Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, Orban and Milei wish you a happy 2024. Whatever is “happy” is endangered by themselves and other collaborators of the mess, such as the bloodthirsty leaders of Hamas. Disturbing names include the ever-predictable Elon Musk, who is poised to be Donald Trump’s best ally if he returns to the White House next November. The states of Colorado and Maine ban him from running in primaries because he supports an insurrection; Michigan recognizes this. The Supreme Court will decide.
Trump has already declared that he will be a dictator when he returns to power. Yes, but only on the first day. He will sign the decrees within 24 hours and deny the accusations against him for the financial and political persecution he suffered during his four-year absence. He will return with a desire for revenge. Putin will partly get his way: after three hundred thousand dead and half of Ukraine devastated, he will predictably annex Donbass; Only the accelerated, albeit gradual, entry of Ukraine into the European Union will be a consolation prize for Zelensky, who has failed to support either due to fatigue or because he understands that it is impossible to win this war.
Israel’s brutal war against Hamas, for which Palestinian civilians are paying a painful price, looks set to last a long time because Netanyahu is falling at the polls and will lose if elections are held. You are interested in a permanent conflict so as not to seek them out.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the Hungarian ultra-liberal Orban has emerged as a leader who, in parallel with the rising far right, questions European unity as we know it and hinders its progress and reforms. While conservatives and social democrats retreated in the elections on June 9, According to the consolidated trend in the Eurobarometer, the far right will grow. German engineer Manfred Weber is emerging as the successor to conservative Ursula von der Leyen as Commission president. And Spanish vice president Teresa Ribera, in reference to European social democrats. His successful management of the “Iberian exception” in the energy crisis and his extraordinary presence at COP28 in Dubai propel him into this relevant position, which is not yet certain.
So what should I tell you about Milei? Protected by the flood of votes gathered, fed up with the corruption and ineffectiveness of Peronism, he seeks to destroy what is left of the Argentine welfare state by proposing to the legislature an unprecedented assumption of power that would bring the regime closer to eventual dictatorship. But Milei and his chainsaw, who have already fired five thousand officials in greeting, are clearly looking north, toward Trump, from whom he draws inspiration; and Bukele in El Salvador agreed with some of the citizens to trade human rights for safety on the streets.
With this global landscape, the strife in Spanish politics that only calms down with Christmas seems minor. Pedro Sánchez ends the year by reshaping his cabinet: he is leaving Nadia Calvino To the European Investment Bank, great personal and national success. María Jesús Montero is promoted to first vice president, and Carlos Cuerpo, a bright young government official, is appointed Minister of Economy. The Spanish Bankers’ Association and unions celebrated the appointment in a week when the stock market’s final rise and inflation were brought under control. Only the change in Pamplona city council overshadows PSOE’s headlines. PP declares that “the real first vice president is Carles Puigdemont.” The staff of paper writers will need to be renewed. These are only for hooligans.