Around the World

Tragedy in Berlin: A deadly lorry

At least 12 people died and about 50 were wounded when a lorry sped into a Christmas market in Berlin last night, in what Chancellor Angela Merkel called a terrorist attack.  The incident highlights tensions over Mrs Merkel’s liberal refugee policy amid fears that extremists slipped into the country alongside legitimate asylum-seekers.  If it marks the start of a jihadist campaign, it could herald a turning point in German politics.

Turkey and Russia: On edge

The assassination in Ankara yesterday of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, will not derail the detente between the two countries.  In fact, both presidents signaled that ties may deepen after Mr Karlov’s death.  Western countries are right to worry about the rapprochement, yet they have even more reason to be thankful that Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin will not come to blows, reports The Economist.  

Politics in 2016: What is populism?

They can be militarists or pacifists, tree-huggers or climate-change deniers.  So how are they all “populists”? The term can be cast as a framework of a pure people versus a corrupt elite. This “thin ideology” can then be attached to all sorts of “thick” ones, such as socialism, nationalism or racism.  But the populist belief that the people are always right is bad news for the rights of minorities and the rule of law, writes The Economist.

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Source: The Economist.

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