Today’s Autocrat Has No Liberal West to Blame
BloombergSpare a thought for the world’s strongmen. On Saturday, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic found himself the target of popular anger over corruption, in the form of the largest public protest the country has ever seen. The US would typically top the list, but it’s now run by Donald Trump, who has zero interest in liberal democracy and likes leaders in Vucic’s mold. “When Vucic says it’s due to foreign influence, we’re all wondering: well, whose?” Vujo Ilic, assistant director of the University of Belgrade’s Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory, told me. The protests are student-led and the main concern among organizers has been about the lack of Western interest in Vucic’s heavy-handed response, which has included smear campaigns against academics, arrests of protesters and the alleged use of a sonic cannon that caused panic in Sunday’s crowd.
History of this topic
Serbia’s president says he won’t flee his country like Syria’s Assad did despite growing protests
Associated PressDiscover Related