What you need to know right away in 2021.
The events of recent years, the last few months, have taught us that even the richest countries, and the most developed democracies, are not immune to these problems. We see this kind of problem in Russia, Turkey, the Philippines and Myanmar. “But it also appears to be a problem in the United States, Spain, Hungary and Germany,” former US President Barack Obama said of populism in an interview with Spanish Public Service Television (TVE) Saturday night.
The good news, according to Obama, is that Biden believed in the rule of law, the multilateral institution, cooperation, science, action, and human rights.
In his view, Europeans can expect the new administration to represent a continuation of the Obama administration’s policies and highlighted the strengthening of transatlantic and NATO relations. As he said, the new president has made a good voice with his intention to unify the country, but he believes this will not happen overnight.
“I couldn’t imagine what happened,” Obama said of the January 6 Capitol siege, in which four protesters and a police officer were killed.
He described the rise of right-wing populism as undeniable, which he sees as a reason why people do not feel safe, economically or culturally.
He spoke of the transformation of the US Republican Party, including the decline of the moderate forces.
“So we now have a democratic party, which is a left or center-left party, and on the other side a republican party, which is an extreme-right party,” he declared.
Obama stressed that for democracy to succeed, there must be left and right. In a longer online transcript of the interview, he explained that in addition to the differences, both sides should initiate a common agreement on issues such as representation, elections, legislation, or the flow of information. (MTI)
