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A recent report has shown that even as the Chinese Communist Party offers young newlyweds 30 days of paid holiday as part of its three-child policy, many women are sceptical that real progress will follow. The Global Institute for Women's Leadership's new collection, Essays on Equality: The politics of childcare, pointed out the unwillingness among Chinese women to have more children. The essay has uncovered anomalies in the 3-child policy stating that the policy has infringed upon women's reproductive rights and added an unequal burden of childcare responsibilities, affecting their careers, the <keyword id="16358290" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="voice-against-autocracy" source="Orion">Voice Against Autocracy</keyword> reported. The birth rate downturn in <keyword id="1334" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> is the result of a "one child" policy imposed between 1980 and 2015, and a surge in education costs that have put many Chinese against having more than one child, or even having any at all. The Chinese government implemented a one-child policy for 35 years (1980 to 2015) and compelled millions of women to forced contraception, forced sterilization, and forced abortion. Due to plummeting birth rates, the government wanted women to have more children and swiftly moved from a one to two-child policy in 2016. But that too failed to yield the desired results. However, the government swiftly moved to a three-child policy in 2021 and offered tax cuts, subsidies, cash rewards and other incentives. The Voice Against Autocracy reported that none of these has worked so far and China's birth rate continues to drop. The total fertility rate decreased from 2.6 in the late 1980s to just 1.15 in 2021. In fact, in 2022 the population might have declined for the first time since the Great Famine of 1959 to 1961, according to a projection by the <keyword id="440932" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shanghai-academy-of-social-sciences" source="Orion">Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences</keyword>. The three-child policy met with widespread cynicism online. People opposed it using an analogy of a luxury car. "I'm not buying three Rolls-Royces not because there's any restriction, but because they're expensive," a post on the Chinese social media platform <keyword id="670351" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="weibo" source="Orion">Weibo</keyword> read. "I want to sell my quota to rich people," wrote another. Women in China have resisted 3 child policy because of the unequal burden of childcare responsibilities and its potentially detrimental impact on their careers. A 2020 study, on the impact of family planning policy changes on urban women, reported that 45 per cent of respondents said their employment was negatively affected by pregnancy or childrearing. Over one-third of women reported financial loss, and more than 20 per cent described losing opportunities for training or promotions. Another 13 per cent said they were fired or forced to resign, and eight per cent said they experienced demotion. The study pointed out that companies do not want to hire women employees who might be absent during the three to six months of maternity leave, and the costs associated with hiring a replacement. The Chinese government has taken some steps to assist women in the workplace. In November, the government amended the Women's Rights and Interests Protection Law, the highest law concerning gender equality in the country, for the first time in nearly 30 years, the Voice Against Autocracy reported. Among the provisions to combat gender discrimination in the workplace, the law banned employers from inquiring or investigating the marital and maternal status of female job applicants or making such status a condition for employment. The Women's Protection Law, which came into effect in January 2023 is likely to strengthen enforcement, which has been poor so far. In August 2022, 17 central government agencies jointly issued a notice outlining the government's plan to increase the birth rate, with one of the major measures being increasing government-sponsored childcare facilities and services. The Chinese Communist Party's latest offer to young newlyweds is 30 days of paid holiday, it has given some hope to the government that it would boost the country's falling birth rates. China has smartly created an eco-system to ensure the fertility rate increases. Couples of reproductive age are being offered incentives so that they can comply with 3 child policy. But the reality is contrary to the government's expectations. China's population fell last year for the first time in six decades. Last year, China recorded its lowest-ever birth rate, of 6.77 births per 1,000 people. However, the government should develop programmes to reduce discriminatory gender norms related to childcare responsibilities, end discriminatory parental leave policies, expand parental leave policies and protections for both men and women who wish to take it, and ensure the availability and affordability of childcare and other forms of professional caregiving. And most importantly, the government must abolish the three-child policy because birth limits, no matter the number, are fundamentally an infringement on women's reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, stated the essay in Global Institute for Women's Leadership's new collection. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indian-b2b-saas-companies-are-2x-more-capital-efficient-than-global-peers/articleshow/98277192.cms">Indian B2B SaaS companies are 2x more capital efficient than global peers: EY report</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/sc-dismisses-plea-to-constitute-renaming-commission-says-india-a-secular-country/articleshow/98276995.cms">SC dismisses plea to constitute "Renaming Commission"; says India a secular country</a>

China's birth rate continues to fall as women resist 3-child policy

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A sheet of white paper has become a symbol of protest against COVID lockdowns in China.</li><li>People in major Chinese cities held up blank pieces of A4 paper while marching in the streets.</li></ul>The act of holding up a blank piece of paper has become a symbol of protest in China as people take to the streets to protest the government's ongoing zero-COVID measures.Protests against China's harsh COVID-19 restrictions <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-protests-spread-to-shanghai-beijing-over-zero-covid-policy-2022-11">erupted across China over the weekend</a>. Cities like Shanghai and Beijing had rallies of a scale not seen since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. The anti-government protests were largely peaceful, though people in cities like Shanghai were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/shanghai-hit-by-covid-protests-anger-spreads-across-china-2022-11-27/">met with violence from the police</a>, and they featured a common sight: People raising sheets of white paper above their heads.<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/26/china/china-protests-xinjiang-fire-shanghai-intl-hnk/index.html">One large rally</a> took place at Chinese President Xi Jinping's alma mater, Tsinghua University in Beijing. Students were seen brandishing sheets of paper and crying out slogans like: "Government for the people, freedom for all." Videos posted to Twitter over the weekend also showed a large-scale protest near Liangma Bridge in Beijing on Sunday, where people held up white papers and chanted slogans like: "No to our leaders, yes to voting. We won't be slaves, we are citizens." "The white paper represents everything we want to say but cannot say," a 26-year-old man named Johnny told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/blank-sheets-paper-become-symbol-defiance-china-protests-2022-11-27/">Reuters</a> during the Liangma River protests.Protesters in the central Chinese city of Chengdu were seen holding pieces of paper at a rally, as unrest spread from major Chinese cities to smaller ones. Youths were also seen holding up paper while walking through the streets of Dali city in the southwestern Yunnan province, while playing music and singing. In a now-deleted video, one person took to Weibo, the country's Twitter-like platform, to offer another explanation for the meaning of the paper, per <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-27/chinese-protesters-use-tricks-to-evade-censors-vent-covid-anger">Bloomberg</a>. Posting a video of a blank piece of paper, the user wrote: "Silence speaks louder here, those who understand know." <h2>Signs of protest are censored on Weibo</h2>Information about protesters holding up sheets of white paper appears to have been widely suppressed on Weibo.Multiple hashtags related to the protests have been censored, Insider found. Insider searched the category tag "meaning of holding white paper" and specific hashtags like "Tsinghua students white paper," but found that no posts were displayed. The app displayed a notification that read "no data found." However, the hashtag still existed on the platform — though the posts were wiped clean — a telltale sign that the threads had been scrubbed and censored.Footage of small-scale protests also appeared to have been censored on Chinese social-media platforms.One striking video shows a young woman walking through the streets of Wuzhen, a town in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The woman could be seen wearing chains around her hands, duct tape over her mouth, and holding a sheet of white paper in her hands. At press time, Insider was unable to find the video or its source on Weibo, and searches for "Wuzhen" only displayed posts about tourist spots and restaurants in the town.China's censorship machine, which was already <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weibo-censorship-graph-king-wa-fu-2012-5">capable</a> of shutting down entire Weibo threads within three hours back in 2012, has been in overdrive in recent years. The platform swiftly censored any dissent regarding the Chinese government's COVID-19 policies — including <a href="https://www.insider.com/shanghai-lockdown-china-twitter-weibo-censor-content-food-shortage-2022-4">news about food shortages this year.</a>Some posts do manage to evade the censors. One incident in October — <a href="https://www.insider.com/china-14-year-old-girl-dies-covid-quarantine-health-care-2022-10">concerning the death of a girl at a COVID-19 quarantine center in China</a> — ended up gaining widespread attention, though the ensuing outrage was quickly censored too. Representatives at Weibo did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

People are holding up blank white sheets of paper in China to protest COVID lockdowns. It's become a symbol of defiance against the Communist Party.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President Joe Biden is making a play for Nikki Haley's former supporters.</li><li>Haley endorsed Trump but urged the former president to appeal to her millions of voters. </li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Roger, who is affiliated with the Haley Voters Working Group. The group is made up of primary supporters of former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley who are supporting President Joe Biden in the general election or considering it. He is identified only by his first name because of the sensitivities of his continuing work on defense policy. We've also included a statement from a spokesperson for former President Donald Trump at the bottom of the story.We are speaking to voters, officials, and others directly connected to politics this election cycle to get a first-person look at the stakes of this election. We fact-check their statements, vet our sources, and edit their responses for length and clarity.I voted for Donald Trump twice. It's clear now that his behavior is one of the greatest threats to the Constitution we've ever seen. But for a few words in <a target="_blank" href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/explaining-donald-trumps-14th-amendment-case-at-the-supreme-court#:~:text=The%20case%2C%20Donald%20J.,took%20part%20in%20an%20insurrection.">the 14th Amendment</a>, he wouldn't even be eligible to be a candidate.We're seeing it in real time. I don't want to be a part of that. We are not an autocracy. I don't know whether I can vote for Joe Biden. And yes, his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gerontocracy-united-states-government-red-white-gray-2022-9">age is a legitimate concern</a>. Father Time is undefeated. But if I've got a choice between an autocrat and someone of his age, I'm not choosing the autocrat. No, sir, no, thank you.Trump began losing me when he started the shenanigans after he lost the 2020 election — all that weird stuff leading up to January 6, 2021. And if it hadn't been for then-Vice President <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pence-refused-to-leave-capitol-during-riot-book-2021-7">Mike Pence</a>, who is a great man, we would have been at a constitutional crossroads.<div type="image" title="Donald Trump leaves court after being found guilty on 34 felony charges" height="1667" width="2500" msid="111002242" hostid="261"></div>The former president will say anything, and he'll do it with a straight face. He reminds me of P.T. Barnum; there's a sucker born every minute. You just have to do your research. He's done tremendous damage to himself. Not once has he accepted any accountability for the messes he's gotten himself into.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-guilty-verdict-what-it-means-hush-money-felon-sentencing-2024-05">Trump's a felon</a> now, though I thought the New York case was the weakest one against him. Honestly, having handled classified documents in my military career, I looked at the list of things they found in the pool house and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-hoarded-classified-documents-in-mar-a-lago-shower-indictment-2023-6">by the toilet</a>. I was like, "My goodness, he's in a heap of trouble here. You can't explain that away." He had multiple opportunities to gracefully return those documents.<h2 id="562b89d8-a13c-404a-9ed3-e41e6bda1a18">Trump's treatment of Nikki Haley made it even worse</h2>I don't like how Trump treated Nikki Haley: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-nikki-haley-racist-name-calling-threat-nimbra-election-2024-1">the name-calling</a>, what he said about her husband when he was deployed. My goodness, he never finds the high ground. She's one of the smartest people you'll come around who understands all these issues. But she doesn't play to the left; MAGA hates her.I was stung when she <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nikki-haley-says-vote-for-trump-needs-sway-her-voters-2024-5">endorsed him</a>. I had to give it a little bit of reflection. I've watched the video several times. She has to remain politically viable moving forward. She is fundamentally a Republican. In the big picture, she never pretended that she was anything else. And she said that it was her personal choice. She gave the caveat in there that she encouraged him to reach out to his voters. In retrospect, he's had all this time to reach out to the over 4 million Haley voters. He's never done it. The Biden campaign has.<div type="image" title="Migrants seeking to enter the United States through a barbed wire fence installed along the Rio Grande." height="1682" width="2500" msid="111002243" hostid="261"></div>I never liked Trump's tone or the way he behaved, but I did vote for him because I thought he was right about the border. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-us-economy-would-look-like-with-trump-biden-presidency-2024-5">His fiscal policies</a> were mostly sound. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/immigration-border-security-biden-trump-2024-election">The border is a real issue</a>. There are many of us who believe that this issue began in January 2021 after Biden was sworn in, because he turned around and canceled all of Trump's executive orders and policies. You have to understand the bigger picture here. The effect of flooding in these undocumented immigrants brings the border to New York City, Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta. It brings the border everywhere because we are not vetting these people.I'm an old-school Reagan fan, and Haley is a genuine Republican. She understands the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-vote-ukraine-top-issue-2024-candidate-guide">importance of Ukraine</a>. She understands the importance of how we project our foreign policy. And if you think about it, there's a lot of crossover there that the current administration is trying to do. Trump being elected would be a disaster for Ukraine. Forty-six Republicans voted against funding NATO — that scares the devil out of me. It's like no one is paying attention to the things that are really important. We want democracy, we want liberty, and we want freedom to flourish, because that's what true American values are. We don't want to send American troops to fight over there.<h2 id="b0e0f861-0110-48db-b7be-0d6a1630b0c5">Serving in the military had a profound effect on my life</h2>I met my wife during my first tour in Korea. We've been married 35 years now. The military is a microcosm of our society as a whole. Growing up in rural South Carolina, I learned a lot about people by working beside them. It gets you away from a myopic way of thinking. One of my assignments took me to the DMZ. You come face-to-face with North Korea. You see them living in the past. They come out in these old woolen Soviet uniforms. It's very stark there. You sort of understand the dangers in the world.After Russia invaded Ukraine, it got me. You look on a map, you can tell what the stakes are. There's nothing good coming from Russian aggression. So that's what drew me into being involved, adding my voice and perspective to the mix.In response to Roger's comments, Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, sent the following statement to Business Insider: "President Trump dominated the primary in record-breaking fashion and it wasn't even close. Voters know that President Trump is the only person who will beat Joe Biden and take back the White House. It was revealed that investigators in that case likely engaged in evidence tampering and mishandling of those documents, which is why a filing was made earlier this week to dismiss the case. Joe Biden being elected again would be a disaster for America. President Trump will put America First instead of getting into more wars and more conflict like Biden has done." (Editor's note: The special counsel Jack Smith's team has said the order of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago during the classified-documents investigation <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/03/mar-a-lago-trump-classified-documents-00156124">may have shifted</a> from when FBI agents originally seized the materials.)

I'm a veteran who voted for Trump twice and then supported Nikki Haley. I'm seriously considering Biden over the 'autocrat.'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new documentary, "Against All Enemies," explores the link between military veterans and extremism.</li><li>Producer Ken Harbaugh told Insider veterans looking for purpose are at risk of radicalization.</li></ul>Of the more than 1,000 people who were charged with a crime for their participation in the <a href="https://www.insider.com/all-the-us-capitol-pro-trump-riot-arrests-charges-names-2021-1">January 6 attack on the Capitol</a>, nearly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/1-in-5-charged-in-capitol-riot-veterans-active-duty-2021-1">1 in 5 was a US military veteran</a>.While leaders of extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were ultimately <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-prison-sentence-penalty-if-convicted-of-seditious-conspiracy-2022-6">convicted for seditious conspiracy</a> for their deliberate attempts to breach the Capitol, critics argue their influence on military veterans — and the subsequent impact on society — has not yet been fully realized due to the adoption of their radical ideology by mainstream Republican politicians."Against All Enemies," a documentary that explores the risk of veterans being radicalized by extremist groups, was featured at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, earning glowing reviews from critics. <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/against-all-enemies-review-1235639405/">Variety</a> called the documentary "a grim diagnosis of a fast-spreading cancer," that "may provide much less reassurance than cause for alarm, but its wakeup call is certainly worth heeding."Ken Harbaugh, a former Navy pilot, cofounder of <a href="https://teamrubiconusa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Team Rubicon</a>, and producer of the new documentary, spoke with Insider about why being aware of the problem is only the first step toward a solution. "Against All Enemies" will have its theatrical release in early 2024.Tell me about how "Against All Enemies" came about as a project and the road it took you down.I'm a military vet and spent a lot of my time after the service trying to figure out how to productively engage veterans making that transition from military to civilian life through my work co-founding Team Rubicon, an NGO that mobilizes veterans to aid in disaster response. And on January 6, I just recall stopping the car in the driveway and listening in horror to the coverage as it played out, and in the days afterward, realizing how many of my brothers-in-arms were involved. The numbers do suggest that veterans were disproportionately represented, but the real data point that I think is lost in all of that noise is why veterans are so specifically targeted for recruitment by groups like the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/proud-boy-leader-enrique-tarrio-sentencing-abruptly-canceled-court-emergency-2023-8">Proud Boys</a>.Why are veterans targeted as recruits for this kind of radical ideology? It's because, in military speak, they act as force multipliers. The same reason that Fortune 500 companies and elite nonprofits and Ivy League programs try to recruit veterans is why the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oath-keepers-the-far-right-militia-tried-to-overthrow-democracy-2022-12">Oath Keepers</a> try to recruit them: because when they set their sights on a mission, they go after it. They know how to organize; they know how to plan and lead. And that is great to have if GE or Amazon can recruit them. But it is incredibly dangerous if where they wind up is with the Proud Boys.Can you tell me why the path toward the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, or the Three Percenters might be an attractive one for a veteran?That's not mysterious. People join the military for a variety of reasons, but a universal experience of being in the military is the feeling of camaraderie, a sense of purpose and mission. The desire for it doesn't disappear along with the uniform, and people look to recapture that in other ways. I remember my own experience with that, literally at the stroke of a pen when I signed the form that got me out of the military after nine years; in an instant, my identity was gone. I had been a Navy pilot. That's who I was. That's how I thought about myself. And I was lucky. I had a family to support me, I had a pretty clear pathway into civilian life, and even then, I had this crisis of identity. And then you think about all the 20-somethings who are experiencing this and who've gone through years of combat, and it is a real crisis.What patterns do you see in the direction that things are going for veterans in the wake of pulling out of Afghanistan?There's a variety of overlapping patterns, there are good patterns and bad ones. On the good side, there are several organizations that have stepped up and tried to fill this void, like Team Rubicon. On the other side, you have groups like the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-three-percenters-militia-group-protecting-gop-lawmakers-in-oregon-2019-6">Three Percenters</a> who have also stepped into this void, and they are picking off veterans who are vulnerable to the kind of misinformation that is just so ubiquitous now. These misinformation echo chambers can drag people down these rabbit holes and into these communities that are incredibly toxic and destructive and lead nowhere good. In the aftermath of every American military misadventure, membership in extremist organizations spikes. We saw it after World War I with the resurgence of the KKK, we saw it after Korea and Vietnam. What we don't know as a society is what happens to that phenomenon after the longest wars in American history: Iraq and Afghanistan. We do know the answer is nothing good. But I think we're beginning to see some of the fruits of that.Are there commonalities in the ideology among extremist groups recruiting online in the ways they attract veterans for membership?Well, I think the starting point is often a grievance narrative. A feeling of disenchantment or loss of community or anger at the government. And some of that anger is entirely appropriate, but that's often the start of it, and that anger and disenchantment can be amped up in some of these chat rooms that tell you that your problems are the fault of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-presidency-win-us-economic-crisis-george-soros-2023-8">George Soros</a> — or whatever their chosen code word is. And those are gateways into the deeper pits that are just filled with racism and antisemitism. Often it doesn't start that way. It starts with, "Hey, why don't you join this group that wants to take care of you, wants to restore that sense of brotherhood and camaraderie." And the deeper you get into it, the worse it gets.From your perspective, what does the anti-democracy side stand to gain from continuing to push this this narrative to veterans?I think there are a lot of individual motivations, and you have to look at each of them to get a real understanding. Mike Flynn's motivations are probably different than someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene's. I think the former realizes that his best chance of avoiding real jail time is continuing to advance the Big Lie in hopes of animating his base and getting Trump reelected. But the real tragedy for me is that many of the foot soldiers of this movement, the people you saw charging the barricades on January 6, actually believe in the cause. They actually think they're on the right side of the Constitution. And it's because people like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/josh-hawley-patrick-henry-quote-segregationist-newspaper-fourth-july-2023-7">Josh Hawley</a>, who was at Yale Law School at the same time I was, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-issue-1-ohio-constitution-abortion-populism-2023-7">JD Vance</a>, who was there slightly before me, keep on feeding them these lies that they know are lies. And those are the real villains in my book. What is the significance of January 6 in this conversation? I mean, you cannot do a film about extremism in this country and the way veterans are attracted to it without talking about January 6, but the critical point we make is that January 6 wasn't some crescendo of violence. It was a dry run. And a lot of the times when I see some of these prosecutions — which has to happen, we have to hold people accountable — it makes me wonder about all the people who aren't being rounded up. And there's a footnote to that, which I think is the scariest aspect of all of this, which is that the real provocateurs, the instigators, may never be held accountable because they hold senior positions in a major American political party. You have to go back to one of the later iterations of the KKK in the '20s in the Deep South to find an era in American politics where a violent insurrectionist movement captured a major political party. And that led to just generations of terror locally, but there's the potential for that nationally if a violent movement can co-opt enough of a major American political party.Is something that you're concerned about from your vantage point?Everyone should be. I mean, how much clearer of a signal can you get? A major party is being co-opted by terrorists and the leader of that party is telling the members of that terrorist movement to stand back and stand by in case he is not reelected. Proud Boys were told on a presidential debate stage to stand back and stand by. This is an organization that's been declared a terrorist outfit by Canada, our closest ally, and the President of the United States told them to stand by. Add to that all of the other signals we're getting from senior influencers and people with actual elected positions within the Republican Party, calling the January 6 rioters political prisoners. You have people like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/25/sarah-palin-us-civil-war-donald-trump-prosecutions">Sarah Palin</a> warning about civil war. <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4190468-huckabee-2024-will-be-last-election-decided-by-ballots-rather-than-bullets-if-trump-loses-over-legal-cases/">Mike Huckabee</a> just said if Trump is denied another win, the next election is not going to be decided at the ballot box, it will be decided by bullets. You have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-said-us-should-have-a-coup-like-myanmar-2021-5">Mike Flynn</a> saying, we need a coup in this country like they had in Myanmar. This is not me paraphrasing or exaggerating. These are clarion calls for violence coming from senior figures on the right, influential figures, mainstream figures. These aren't fringe characters; they are representative of the mainstream, and that's scary.How do you combat that toxic rhetoric and the mentality of political persecution that further entrenches people into that ideology?Well, it depends on who I'm talking to. When trying to counter the deep state paranoia, or talking to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-believe-conspiracy-theory-overconfidence-2023-1">conspiracy theorists</a>, there's nothing you can do or say because any evidence you provide is just evidence of an even deeper conspiracy. Some people are unreachable. There isn't a middle ground when you're talking about autocracy and democracy; there isn't a halfway point. It's like arguing with flat earthers. The truth isn't somewhere between a round earth and a flat earth. When you look at January 6, I think the only answer to people like Georgia Congressman <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gun-store-congress-andrew-clyde-georgia-2022-5">Andrew Clyde</a>, who said it was just a "normal tourist visit" is: You are lying. You are a vet. You know better. You helped barricade the house galley and you were screaming and pointing in a photo with Capitol policemen who had their guns drawn, pointing at that single point of entry. And yet, a few days later, you're on TV, calling it a peaceful tourist visit? I think the only way to counter something like that is to call it what it is: disinformation.Are you hopeful about people responding well to the lies being called out?I'm always hopeful. I am always bullish on America. I think we have been through a few things worse. The scary thing about saying that is, you know, people point to the 1860s and say, "Hey, we've survived worse before" and yes, we did. But we fought a civil war over it. I think this will only get better if people stand up en masse and say the election wasn't stolen. Your grievances are made up. You're not the ones defending the Constitution; you're actually undermining it. We need not just those lone voices in the wilderness like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/liz-cheney-were-electing-idiots-trump-2024-gop-023-6">Liz Cheney</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/adam-kinzinger-my-party-failed-the-american-people-at-truth-2022-6">Adam Kinzinger</a>, who are brave enough to tell the truth and lose their jobs for it, but we need a chorus of those kinds of influencers saying that there really is only one side of this pro-democracy argument. And that's the pro-democracy side.

America's veterans are the prime target for domestic terrorists — as recruits

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US journalist and activist <keyword id="4702685" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Masih-Alinejad">Masih Alinejad</keyword> says <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> is "trying to test the red lines" of Western countries.</li><li>The Iranian-born author was the target of an attempted <keyword id="44288" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kidnapping">kidnapping</keyword> by Iranian operatives, the Justice Department said.</li><li>Alinejad told Insider she was disappointed by the Biden administration's intent to continue talks with Iran.</li></ul>The US journalist and human rights activist who federal prosecutors say was the <a href="https://www.insider.com/iranian-officials-charged-with-plotting-to-kidnap-us-journalist-2021-7">target of a months-long kidnapping scheme</a> by Iranian intelligence officials believes Iran's regime is "testing the red lines" of Western countries.And she wants the US to respond with "strong action.""When ISIS was in power, the whole world actually took action. When Jamal Khashoggi, the American-Saudi journalist brutally was murdered in the embassy in Turkey, what was the reaction of the rest of the world? We saw a lot of statements of condemnation," Masih Alinejad told Insider. "We need to see the same action."Four Iranian intelligence officials were charged on Tuesday with attempting to kidnap the Iranian-born Alinejad, who has been openly critical of the regime's autocracy, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-hijab-videos-masih-alinejad-iranians-attempted-kidnapping-charges-2021-7">publicly campaigning against Iran's compulsory hijab laws</a> and exposing the abuse women face throughout the country on her social media platforms. Prosecutors say the accused men monitored and targeted the Brooklyn author, planning to forcibly take her to Tehran, where Alinejad believes she was to be executed. "I strongly believe that this is the Islamic republic trying to test the red lines of the Western countries," she told Insider.Alinejad said the kidnapping plot against her has made her more determined to continue her work sharing videos and stories of those being oppressed in Iran and "giving a voice to the voiceless.""It actually shows me the government is scared of me and that our work is effective," she said. "That gives me power."But Alinejad said she also wants to see powerful Western countries take a stand against Iran's atrocities.Alinejad told Insider she hadn't yet heard from the Biden administration personally. She claimed that the lack of a strong response is due to countries' desire to negotiate with Iran over its fledgling nuclear weapons program."They're all looking to have a deal with Iran. It's all about [the] nuclear deal," Alinejad said. "They don't want to lose the opportunity and they try to bury human rights under the nuclear deal."<keyword id="6356037" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="white-house">White House</keyword> Press Secretary Jen Psaki has since <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1415357172582690819">commented</a> on the scheme, saying the Biden administration condemns the "despicable plot." But Psaki did not indicate nuclear talks would be affected by the attempted kidnapping of Alinejad, an American citizen."We still see it in US interests and in our national interests to engage in ongoing discussion so we can have greater visibility into Iran's path to acquire nuclear weapons," Psaki said during a press briefing, confirming that the US will continue to pursue talks with the country.Alinejad told Insider she was disappointed by the response. "To do nothing, to take no action signals weakness," she said."It is difficult to see how the Biden administration is going to stand up to dictators and bullies let alone thus like the Islamic Republic," she added. Alinejad, who remains under FBI protection, said she is still fearful, but not just for herself."To be honest, I believe that when the Islamic republic is in power, it's like ISIS. No one is safe around the world. No one who criticizes a religious dictatorship will be safe."

Activist targeted in kidnapping plot says Iran is testing the US and 'to take no action signals weakness'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Four Iranian intelligence officers were charged with attempting to kidnap a US journalist and activist.</li><li>Masih Alinejad, a US citizen who has been critical of <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword>, confirmed she was the target.</li><li>An indictment said the Iranian government directed the "state actors" to devise the scheme.</li></ul>Four Iranian intelligence officials were charged on Tuesday with attempting to kidnap a US journalist and human-rights activist of Iranian descent who has been openly critical of the regime's autocracy, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/iranian-intelligence-officials-indicted-kidnapping-conspiracy-charges">Department of Justice</a> said.The men monitored and targeted the Brooklyn author, planning to forcibly take her to Tehran, "where the victim's fate would have been uncertain at best," US Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a DOJ press release. The Justice Department did not name the target, but journalist Masih Alinejad confirmed to Insider that she was the target of the <keyword id="44288" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kidnapping">kidnapping</keyword> scheme.Alinejad, a presenter for Voice of America, has been a longtime critic of Iran's human-rights abuses and policies on women's rights.Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, 50; Mahmoud Khazein, 42; Kiya Sadeghi, 35; and Omid Noori, 45, all of Iran, were charged with conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to violate sanctions against Iran, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to launder money.A fifth man, Niloufar Bahadorifar, a California resident, was arrested earlier this month and is said to have provided financial services to the foreign nationals in violation of the US's sanctions on Iran. Farahani, Khazein, Sadeghi, and Noori all live in Iran and have not been arrested, the release said. All four are said to be part of the Iranian intelligence community.An <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1411371/download">indictment</a> unsealed on Tuesday said the Iranian government directed the "state actors" to devise the kidnapping scheme and conduct surveillance on US soil in order to "lure" Alinejad back to Iran "as retaliation" for her freedom of expression."This is not some far-fetched movie plot. We allege a group, backed by the Iranian government, conspired to kidnap a US-based journalist here on our soil and forcibly return her to Iran. Not on our watch," FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney told The National. Alinejad commented on the attempted kidnapping plot on Tuesday evening, sharing a video of herself with police protection in the background on <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih">Twitter</a>."Yes, I'm also worried," Alinejad said in the video. "But it imbues me with a feeling of safety when I see the police protect me. This wouldn't have happened in my homeland." Prosecutors said the men researched ways to return Alinejad to Iran, including looking into obtaining a speedboat that would take her from New York City to Venezuela and then on to Tehran. At one point, Khazein searched "brooklyn new york to caracas by boat" in Google Maps, the indictment said. The men also considered trying to lure Alinejad to a foreign country where they could more easily take her, even trying to involve her relatives in the plot, prosecutors said.Farahani reached out to private investigators to track Alinejad, producing photographs of her and members of her household, prosecutors said. The network was also able to have a live camera feed installed in her home that recorded at all times in 2020 and into 2021, the indictment said.The men obtained such rigorous surveillance by "misrepresenting their identities and the purpose" to private investigators, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Farahani runs a network that has previously targeted victims in other countries, surveilling people in a similar manner.

Iranian intelligence officials charged with plotting to kidnap a US journalist and activist who was critical of the country's regime, feds say

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Carlson's recent visit to <keyword id="15799" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hungary">Hungary</keyword> sparked alarm among democracy watchdogs and Democratic lawmakers.</li><li>But some Republican senators endorsed Carlson's embrace of Viktor Orbán and his authoritarian model.</li><li>Romney, however, denounced Orbán as an autocrat who's "only a few clicks away from Vladimir Putin."</li></ul>The host of America's most-watched cable <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> show recently spent a week in Budapest extolling the virtues of a small European country sliding into autocracy, triggering alarm among democracy experts and Democratic lawmakers. Insider approached nearly a dozen Republican senators this week to ask them whether they endorse Fox host <keyword id="1100092" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tucker-Carlson">Tucker Carlson</keyword>'s promotion of Hungary's right-wing populist leader. Their answers - and nonanswers - underscore the ongoing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-has-become-even-greater-threat-democracy-than-trump-2021-6">erosion of support for democracy</a> on the American right. Some Republican lawmakers either tacitly or explicitly portrayed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government as a model for US conservatives. Others insisted they weren't well-informed enough to answer questions about Hungary, which has attracted widespread condemnation, while <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-orban/hungary-will-remain-part-of-the-european-union-pm-orban-says-idUSKBN1WE0GT">putting its European Union membership in question</a>."The only thing I know about [Orbán] is what I heard right there on [Carlson's] program," Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who's served in the Senate for 40 years, told Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday. "I saw enough snippets that I thought that he was a rational person.""I haven't been tracking what's happening," Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, who served as Trump's ambassador to Japan and sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, told Insider."Call our press office," Sen. Ted Cruz, who also sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, told Insider. Cruz's spokespeople declined to comment when Insider reached them by email. The only GOP senator who said he was very familiar with Hungary's government was Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican and close ally of former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Orbán's leadership as a model for the US. He called Carlson's glowing portrayal of the autocrat "pretty accurate.""I recognize the liberal left doesn't like Hungary, but there are so many positive things about what they're doing in that country," Johnson told Insider. <div type="image" title="Tucker Carlson on the cover page of the Hungarian weekly magazine Mandiner at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) Feszt on August 7, 2021 in Esztergom, Hungary." height="640" width="1280" msid="85312111" hostid="261"></div><h2>Hungary's democratic backslide</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-hungary-touts-authoritarian-orbn-as-model-for-west-2021-8">Orbán</a> has spent the <a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2019/08/29/how-viktor-orban-hollowed-out-hungarys-democracy">past 11 years in power</a> asserting control <a href="https://www.amnesty.eu/news/hungary-fraudulent-fear-rules-among-judges/">over the judiciary</a>, enriching his loyalists, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/world/europe/hungary-orban-media.html">eliminating the free press</a>, while remaking his country's laws to benefit his far-right Fidesz party.After winning two-thirds of the seats in parliament in 2010, Orbán wasted no time in overhauling the nation's constitution. Foundational laws were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/world/europe/19iht-hungary19.html">promptly rewritten</a> without the approval of any lawmakers outside Fidesz, with the EU and UN raising concerns, and critics warning that Hungary was "<a href="https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/hungarys-constitutional-revolution/">sliding into authoritarianism</a>." This set the tone for Orbán's rule.Fidesz has since remade Hungary's electoral system - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/25/world/europe/hungary-election-viktor-orban.html">gerrymandering parliamentary districts</a> and nearly halving the number of seats in parliament - to give it an advantage. The party has consistently won a two-thirds majority in parliament since 2010, despite not always winning a majority of the national vote. And Orbán granted dual citizenship to ethnic Hungarians outside the country's borders, who <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-courts-voters-in-transylvania-romania-hungarian-election-2018/">vote overwhelmingly for Fidesz</a>.In his domestic policy, Orbán has taken particularly aggressive stances against immigration - including erecting a 180-mile border wall - and LGBTQ rights in his efforts to keep the country of nearly 10 million white, Christian, and conservative. He's forced Central Europe's premier university out of the country, and he's funneled billions of dollars in government money into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/world/europe/hungary-orban-university.html">conservative institutions run by his loyalists</a> as part of an effort "to turn Hungary into the intellectual capital of the nationalist conservative movement," Dalibor Rohac, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told Insider. Orbán's close ties to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/vladimir-putin-and-viktor-orbans-special-relationship/a-45512712" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russia</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/viktor-orban-censored-question-tucker-carlson-asked-about-xi-jinping-2021-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">China</a> have also been a <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/orban-taunts-germany-by-doubling-down-on-support-for-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">source of tension with the EU</a>, which has frequently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/08/eu-parliament-condemns-hungary-anti-lgbt-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">condemned the Hungarian leader</a> on issues like human rights. <a href="https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/f9/08/f908eb53-c0e2-40f0-9294-e067537d8f0b/v-dem_policybrief_5_2016.pdf">Varieties of Democracy</a> (V-Dem), a project that monitors the health of democracy worldwide, said in its 2021 report that Hungary <a href="https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/74/8c/748c68ad-f224-4cd7-87f9-8794add5c60f/dr_2021_updated.pdf">lost its status as a democracy</a> in 2018 and ranked among the top 10 autocratizing countries. "Over the past decade, the Orbán government has undermined the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary, and freedom of the press; impeded Ukraine's cooperation with NATO; and cozied up to Russia, among many other acts inconsistent with a modern European liberal democracy," James Kirchick, a visiting fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, told Insider. <h2>'Everybody's got different views' on Hungary</h2>Multiple GOP senators declined to comment or said they didn't know enough about Orbán's leadership to have an opinion on the state of Hungarian democracy or the US right's affinity for it. Others took the opportunity to criticize American democracy.Grassley said he didn't have "the slightest idea" what Orbán had done in Hungary but had a favorable opinion of the leader after watching clips of Carlson's show last week. He went on to suggest that it wouldn't be out of character for <keyword id="66537" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Republicans">Republicans</keyword> to look abroad for political inspiration."Have you ever heard of Mrs. Thatcher?" he said, referring to the former conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. "A lot of things that Republicans started to do in the 1980s was because of what Thatcher was successful doing in Great Britain."An aide to the senator interjected to say Grassley didn't condone what Orbán has done in Hungary, but the senator insisted the Hungarian leader appeared "rational."Sen. Rick Scott of Florida insisted that "everybody's got different views" on Hungary's leadership and pivoted to criticizing American democracy. He said he had a Hungarian friend who's considering moving back to his home country if the US "keeps going down this path of systemic socialism." <div type="image" title="Victor Orban Donald Trump" height="600" width="1200" msid="85312112" hostid="261"></div>Johnson, the Wisconsin senator who said he felt Hungary was a model for the US, was asked if he thought Orbán's restrictions on free speech and civic society were still problematic. He replied by turning the question around."I think what's problematic is what's happening in this country in terms of the media censorship and the media bias," he said.Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, declined to comment on Hungary and Carlson and instead emphasized American exceptionalism."I think the US model should serve as a model for the world, one in which we continuously improve each generation upon the previous generation's handiwork and we leave a more perfect union for our children and grandchildren," Young told Insider. "I've got nothing else to say."<h2>Why Hungarian autocracy appeals to the American right</h2>Carlson's full-throated embrace of Orbán and his populist-nationalist Fidesz party didn't surprise many observers of conservatism. Orbán has become a hero to the far-right across Europe and the US, who've applauded his efforts to create a conservative ethnostate through strict anti-immigration policies, incentives for Hungarian parents, and censorship of progressive civic and educational institutions.After years of criticism from US administrations, Orbán has found admirers in Trumpian Republicans. Right-wing commentators and operators, including the former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and writers at conservative outlets like National Review and American Conservative, are big fans.Johnson told Insider he'd met "repeatedly" with Hungarian parliamentarians and called them "family-oriented." He added that Orbán's anti-immigration policies had shown "you actually can defend your border and represent the people of your country, as opposed to an open border and chaos that we're seeing here." Experts on <keyword id="1126795" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="authoritarianism">authoritarianism</keyword> say that Trump's embrace of autocratic leaders and his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election have deepened <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/6/15/22522504/republicans-authoritarianism-trump-competitive">the American right's disdain for democracy</a>.Staffan Lindberg, a Swedish political scientist and the director of V-Dem, said that embracing Orbán and his <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword> "means espousing authoritarianism and anti-pluralism.""The suggestion that the GOP should emulate Fidesz and Orbán's politics is nothing short of saying that democracy is no longer the system for the US: Democracy should be dismantled, die," he told Insider. Democrats are outspoken in their condemnation of Orbán, who President Joe Biden <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/read-full-transcript-joe-bidens-abc-news-town/story?id=73643517">last year</a> suggested was a totalitarian "thug," and say they're increasingly worried about the US right's embrace of authoritarianism. "Orbán is trying to model a kind of repressive, pseudo-democracy where free speech is virtually nonexistent," Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, told Insider this week."There's obviously a lot of sympathy in the Republican Party for authoritarianism and there's a lot of Republicans who are giving up on democracy," he added. "That's what January 6 was all about. ... The Republican Party right now presents a real threat to American democracy."Many European conservatives and experts on the right are also increasingly critical of the Hungarian ruling party. Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, said conservative respect for Orbán "reflects the continued deterioration of the American Right." "Supposed conservatives are sacrificing once strongly held commitments to liberty and the rule of law," Bandow told Insider. "Support for the family and tradition are important but are secure only when nestled within a democratic system and based on a liberal constitutional order."<div type="image" title="Tucker Carlson discussing Viktor Orban." height="1000" width="2000" msid="85312115" hostid="261"></div>There used to be stronger opposition to Orbán's leadership in the GOP's ranks. In 2019, the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/05-10-19%20Letter-Orban.pdf">sent a letter to Trump</a> expressing its concern with Hungary's "downward democratic trajectory." The lawmakers, including Republican Sens. James Risch and Marco Rubio, urged Trump to press Orbán on Hungary's embrace of China and Russia and its authoritarian slide. Rohac said the right's criticism of Orbán had mostly dried up since then and "pro-Orbán and anti-anti-Orbán voices are dominating the conversation.""It wasn't taken as a given that Viktor Orbán is a friend of conservative values, of the conservative movement," Rohac said. "I think those scruples have just disappeared. It's very hard to find anybody who would be critical of Orbán among politically active Republicans."Still, a few GOP elected officials remain willing to speak out against Hungarian authoritarianism. "I think Viktor Orbán and Hungary are far from a model for any other nation," Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican and former GOP presidential nominee, told Insider on Tuesday. "Mr. Orbán is only a few clicks away from Vladimir Putin, and autocracy is antithetical to the American experience."Spokespeople for Risch and Rubio didn't reply to Insider's multiple requests for comment. Rohac said Orbán's appeal to Republicans came down to his success in crushing progressive culture and politics."The best explanation was provided by Tucker Carlson himself at this dinner with Orbán last week when he said that you are hated by the right sort of people," Rohac said, referring to <a href="https://twitter.com/roddreher/status/1423000728776286210">Carlson's comment last week</a> to Hungarian right-wingers."I'm afraid that's where we are with intellectual conservatism - that it's no longer about policy. It's no longer about principles. It's no longer about having some sort of coherent worldview that reflects conservative principles."It's squarely about owning the libs. It's squarely about just doing things that the other side will hate. And for that, Orbán is your man."

We asked Republican senators about Tucker Carlson's favorite authoritarian leader. Their praise and dodges underscore the danger to the US.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="85287" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Fox-News">Fox News</keyword>' <keyword id="1100092" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tucker-Carlson">Tucker Carlson</keyword> is broadcasting from <keyword id="15799" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hungary">Hungary</keyword> this week.</li><li>Carlson is promoting the worldview of Hungary's authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán.</li><li>America's far-right looks to Orbán as a more successful, effective version of Trump. </li></ul>Fox News' Tucker Carlson is <a href="https://www.insider.com/tucker-carlson-tonight-moves-show-hungary-week-meets-viktor-orban-2021-8">broadcasting from Budapest, Hungary</a> this week. For a lot of people, this might be perplexing. But for those who've closely followed the far-right in recent years, it makes perfect sense. Many American conservatives admire Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán - a xenophobic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/orban-wont-attend-germany-soccer-spat-over-anti-lgbtq-law-2021-6">anti-LGBTQ</a> authoritarian who's been in power for 11 years and who <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/viktor-orban-joins-despot-all-stars-backing-trump-2020">endorsed President Donald Trump's reelection campaign</a> last year - and they've made no secret of it. They look to Orbán as a more effective version of Trump - and a model for the future of right-wing <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword> in the US.Carlson is effectively in Hungary to promote Orbán's nationalism and anti-democratic approach to governance, and authoritarianism experts are concerned - particularly over what this says about the direction of American conservatism. The Fox host's Hungarian excursion comes at a time when Republicans continue to whitewash the pro-Trump Capitol insurrection, vie to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/after-trump-time-for-us-learn-other-countries-democracy-experts-2021-1">restrict voting in states across the US</a>, and as recent polling shows that more than a quarter of Americans qualify as having <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/26-percent-of-americans-are-right-wing-authoritarian-new-poll-2021-6">right-wing authoritarian political beliefs.</a>Read more: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-trump-took-over-gop-2021-7?inline-read-more&amp;inline-read-moremore">The definitive oral history of how Trump took over the GOP, as told to us by Cruz, Rubio, and 20 more insiders</a>"There's nothing funny about this encounter," Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University historian and expert on strongman leaders, <a href="https://lucid.substack.com/p/tucker-carlson-and-viktor-orban-plan">wrote of Carlson's visit with Orbán.</a> "Carlson's world aligns to an alarming degree with that of Orbán ... The goal of these alliances has always been to mainstream far-right values.""Orbán has arguably been among the most successful sitting leaders at creating an electoral autocracy ... keeping a veneer of democracy going while turning elections into sham events, taking judicial and press freedoms away, and suffocating society slowly," Ben-Ghiat added. "This is where the GOP is heading, accelerating the agenda of the Trump presidency to undo our democratic freedoms and institutions."<h2>Carlson is boosting Orbán's profile, while ignoring his autocratic leadership</h2>Carlson, perhaps the most prominent right-wing voice in the US, shared a tweet showing him meeting with Orbán on Monday. The Fox host is also set to speak at a far-right conference on Saturday called MCC Feszt <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/world/europe/hungary-orban-university.html">that's tied to Orbán</a>. "If you care about Western civilization and democracy and families, and the ferocious assault on all three of those things by the leaders of our global institutions, you should know what is happening here right now," Carlson, making no mention of Orbán's anti-democratic tendencies, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/tucker-the-mainstream-medias-job-is-to-defend-the-ruling-class">said</a> during his show on Monday night.Carlson during the same episode decried the mainstream media in the US, stating that its true purpose was to defend the ruling class. He did not, however, discuss the extreme degree to which Orbán has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/world/europe/hungary-orban-media.html">shored up control of the news media in Hungary</a>. In July, Reporters Without Borders <a href="https://rsf.org/en/news/rsfs-2021-press-freedom-predators-gallery-old-tyrants-two-women-and-european">pointed to Orbán</a> as one of the world's 37 "press freedom predators."The Fox host on Wednesday gave a talk at a dinner with Orbán's office and praised Hungary as a great place that the West can learn from while telling the audience, "You're truly hated by all the right people," according to tweets from Rod Dreher, a senior editor at the American Conservative. Dreher has also expressed admiration for Orbán and has championed the Hungarian leader's politics in his writing. "What I see in Orbán is one of the few major politicians in the West who seems to understand the importance of Christianity, and the importance of culture, and who is willing to defend these things against a very rich and powerful international establishment," Dreher <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/5/21/21256324/viktor-orban-hungary-american-conservatives">told Vox</a> last year."I find myself saying of Orbán what I hear conservatives say when they explain why they instinctively love Trump: because he fights," Dreher added. "The thing about Orbán is that unlike Trump, he fights, and he wins, and his victories are substantive."<h2>Carlson and Orbán have promoted a white nationalist worldview</h2>Carlson and Orbán, who <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1306966370647781376?s=20">faces elections in 2022</a>, have been looking to one another as allies for some time. Anna Massoglia, an investigative researcher at Open Secrets, reported that Hungary in 2019 paid a Washington, DC, lobbying firm $265,000 - and the payment was partially designed to help coordinate an interview on Carlson's show. Around that time, Carlson on his show praised Orbán's ethnonationalist, anti-immigration policies, while decrying the "neoliberals who run" the EU. "Instead of helping the native population to have more children, the Hungarian government, they say, should import a replacement population from the Third World," <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-touts-hardline-approach-far-right-ethnonationalists-immigration">Carlson said</a> in July 2019."But Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has a different idea. Instead of abandoning Hungary's young people ... Orbán has decided to affirmatively help Hungarian families grow," Carlson added.Carlson has espoused a white supremacist <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-endorses-white-supremacist-replacement-conspiracy-theory-2021-4">"replacement" conspiracy theory</a> on his show, stating that Democrats were "importing" immigrants to "dilute" US voters. Orbán, who has presented himself as a defender of Christianity and built a wall to keep out refugees, has made near-identical talking points. "We do not want to be diverse," Orbán <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.miniszterelnok.hu_prime-2Dminister-2Dviktor-2Dorbans-2Dspeech-2Dat-2Dthe-2Dannual-2Dgeneral-2Dmeeting-2Dof-2Dthe-2Dassociation-2Dof-2Dcities-2Dwith-2Dcounty-2Drights_&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&amp;r=Ew4TmF3aJEfLOHfs3bR_QDUYcbEHW9QdSCq_dGpXvRs&amp;m=Vou0mbyUXCGmG4qOb2PmzXLt0QP5qasFQGBH3_gPSac&amp;s=OPZG_AwTK8TgV21VXO9rAujUtUEE0fgiOdTHGlu76q4&amp;e=EE0fgiOdTHGlu76q4&amp;e=">said in a 2018 speech</a>. "We do not want our own color, traditions and national culture to be mixed with those of others."<h2>If the US follows in Orbán's footsteps, it spells trouble for American democracy</h2><div type="image" title="Victor Orban Donald Trump" height="799" width="1065" msid="85055669" hostid="261"></div>Orbán, who was once described by Trump's former campaign CEO and chief strategist Steve Bannon as "<a href="https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/orban-is-the-original-trump-says-bannon-in-budapest-1.733756">Trump before Trump,"</a> has rapidly eroded democratic institutions and tightened his grip over the Central European country's political system over the past decade or so.The Hungarian leader, a champion of what he calls "illiberal democracy," has packed the nation's courts and media with allies. Orbán has also gamed the electoral system - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/25/world/europe/hungary-election-viktor-orban.html">via gerrymandering</a> and other dubious tactics - to favor his Fidesz party."At this point, Hungary is a full-on dictatorship. No if, ands, or buts," Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard College and author of "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?asin=0199373191&amp;platform=browser&amp;postSource=bi%7C5e84da21487c22623778bbd6&amp;postTag=thebusiinsi-20&amp;sc=false&amp;type=AMAZON-AFFILIATE-LINK&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2F0199373191%3Ftag%3Dthebusiinsi-20&amp;sessionid=1628101363855&amp;tag=bisafetynet2-2001363855&amp;tag=bisafetynet2-20" rel="nofollow sponsored noindex">Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe</a>," told Insider last year as Orbán was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-created-new-dictator-emboldens-authoritarians-worldwide-2020-4">granted broad emergency powers</a> by the country's parliament to combat the coronavirus, giving him the ability to rule by decree. Last year, the watchdog Freedom House in its annual <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2020/dropping-democratic-facade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nations in Transit report</a> said Hungary no longer qualified as a democracy, citing "a stunning democratic breakdown" in the country. Freedom House in its 2021 report continued to criticize Hungary for its "unparalleled democratic deterioration over the past decade." Similarly, the US was classified as a "flawed democracy" by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its latest <a href="http://www.eiu.com/Handlers/WhitepaperHandler.ashx?fi=Democracy-Index-2019.pdf&amp;mode=wp&amp;campaignid=democracyindex2019ndex2019">"Democracy Index"</a> report, though it fell from its status as a "full democracy" back in 2016. If the far-right gains more control over the levers of power in the US, pushing the political system closer to Orbán's Hungary, it could have potentially irrevocable consequences for American democracy.

Tucker Carlson is broadcasting from Hungary because its authoritarian, anti-immigrant leader has set a model for America's far-right

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In the last year, workers have called on their workplaces to address political issues like systemic racism.</li><li>The founders of <keyword id="1411781" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Basecamp">Basecamp</keyword> recently shut down political talk at work, which shows how little say employees have.</li><li>Businesses are structured like dictatorships, which disempowers workers, weakens <keyword id="6354914" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="democracy">democracy</keyword>, and consolidates the power of bosses.</li><li>Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein writes about economic life in America.</li><li>This is an <keyword id="6356002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinion">opinion</keyword> column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author. </li></ul>Over the last year, American workers have attempted to make their workplaces sites of social change and political discourse. Employees have fought for action, hoping the firms they work for will be agents in the fight against, among other things, systemic racism and harassment. But recent changes at Basecamp, a workplace collaboration software company with approximately 60 employees, show why it is so hard to make American businesses respond to these problems. At the end of the day, the American workplace is not a democracy, it's an autocracy. In a democratic workplace, bosses would be accountable to the employees through a union or because employees held a significant number of seats on the corporate board, or, among other things, the law made it much more difficult to terminate employees. But in America, owners, managers, and bosses have the final say, and if political questions challenge their rule - or even just inconvenience them - they will be shut down. <h2>Basecamp's controversial apolitical stance</h2>On April 26, Basecamp cofounder and CEO Jason Fried and cofounder David Heinemeier Hansson <a href="https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f32afc5">posted a message on Fried's blog </a>entitled "Changes at Basecamp." The post <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/basecamp-bans-political-discussions-fitness-at-work-2021-4">announced</a> a suspension of employee benefits for gym memberships and farmer's market shares, but, more ominously, highlighted a new ban on political discussions at work and a dissolution of all committees. Fried noted that discussions "related to politics, advocacy, or society at large" are "not healthy, [they haven't] served us well. And we're done with it at Basecamp." Fried added that the company could no longer dwell on past mistakes."Who's responsible for these changes?" Fried asked rhetorically, "David and I are. Who made the changes? David and I did." Fried and Hansson had unilaterally changed the workplace policies with a tone that could be read as hostile to disagreement. "The responsibility for negotiating use restrictions and moral quandaries returns to me and David," Fried wrote.While the letter was vague about what had caused this policy change, a few days later, The Verge <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/3/22418208/basecamp-all-hands-meeting-employee-resignations-buyouts-implosion">reported that the push came because</a> what Fried construed as a political discussion really concerned a potential instance of workplace harassment. In the last year or so, Basecamp employees had grown increasingly concerned about what was known as the "Best Names Ever" list - a collection of Basecamp customer names that employees had presumably found funny. While the list included many Nordic or American names, it also included some names of apparent African and Asian descent. In the wake of the uprisings for racial equality in the last year and particularly the wave of anti-Asian violence, workers were demanding to know why this list, which both Fried and Hansson had known about since at least 2016, had festered for so long. Some employees had revived a dormant diversity, equity, and inclusion channel in order to address these and other concerns.One employee cited the Anti-Defamation League's "<a href="https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/pyramid-of-hate.pdf">pyramid of hate</a>," suggesting that allowing this "Best Names Ever" list to exist was a dangerous precedent, and felt that Hansson and Fried should be held accountable. Hansson fired back <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/let-it-all-out-78485e8e">in his own blog post</a> saying that he thought this was an unfair argument and that this employee themself had tolerated the list. Two weeks later, on a Monday, Fried posted "Changes at Basecamp." After Friday's all-hands meeting, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/basecamp-workers-flee-what-some-describe-as-autocratic-culture-2021-4">more than 20 employees resigned</a>. <h2>Workplace as totalitarian regime</h2>Much like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-a-ceo-memo-made-coinbase-political-2020-10">a similar announcement</a> by Coinbase, the uproar at Basecamp is an example of the reaction by bosses to workers' demands that workplaces address discrimination, harassment, and the political and structural factors that perpetuate racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Basecamp also demonstrates why addressing those issues in the workplace is so challenging in America. Companies are structured like an unaccountable totalitarian regime. Fried and Hansson, legally, have the power to end discussions. That is, they have the unilateral power to silence speech they don't like.This seemed to be at odds with that fact that Basecamp, as a company, had been explicitly political in the past. They donated their office space in Chicago <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/inno/stories/news/2018/04/30/why-tech-founder-neal-s-les-griffin-is-running-for.html">to a political candidate</a> running for mayor, and the owners <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/21/21070812/sonos-tile-basecamp-popsocket-congressional-hearing-amazon-google-apple-competition">testified</a> about Apple's monopolistic practices, and Fried even <a href="https://www.inc.com/magazine/201709/jason-fried/2017-inc5000-diversity-in-the-workforce.html">published an article</a> in Inc. about Basecamp's failure and attempts to address workplace diversity.None of this surprises University of Michigan philosophy professor Elizabeth Anderson, author of the book "Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It)." In her book, she argues that while Americans aspire to democracy, most American workplaces are, structurally, dictatorships. Workers have little to no say in who is in charge of them and almost no free speech protections. Bosses can hire whomever they want, determine pay, control who does what work and when, and fire employees for almost any reason. The latter is enabled by "at will" employment provisions, which give employers freedom to terminate workers. Our legal system is such that founders like Fried and Hansson are largely unaccountable to employees, unlike the situation in many other countries, like Germany, where it is much more difficult to fire employees, and the inclusion of workers in managerial decisions is often the norm. This often takes place via "workers councils" in which a certain number of seats on corporate boards are reserved for workers.<h2>Democratic workplaces create better citizens</h2>Researchers of the role of politics in the workplace note that increasing democracy in the workplace and giving workers a say in the rules that govern their conduct trains people for democratic life in general. New York University Law Professor Cynthia Estlund says that there used to be a more robust discussion 80 years ago about what was then called "industrial democracy," and about the workplace as a "school for democracy." Unions were growing, and they fought for worker protections that limited the bosses' ability to unilaterally fire workers and dictate the terms of work. Such protections empowered workers to speak out against unfair, discriminatory, or harassing conduct in the workplace. Today, we spend most of our time at work, so it's no wonder that many workers want their workplaces to be sites of societal and political change, or at least be a place where people can talk freely about current issues.Estlund said that there are additional benefits to worker protections for open political discussion: The workplace is one of the few places in life in which we engage with a relatively politically diverse group of people. Coworkers are generally not people we grew up with or freely choose to associate with. They are a "bridge to the larger citizenry," Estlund said. If we hope to create a less divided country and get outside our ideological bubbles, "it's mainly in the workplace that we actually interact on a sustained basis with once-strangers." In fact, the workplace protections against racial harassment that sprang up in the post-war period may have been violated at Basecamp, Anderson told me in an email. "All employers are legally obligated to act against racial harassment including hostile environment harassment that need not target an identified employee," she wrote. "So the racist spreadsheet is clearly covered by already existing requirements. Instead, Basecamp really wanted to shut down criticism of Basecamp's racist working conditions, even though labor law clearly protects the right of workers to complain about working conditions, even if they are not organized into a union."<h2>At the bosses' whim</h2>It's unclear why exactly employers prefer this top-down arrangement that is so opposed to the values of American life, though for Fried and Hansson the benefit is clear. They alone can end a discussion that implicates their conduct. Instead of engaging with what they found to be a bad argument and find a path forward, they shut down the discussion completely. And the result was catastrophic for the company - not only for how they look, but because they lost more than<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/basecamp-workers-flee-what-some-describe-as-autocratic-culture-2021-4"> a third</a> of their employees, suggesting that leaning on authoritarian tactics is detrimental for retention.To make the workplace more democratic, we could, among other things, strengthen laws and norms protecting employment, make cooperative ownership easier, dramatically bolster unionization and collective bargaining, and give workers a say in managerial decisions. But until then, firms' prerogatives will only reflect a minority of opinions (<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-01/most-of-americas-businesses-run-by-white-men-says-census-bureau">a minority that skews heavily white and male</a>) and workers' voices will continue to be silenced.And as calls by workers for their firms to be agents of social change increase - for businesses to take stances on systemic racism, the climate emergency, and to make the workplace free of harassment - Basecamp demonstrates why that is so difficult in America. Without any legal accountability or widespread union representation, change will only happen at the whim of owners and managers. Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein writes about economic life in America.

Basecamp's controversial move to ban politics at work is a reminder that the workplace is not a democracy - workers have little power to combat bad policies

What was once a nation with a limited presence on the international stage is acquiring advanced weaponry, instituting universal military service, and expanding its fleet of fighter jets and heavy vehicles.
A country of less than 10 million citizens has even proven willing frequently to use military force around the region.
The biggest sign of this came in August, when the UAE cooperated with Egypt to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-uae-aircraft-bombed-islamists-in-libya-us-says-2014-8">bomb</a> Islamist militias vying for the Libyan capital; the Emirates had contributed <a href="http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/25/142959.html">a dozen aircraft</a> to the international campaign that helped oust Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi back in 2011. Also in 2011, it contributed troops to the multi-national force that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-12729786">crushed a peaceful uprising in Bahrain in 201</a>1 and the country is involved in anti-ISIS operations as well.
The UAE had the <a href="http://www.sipri.org/googlemaps/milex_top_15_2013_exp_map.html">15th-highest military expenditures</a> of any country in the world in 2013 according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its military spending has nearly doubled in the last ten years; behind Saudi Arabia it enjoys the second biggest <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> budget of the oil-rich Persian Gulf states at more than $14 billion.
It's also on pace to become <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/uae/uae-defence-imports-to-double-to-3bn-by-2015">the world's third-largest defense importer</a> in 2015.
A network of monarchical city states that includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi is now <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-militaries-in-the-middle-east-2014-8">the rising military power in the Middle East.</a>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-militaries-in-the-middle-east-2014-8"></a>
Neither Egypt nor the UAE informed the United States of the anti-Islamist air strikes in Libya, attacks which AFP <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-uae-aircraft-bombed-islamists-in-libya-us-says-2014-8">reported</a> "signaled a step toward direct action by regional Arab states that previously have fought proxy wars in Libya, Syria and Iraq in a struggle for power and influence."
At the same time, the US working with UAE as an ally in the fight against ISIS. It's one of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/23/world/meast/syria-airstrikes-countries-involved/">five</a> Arab nations to contribute to bombing efforts against the group, and the country hosts Australian fighter jets on its territory. The US also <a href="http://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS21852.pdf">bases aircraft</a> at Al Dhafra airbase, outside of Abu Dhabi.
The Emirates are involved in intelligence efforts to counter ISIS' expansion. Last week the country's foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, <a href="http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141102/DEFREG04/311020011/Is-Islamic-State-Group-Getting-Into-Piracy-Business-">warned</a> of a potentially growing link between ISIS and al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda subsidiary operating in the Horn of Africa.
"As groups like Daesh [Islamic State] develop ties to criminal networks and arms networks like al-Shabab, it is essential that we prevent them from expanding their operations into the sea and threaten vital channels such as the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, Bab al Mandab and the Gulf of Aden," he said at a conference on counter-piracy in Dubai.

Iran actually helps explain why the UAE has expanded its military so rapidly.
The UAE is mostly thought of as an economic power - Dubai is a center of world finance and the UAE has oil and gas deposits along with some of the busiest ports in the Middle East. But it's just across the Persian Gulf from Iran, a country with which it actually has a <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/201241610277611428.html">number of outstanding border disputes</a>.
The UAE's <a href="http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/trade_register.php">purchase of new ships and aircraft from the US</a>, an upgrade of its F-16 force - which now boasts some of the most advanced versions of that aircraft in use anywhere in the world - and its <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/us-airshow-dubai-fighters-idUSBRE9AK14Z20131121">interest in the F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet</a> may give it a qualitative military edge over its much larger and geopolitically meddlesome neighbor.
The UAE could be also be using its military buildup to project power and jostle for greater prestige in the wider global community. That could explain why Abu Dhabi has such vaunted ambitions around one other traditional marker of national greatness: space exploration. In July the country announced that it would create a <a href="http://time.com/2994926/middle-east-mars-mission/">space agency</a> by 2021 and planned on sending a probe to Mars.

But the Emirates might be looking a bit closer to home, too.
The Arab Spring proved that none of the region's leaders were totally safe from internal turmoil - and demonstrated that the Middle East's political and security climate could shift in ways that almost no one can predict.

The UAE has used a degree of internal oppression to solidify its situation in an unstable region, arresting <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25824395">dozens of Islamist activists</a>, and exiling secular voices of dissent, like the once Dubai-based Arab Spring activist <a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/21/uae-tried-silence-popular-arab-spring-activist/">Iyad al-Baghdadi</a>. 
The country's conservative rulers see Islamists as a threat to the existing state system in the Middle East, which explains the UAE's willingness to carry out airstrikes against militants in Libya and Syria - and its hostility towards Islamist parties at home.
Also on the domestic front, the UAE introduced <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-united-arab-emirates-is-rapidly-militarizing-2014-6">mandatory conscription</a> this past June for males between the ages of 18-30. Those with a high school education must serve for nine months, and those without for a full two years.
The UAE is an autocracy in a time when no Middle Eastern government's rule seems totally secure. And it's a fairly prosperous country in a region where threats can emerge without warning. 
Its rapid militarization and assertive security policy is a way of keeping its edge in this uncertain environment.

This Is The Most Powerful Military You've Never Heard Of

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>The United Arab Emirates is flexing its military muscle in a chaotic, post-Arab Spring Middle East.
What was once a nation with a limited presence on the <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> stage is acquiring advanced weaponry, instituting universal military service, and expanding its fleet of fighter jets and heavy vehicles.
A country of less than 10 million citizens has even proven willing to frequently use military force around the region.
The biggest sign of this came in August, when the UAE cooperated with Egypt to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-uae-aircraft-bombed-islamists-in-libya-us-says-2014-8">bomb</a> Islamist militias vying for the Libyan capital; the Emirates had contributed <a href="http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/25/142959.html">a dozen aircraft</a> to the international campaign that helped oust Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi back in 2011. Also in 2011, it contributed troops to the multi-national force that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-12729786">crushed a peaceful uprising in Bahrain in 201</a>1 and the country is involved in anti-ISIS operations as well.
The UAE had the <a href="http://www.sipri.org/googlemaps/milex_top_15_2013_exp_map.html">15th-highest military expenditures</a> of any country in the world in 2013 according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its military spending has nearly doubled in the last ten years; behind Saudi Arabia it enjoys the second biggest <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> budget of the oil-rich Persian Gulf states at more than $14 billion.
It's also on pace to become <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/uae/uae-defence-imports-to-double-to-3bn-by-2015">the world's third-largest defense importer</a> in 2015.
A network of monarchical city states that includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi is now <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-militaries-in-the-middle-east-2014-8">the rising military power in the Middle East.</a>
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-militaries-in-the-middle-east-2014-8"></a><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The UAE has backed up its military expansion with an assertive and independent-minded foreign policy.
Neither Egypt nor the UAE informed the United States of the anti-Islamist air strikes in Libya, attacks which AFP <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-uae-aircraft-bombed-islamists-in-libya-us-says-2014-8">reported</a> "signaled a step toward direct action by regional Arab states that previously have fought proxy wars in Libya, Syria and Iraq in a struggle for power and influence."
At the same time, the US working with UAE as an ally in the fight against ISIS. It's one of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/23/world/meast/syria-airstrikes-countries-involved/">five</a> Arab nations to contribute to bombing efforts against the group, and the country hosts Australian fighter jets on its territory. The US also <a href="http://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS21852.pdf">bases aircraft</a> at Al Dhafra airbase, outside of Abu Dhabi.
The Emirates are involved in intelligence efforts to counter ISIS' expansion. Last week the country's foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, <a href="http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141102/DEFREG04/311020011/Is-Islamic-State-Group-Getting-Into-Piracy-Business-">warned</a> of a potentially growing link between ISIS and al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda subsidiary operating in the Horn of Africa.
"As groups like Daesh [Islamic State] develop ties to criminal networks and arms networks like al-Shabab, it is essential that we prevent them from expanding their operations into the sea and threaten vital channels such as the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, Bab al Mandab and the Gulf of Aden," he said at a conference on counter-piracy in Dubai.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are even in talks to form a coalition "not intended to intervene in Iraq or Syria but to act separately to address other extremist hot spots," according to the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/3/egypt-gulf-arab-allies-eye-anti-militant-alliance/?page=1">AP</a>. Budding conflicts cited by anonymous Egyptian military officials included Libya and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-houthis-take-over-in-yemen-2014-10">Yemen</a>, where an Iranian-armed Shi'ite militia has taken over the capital.
Iran actually helps explain why the UAE has expanded its military so rapidly.
The UAE is mostly thought of as an economic power - Dubai is a center of world finance and the UAE has oil and gas deposits along with some of the busiest ports in the Middle East. But it's just across the Persian Gulf from Iran, a country with which it actually has a <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/201241610277611428.html">number of outstanding border disputes</a>.
The UAE's <a href="http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/trade_register.php">purchase of new ships and aircraft from the US</a>, an upgrade of its F-16 force - which now boasts some of the most advanced versions of that aircraft in use anywhere in the world - and its <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/us-airshow-dubai-fighters-idUSBRE9AK14Z20131121">interest in the F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet</a> may give it a qualitative military edge over its much larger and geopolitically meddlesome neighbor.
The UAE could be also be using its military buildup to project power and jostle for greater prestige in the wider global community. That could explain why Abu Dhabi has such vaunted ambitions around one other traditional marker of national greatness: space exploration. In July the country announced that it would create a <a href="http://time.com/2994926/middle-east-mars-mission/">space agency</a> by 2021 and planned on sending a probe to Mars.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>
But the Emirates might be looking a bit closer to home, too.
The Arab Spring proved that none of the region's leaders were totally safe from internal turmoil - and demonstrated that the Middle East's political and security climate could shift in ways that almost no one can predict.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>
The UAE has used a degree of internal oppression to solidify its situation in an unstable region, arresting <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25824395">dozens of Islamist activists</a>, and exiling secular voices of dissent, like the once Dubai-based Arab Spring activist <a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/21/uae-tried-silence-popular-arab-spring-activist/">Iyad al-Baghdadi</a>. 
The country's conservative rulers see Islamists as a threat to the existing state system in the Middle East, which explains the UAE's willingness to carry out airstrikes against militants in Libya and Syria - and its hostility towards Islamist parties at home.
Also on the domestic front, the UAE introduced <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-united-arab-emirates-is-rapidly-militarizing-2014-6">mandatory conscription</a> this past June for males between the ages of 18-30. Those with a high school education must serve for nine months, and those without for a full two years.
The UAE is an autocracy in a time when no Middle Eastern government's rule seems totally secure. And it's a fairly prosperous country in a region where threats can emerge without warning. 
Its rapid militarization and assertive security policy is a way of keeping its edge in this uncertain environment.

You Searched For "voice against autocracy" and got 11 results

China's birth rate continues to fall as women resist 3-child policy

ANI

People are holding up blank white sheets of paper in China to protest COVID lockdowns. It's become a symbol of defiance against the Communist Party.

Cheryl Teh

I'm a veteran who voted for Trump twice and then supported Nikki Haley. I'm seriously considering Biden over the 'autocrat.'

Brent D. Griffiths

America's veterans are the prime target for domestic terrorists — as recruits

Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert

Activist targeted in kidnapping plot says Iran is testing the US and 'to take no action signals weakness'

Erin Snodgrass,Paul Squire

Iranian intelligence officials charged with plotting to kidnap a US journalist and activist who was critical of the country's regime, feds say

Erin Snodgrass

We asked Republican senators about Tucker Carlson's favorite authoritarian leader. Their praise and dodges underscore the danger to the US.

Eliza Relman,John Haltiwanger

Tucker Carlson is broadcasting from Hungary because its authoritarian, anti-immigrant leader has set a model for America's far-right

John Haltiwanger

Basecamp's controversial move to ban politics at work is a reminder that the workplace is not a democracy - workers have little power to combat bad policies

Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein

This Is The Most Powerful Military You've Never Heard Of

Pierre Bienaimé,Armin Rosen

Why The United Arab Emirates Is The Middle East's Rising Military Power

Pierre Bienaimé,Armin Rosen

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