winkeliers hun zaak moeten sluiten en zijn er in
sommige gevallen ook vernielingen gepleegd. De politie roept hen op aangifte te
doen. „Ook kan het zijn dat omstanders verzeild zijn geraakt in deze
ongeregeldheden. Voor hen kan de impact groot zijn.” Ook aan hen doet de
politie de oproep zich te melden.
De
horecaondernemers op Scheveningen balen. De rellen verslechteren het imago van
de badplaats, vinden ze. De ondernemers balen dat het op de eerste zonnige
dagen van het jaar opnieuw is misgegaan. „Voor het imago is het dramatisch”,
zegt de eigenaar van ’t Pannekoekenhuisje. „Het is een repeterend probleem.”
„De
afgelopen jaren zien we dit vaker. Het imago was al geschaad”, zegt de
bedrijfsleider van strandpaviljoen Summertime. Volgens hem komt dat niet alleen
door geweldsincidenten, maar ook door bijvoorbeeld parkeerproblemen en slechte
bereikbaarheid. „Het is een opeenstapeling van negativiteit. Een spiraal waar
Scheveningen niet uit lijkt te kunnen komen.”
Deze rellen
zijn opnieuw schadelijk voor het toerisme, denkt hij. „Ik heb hier gisteren
Duitse toeristen gehad. Die hadden niet een beste eerste indruk. Ik kan me
voorstellen dat die niet meer terugkomen.”
Ook de
barmanager van El Niño Beach Club herinnert zich eerdere grotere
geweldsincidenten, onder meer in 2019 en 2022. „De eerste echt zonnige dagen
gaat het vaker fout, vooral in de avond. Het geeft een onveilig gevoel en het
is heel beangstigend voor het personeel”, zegt hij. „We houden rekening met wie
we in de avonden laten werken.”
De eigenaar
van ’t Pannekoekenhuisje kan zich voorstellen dat toeristen die al twijfelden
misschien voorlopig niet naar Scheveningen komen. Toch blijft hij optimistisch.
„Uiteindelijk ebt het weer weg. Het is beeldvorming, maar Scheveningen is
hartstikke leuk.”
Het geeft
een onveilig gevoel en het is heel beangstigend voor het personeel
Spoeddebat
Het is nog
niet bekend of de gemeenteraad van Den Haag volgende week een spoeddebat houdt
over de rellen donderdagavond in Scheveningen. Daar wordt dinsdag een besluit
over genomen, laat de griffie weten. De volgende raadsvergadering staat gepland
voor donderdag.
Oppositiepartijen
Hart voor Den Haag en VVD hebben een debat aangevraagd. Richard de Mos,
fractievoorzitter van Hart voor Den Haag, wil ook van burgemeester Jan van
Zanen weten ‘hoe het zo uit de hand heeft kunnen lopen’.
VVD-fractievoorzitter
Lotte van Basten Batenburg spreekt van ‘woestmakende beelden van relschoppend
tuig’. Ze voegt eraan toe: „Het moet voor eens en altijd duidelijk worden
gemaakt: je bent niet welkom op Scheveningen als je dit soort gedrag vertoont.”
Onderzoek
Op dit
moment doet de politie onderzoek naar de ongeregeldheden, alsook naar de
toedracht. Van de ongeregeldheden zijn veel beelden beschikbaar. Deze worden
ook onderzocht.
Daarnaast
kan de politie nog hulp gebruiken van getuigen en bezitters van camerabeelden.
De politie wil in contact komen met omstanders die in het bezit zijn van
camerabeelden waarop duidelijk een verdachte te zien is die een strafbaar feit
pleegt. Dat kan via het telefoonnummer 0900-8844. Wie liever anoniem blijft,
kan terecht bij Meld Misdaad Anoniem (telefoonnummer 0800-7000).
