Tag: Democracy and Rule of Law
Serbia is going backwards
I received this plea today from the below-named media editors in Serbia. The issues are not new but now the situation is dire. Serbia is headed away from Europe and back to autocracy, despite the massive protests.
Dear Colleagues,
We are reaching out to you as fellow journalists, deeply concerned about the alarming escalation of attacks on independent media in Serbia. As the attached letter outlines, the Serbian government has intensified its efforts to suppress critical reporting through smear campaigns, financial and regulatory pressure, and direct threats against journalists.
In recent months, our colleagues have been subjected to harassment, physical violence, and systematic disinformation. With ongoing student protests and political instability, the environment for independent journalism is becoming increasingly hostile, and we fear for the safety of our reporters on the ground.
We urge you to review the attached letter and consider using your platform to amplify these concerns. International attention is one of the few remaining mechanisms to push back against authoritarian media suppression. By reporting on these developments and engaging with press freedom organizations, you can help ensure that journalists in Serbia are not left to face this crisis alone.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you require additional information or would like to discuss this matter further.
Editors of Independent Serbian Media
Igor Božić, N1 Serbia
Mihailo Jovićević, website Nova.rs
Dragoljub Petrović, daily Danas
Vesna Mališić, political weekly Radar
Slobodan Georgiev, TV Nova Serbia
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Might doesn’t make right, but it’s winning
The bad news comes from every direction. The Trump Administration is closing Social Security offices but requiring more people to apply to them in person for benefits. The government needs more revenue but the Internal Revenue Service is firing the people who audit tax returns. The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other funders of American science are canceling grants and contracts. The Administration deported unidentified people over the objections of a Federal court.
In my world of international affairs, the news is also bad. The Administration is closing the organizations that broadcast reasonably objective news into autocratic countries. RFE/RL, Al Hurra, VoA, and others are to cease operations completely. The President wants peace in Ukraine. But he wants to close one of America’s premier Ukraine-focused institutions, the US Institute of Peace. Israel wants peace but has broken the ceasefire in Gaza to kill hundreds more Palestinians. Putin wants peace but he stiffed Trump’s call for a 30-day ceasefire in a phone call today.
International broadcasting
I’ve done a lot of interviews for international broadcasting organizations, including those named above as well as Al Jazeera Arabic. I don’t do it to convince people that I am right. My objective is to expose listeners/viewers to a perspective they may not otherwise hear. In my experience, all these outlets–including Al Jazeera Arabic–are consistently professional and balanced. I am often on the air with people I don’t agree with. The questioning is well-informed and appropriate to what is going on in the world. Other moments or programs may be less professional, but I wouldn’t participate in those and the producers know it. I gave up on Russia Today and Iranian broadcasters because they weren’t balanced or professional.
The US Agency for Global Media had about $450 million to spend this year. That sounds like a lot of money. It is less than .06% of the non-defense budget of the United States. Firing all those people and closing the institutions is the equivalent of less than a rounding error. DOGE is saving nothing by ending international broadcasting. But it is weakening the messages the US sends to the rest of the world. Free discourse, which rarely favors might makes right, suffers. That is what Trump wants, not budgetary savings. No doubt the Administration will eventually decide it needs an international propaganda arm and will spend even more on that.
The United States Institute of Peace
USIP is even less of a rounding error, at something under $100 million per year. I worked there for 12 years, from 1998 to 2010. The Institute played a pivotal role in the Balkans, where it helped create the Inter-religious Council in Bosnia. It provided the fora in which Serbs and Albanians began to talk with each other after the 1999 NATO/Yugoslavia war. And for more than two decades it has helped to keep the peace between Sunni and Shia in Iraq. I could cite many more examples, but you get the point.
The problem for Trump is that USIP is a bipartisan organization that he does not fully control. So he fired all the nongovernmental board members. Then the remaining three Administration board members claim to have fired the USIP President. They are taking over the building and the institution, both of which are private. It sounds like expropriation without legal authority to me. Might is winning for now.
Israel in Gaza
The Israeli decision to restart massive attacks on Gaza came in response to Hamas’ failure to release hostages. That in turn was in response to Israel’s refusal to start talks on ending the war. Prime Minister Netanyahu is bucking public opinion in Israel, which favors hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. He fears an end to the Gaza war. That could bring accountability for intelligence and military failures that made the 2023 Hamas attack so deadly. President Trump has encouraged Netanyahu in pursuing this course. Israel appears to have succeeded in killing some prominent Hamas leaders, along with hundreds of civilians.
Hamas is in a corner. It has declining traction in the Palestinian population and a decreasing number of living hostages. Israel acknowledges no limits to the civilian damage it is prepared to do. It would prefer that they leave Gaza altogether. That approach has Trump’s wholehearted support, to clear the way for his Mar-al-Gaza resort proposal. So far, no decisive opposition has come from Europe or the Arab states. Might is winning. The Israeli, American Jewish, and Arab preference for the ceasefire and exchanges is losing.
Ukraine’s weakness
Gaza is tragic. Ukraine is grim. Trump holds Ukrainian President Zelensky hostage with the vital US assistance he requires to continue the war. He is bypassing Zelensky to deal directly with Russian President Putin on the fate of Ukraine. In a phone call today, Putin told Trump to shove it. He wouldn’t even agree to a 30-day ceasefire but pledged no attacks on critical infrastructure for 30 days. That won’t last much longer than the 3-hour phone call. It’s definitely a nothingburger.
Putin and Trump spent most of their time on the call talking about how to improve US/Russia relations. Of course for Putin that framing requires the US to drop its assistance to Kyiv. Trump is amenable. He can’t get anything out of Putin because he has already given away too much. I won’t be surprised if we hear soon about more pressure on Zelensky and less on Russia. Zelensky is refusing to give up territory, insisting on continued US aid, and rejecting the idea of neutrality. The diplomatic position is strong, but Ukraine’s military position is weak. Trump and Putin are the mighty. They don’t care what Zelensky wants.
The difference between at home and abroad
At home, we can hope the courts will slow, stop, and even reverse the crimes and misdemeanors. Americans will sue to get government employees rehired, independent institutions re-established, and citizen services provided. Nothing like that will happen with the might makes right behavior internationally. At least a generation will pass before the damage is repaired.
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Proving the opposite of what he intends
President Dodik is trying to assert de facto independence of Republika Srpska (RS). That is the 49% of Bosnia and Herzegovina he controls. He is doing this to escape arrest and removal from office after his conviction by a Bosnian court last month. Dodik was found guilty of defying both the Bosnian Constitutional Court and decisions of the international community’s High Representative. He compounded that violation Friday with new laws. They nullify the powers of the country’s judiciary, police, and intelligence services in Republika Srpska.
So far so good
NATO, the EU, and the Americans have reacted appropriately. NATO Secretary General Rutte is in Sarajevo today reasserting the Alliance commitment to the Bosnia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Europeans are sending 400 more peacekeepers, bringing the total to 1100. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted:
The actions of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik are undermining Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions and threatening its security and stability. Our nation encourages political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to engage in constructive and responsible dialogue. We call on our partners in the region to join us in pushing back against this dangerous and destabilizing behavior.
All this is good.
More needs doing
But more could easily be done. I would like the peacekeepers to go to Brcko. It is the northeastern Bosnian town that was the center of gravity of the 1990s war. It will be the center of gravity of any new conflict as well. Without it, the RS cannot secede.
I also hope the NATO troops can, once the Constitutional Court nullifies his new laws, provide support to arrest Dodik. It would be a mistake to allow him to escape accountability. If he flees to Moscow or Hungary, that would be second best.
Dodik’s support
The Russians are supporting Dodik, as is Hungary’s russophile Prime Minister Orban. Moscow finances Dodik and objects to High Representative decisions. It sees RS as akin to the Russian-occupied oblasts of Ukraine. Orban has reportedly sent special forces to extract Dodik from RS if need be.
Serbian President Vucic has met with Dodik and provided rhetorical support, but he won’t want to RS independence. That would put him in a difficult position. The EU would want him not to recognize. His own electorate would want him not only to recognize but then also to annex the RS. If he does, Dodik will become a rival in Belgrade.
It is unclear how much support Dodik has within Bosnia. Even in RS, many people think he is going too far to protect himself, not its majority Serb population. His opposition will not enthusiastically welcome his arrest, but they won’t complain too much. He has dominated RS politics for almost two decades. Is “dovoljno” the right word?
The future of the RS
Dodik’s defiance is making it clear Bosnia can’t progress if RS continues to defy its courts, laws, and police. The ultimate solution lies in constitutional reform, which is difficult. In the meanwhile, progress on security, human rights, and political reform is possible. The right direction for the country as a whole is more individual rights and less group rights. That is what the European Court of Human Rights has ordered. Group rights to identify candidates as well as veto legislative and executive action empower ethnic nationalist politicians like Dodik. They make serious preparation for European Union membership impossible.
Dodik is, ironically, proving the opposite of what he intends. He is trying to show that the RS should be unconstrained by law and order. What he is really showing is that an unconstrained RS is a barrier to Bosnia’s functionality and EU future. It is time Dodik pays the price of his own criminal acts.
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Dark times, but the worst is yet to come
@blisterpearl tweeted:
The Trump Administration is moving to cut off military supplies to Ukraine. Europe is trying to step up its game. But it can’t substitute all of the American weapons and intelligence on which Ukraine relies. Secretary of Defense Hegseth has ordered a halt to offensive cyber operations against Russia. Moscow is still conducting cyber operations against the US.
Tariffs go into effect on Canada, Mexico, and China today. They are 25% for Canada and Mexico, and an added 10% for China. Americans consumers will pay them. The stock market knew what to think: it dropped 2% yesterday and is no doubt headed down further.
Elon Musk continues to weaken the US Government, including agencies that regulate his businesses. The courts continue to issue orders to stop his blockage of government funds, but the Administration is mostly ignoring those. Trump hopes “his” Supreme Court will back his authority to make the cuts.
The US Congress remains in Republican hands. Tonight their half will stand and applaud wildly during the State of the Union. Trump meanwhile is denuding the Congress of its most important responsibility: the power of the purse. He is not expending appropriated funds.
No cure in Congress before November 2026
The American people don’t support this. Many managed to forget the disasters of Trump’s first term and too many didn’t turn out for last November’s election. But most now think Trump is doing too much too quickly. That is what Presidents try to do early in their term, knowing that resistance will build later.
The first available cure is in by elections. Two will be held April 1 to replace members of Congress appointed to the Trump Administration. They are both in deep red districts in Florida. It would be a minor miracle if the Democrats were to win one, never mind both. Another will be in upstate New York at a date still to be decided. It, too, is a Republican safe seat, more or less. If I’ve got this right, even winning all three would not flip the House. Marco Rubio’s Florida Senate seat will be up for grabs only in November 2026.
So essentially we’ve got a Republican majority in both houses until then. The damage Trump will have done is enormous. But it will be much worse if the Congress remains in Republican hands thereafter.
Can the popular will change Trump’s course before the next election?
Polls won’t deter Trump, who can’t run again anyway. I’d like to see the Democrats walk out on the State of the Union address tomorrow night. Or maybe not show up at all. Or hold up photos of Ukrainian President Zelensky as soon as Trump mentions Ukraine.
I wonder whether dramatic manifestations of popular opposition can do what is needed. A statement from the ex-presidents would help. So too would a national day of protest, say on May 25, the day before Memorial Day. Each major city should organize its own demonstration, with a monster one in DC.
Some Republican defections would help. Republican Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, has criticized what Trump is doing on Ukraine. But she failed to mention his name. If she were to caucus with the Democrats, even as an independent, it would make a big difference. Better yet if she brings a friend or two. So far though, we’ve seen little indication of courage on her side of the aisle.
The worst is yet to come
We live in dark times. But the worst is yet to come.
The budget ax will fall on Medicaid this year, which provides health insurance to twenty per cent of Americans. Trump will need to increase agricultural subsidies to compensate for the retaliation his tariffs will generate. Tariffs and the roundup of immigrants will raise prices, which are already headed in the wrong direction. Trump’s first-term tax cuts for the rich, which he wants extended, will boost the deficit.
If Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine, Moldova will be next. And after that the Baltics. The dominoes will fall, unless Europe finds the wherewithal to back a Ukrainian victory.
But the biggest threat looming is the Supreme Court. If it upholds Trump’s egregious behavior in eviscerating the US government, American democracy is doomed. Already the Washington Post and other media outlets are bending to Trump’s will. With the Supreme Court backing him, no opposition will stand a chance.
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America needs to right itself
Unlike her compatriots on MSNBC, Rachel does real digging and finds things others haven’t reported on. This segment on the realignment with Russia was a fine example.
Why Russia?
Still, why is Trump abandoning Europe in favor of a country with an economy smaller than Canada’s? Russia has a few things going for it. It is the largest country on earth. Its giant land mass has good odds of containing lots of minerals as well as oil and gas. It borders both Europe and China, making it strategically vital to both.
Russia has also proven capable of upending order in Europe and in the US. In Europe it has used cyber attacks, disinformation, covert action against infrastructure, corruption, and military aggression. In the US it uses all but the last of these. The purpose is to show democracy as dysfunctional. It works, as we saw in the UK withdrawal from Brexit and in the rise of the neo-Nazis in Germany.
Why Trump?
Trump has been laundering Russian assets through real estate deals for decades. One of his buyers was present for the US/Russia negotiations in Saudi Arabia last month. He has also sought to invest in Moscow. Trump boasts about his close relationship with Russian President Putin. He is not hiding it. He openly sought Russian assistance during his first presidential campaign.
Friday’s meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky went well until minute 40. Then it went awry because Vance realized Moscow would not be pleased. Trump piled on. His alignment with Russia might not have survived a successful signing of the minerals agreement. Even though that is nothing more than an agreement to negotiate.
US interests
Americans are not with Trump on Russia. They don’t trust Putin. Opinion on support for Ukraine is more divided. But most Trump supporters back Ukraine. There really is no question about who started the war. The question is whether Russia or Ukraine will emerge the winner either on the battlefield or at the negotiating table.
The alliance with Europe kept the peace during the Cold War and thereafter. The Alliance triggered its mutual defense obligation only once, in response to the 9/11 attack on the US. Anyone who endangers NATO is not acting in the interest of the United States. Trump has endangered it repeatedly. He has also neglected to recognize that Europe is doing more for its own defense, as he himself has urged.
We’ve elected a president who serves Russia’s interests better than he serves American interests. He is also dismantling the US government Those are serious problems. Fixing them will be hard. We need what used to be termed an “intervention.” Here is one idea: get the ex-presidents to intervene.
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Part 1: Is this what you voted for?
J. F. Carter, US Army (ret LTC) 1968-1992, United Nations (ret D-1) 1992-2009, and European Union (ret D-1) 2009-2011, writes:
Dear Fellow Americans,
It is time to wake up from your slumber and face the truth. Our nation is in peril. Trump’s selection of Hegseth as SecDef and Gabbard as DNI, as well as VP Vance’s statements in Munich in support of the Alternative für Deutschland neofacists, reflect a dramatic change of direction. The President is conceding to Putin’s expansionism and betraying basic American principles. The credibility, rules-based order, national sovereignty, and freedom that have brought prosperity for the past 80 years are at risk.
Putin’s savior
Trump has thrown President Putin a lifeline. The Russian economy and military are exhausted. Ukraine would have prevailed, but Trump blinked. He is the 21st century version of Neville Chamberlain, who surrendered the Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland to Hitler.
Likewise, Trump is yielding the national security of Ukraine and its citizens to Russia. Secretary of State Rubio will meet Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Saudi Arabia to negotiate a deal. This will be done without consulting Ukraine or the European Union. It will weaken NATO, which stands on the front line with Russia. That makes the US much more vulnerable.
The broader implications
Trump is signaling both Putin and President Xi. They now understand that they can do as they want, even if it means giving up Europe and Taiwan. Trump is also adding fuel to the fire in the Middle East. His pandering to Prime Minister Netanyahu will fuel Arab hatred of the US and inspire ISIS attacks on the US.
There are ongoing discussions of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. We can expect a catastrophic response. Trump is creating the conditions for igniting WWIII, or complete Western capitulation. We can only pray that a new Churchill or Roosevelt will sound the clarion call to reason and freedom.
Gutting American security and economy
To further undercut US security, Trump has gutted USAID and its soft power diplomacy. He and Musk are purging the FBI, CIA and the national intelligence community, as well as our world class military. He will install compliant loyalists. This is akin to Stalin’s purge of the military in the 1930s, which weakened the Soviet defense against Hitler’s army. Perhaps Trump thinks he can make a deal with Putin as Stalin did with Hitler in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. That effort to buy peace between the two totalitarian nations led to catastrophe for both.
Not content with undermining our national standing and security, Trump is also undermining the economy. Tariffs, mass deportations, budget cuts, and gutting of the regulatory and oversight bodies will kill the Biden expansion. The Trump-Musk team fired 300 National Nuclear Security Administration employees and had to hire them back. It has fired 350 EPA and 1000 Veteran Affairs staff, as well as threatening to fire 90,000 IRS staff. How will that help to collect the millions of dollars needed to address the national debt?
Farmers will be particularly hard hit with the loss of markets that will never return. Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and some Asian nations will seek other trading partners. The EU, Russia, and China will benefit. US exports of oil, gas, steel, autos, and agricultural products will be replaced by less mercurial sources.
The budget
Will the average citizen be more financially secure with the MAGA Project 2025 budget proposals? It promises 4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the ultra wealthy and austerity for the rest of us. To partly compensate, $2 trillion in budget cuts are anticipated. These include Social Security, Medicare, Veterans Affairs, supplementary nutrition and aid to 40 million low income families.
The result will be more interest to be paid on the national debt, something traditional Republicans decry. Also a weaker dollar, weaker purchasing power, and much higher inflation. Republican President Lincoln warned:
It is the same old serpent that says work and I will eat. You toil and I will enjoy the fruits thereof.
The rule of law
Trump’s vindictive attacks against our system of jurisprudence and rule of law will further undermine US security. He released the convicted January 6 insurrectionists into society. What example does that set for law enforcement?
Are we now ruled by a mafia oligarchy like Russia? Trump has unleashed an unelected and uncleared citizen, Elon Musk, to access private data in the name of efficiency. This is in exchange for his $225 million donation to the Trump campaign and free unlimited X endorsements. The Trump Administration also tried to award Tesla a $400 million contract for its armored Cybertruck. Only publicity undid the deal. The Age of the Robber Baron is back!
Minorities and opposition
Trump’s people attack minorities, immigrants, non binary peoples, females, free choice, and books not sanctioned by them. Anything other than what their orthodoxy declares legitimate is fair game. Anyone different becomes a target for hatred and vitriol. It is the same scenario that Hitler used against communists, socialists, Jews and non whites. Divide and Rule! Us Against Them! The Soviets, Khmer Rouge and ethnonationalists in Yugoslavia all used these tactics. I personally witnessed it in Cambodia and Yugoslavia.
Hungarian PM Orban, Turkish PM Erdogan, Slovak PM Fico, the German AfD party, and Putin are all in with Trump! They suppress the media and fee speech. They call any opposition the “enemy of the people.” The White House even denied access to the Associated Press because it refused to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
Education and religion
Trump is trying to re-educate and dumb down the public by abolishing the Education Department. His followers are instituting their own curriculum, banning books, and endorsing the Bible in public schools. This violates the First Amendment provision of separation of church and state. The new Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr., symbolizes the current anti-science trend.
Are these people Christians as exemplified in the New Testament? Where is their compassion, love of fellow man or even sense of humor?
Questions we need to answer
What can explain Trump/MAGA actions that weaken the US and our allies? Why are they empowering Russia, China and other authoritarians? Have we become so ill educated that we elect inept clowns to entertain us? Where are the competent leaders to set the example of pride, dignity, courage, real strength, and placing country before self?
A small time bully and wanna be mafioso who bends to Al Capone-Putin is leading us to destruction. Are we Rome under Caligula or Nero, awaiting the fall of the Empire? What dirt does Putin have on Trump? Or is he and his ilk fascist at heart? Do they support the German AfD, Orban, and Putin to bring on chaos from which they will profit?
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