The Washington Post's description of the bodycam video of his arrest last year, and the translation of Mr. Shah Alam's comments, is gutting. Remember, he was entirely blind in one eye and could only see three feet in the other, and he spoke virtually no English.
He spent a year in jail for this.
As we report in this week’s issue of @economist.com, these twin pressures could lock the centre-right out of power in Australia for a generation.
The Liberals can’t win back teal seats while working with One Nation—or if they themselves become One Nation Lite. And they couldn’t rely on both teals and One Nation for supply and confidence at the same time.
If One Nation can displace the National Party in rural Australia at the next election—as polls suggest it would if the election were held today—it would put the Liberals in an impossible position. That is because the Liberals also face a challenge in urban areas from the “teal” movement.
But there is scant evidence for this assumption in the political science literature. One Nation has never polled above 20% nationally before. The same low-engagement voters forced to the polls by compulsory voting may be those frustrated enough to chuck the two-party system out by voting One Nation.
There is a folk belief in Australia that compulsory voting pushes Australian politics to the centre. In fact, when I was reporting from Australia for The Economist earlier this month, it was the one thing on which everyone, across the political spectrum, seemed to agree.
Chart showing One Nation’s share of the primary vote rising above the Liberal-National Coalition’s in surveys.
For a long time Australia seemed immune to the rise of populist right wing parties around the world. No more. One Nation is now the country’s most popular conservative party.
TIL: Attu Island, Alaska is south of Edmonton and west of Auckland.
Watching The Candidate for the first time and very belatedly realizing that Marvin Lucas is… the dad from Everybody Loves Raymond.
Lest you believe that DHS has eased up on Minnesota today.
I was just saying the other day that even Curtis had been silent.
That is not a quote from O’Hara
Thank you, Rima
It emphasized that, actually
That’s definitely not what that quote is saying
No one is saying that they haven’t managed that
"Mr O’Hara, the police chief, called for protesters to stay peaceful. If they manage that, they will have demonstrated considerably more restraint than the armed officers of the federal administration."
“It is a theory best described by that noted terrorist and underrated political strategist Osama bin Laden: “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.”
economist.com/britain/2026...
“India has barely updated its structures of governance from the feudal-colonial system it inherited at independence. Officials in post-British India simply slotted into older roles; they are still able to rule by diktat.”
India is not the only former British colony about which this could be said…
“In West Bengal it is impossible to get away from Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister, whose image is plastered across walls and public spaces with a devotion usually reserved for Bengali mothers.”
Cults of personality pervade all levels of Indian politics
economist.com/asia/2025/12...
Our leader on the “Donroe Delusion”.
The precedent here is obviously Panama, and while that was certainly illegal under international law, the US had a military base in the Canal Zone, there was a legitimate arrest warrant for Noriega, and there was at least the pretext of an American servicemember killed at a Panamanian checkpoint.
Katha is the town in Upper Myanmar where George Orwell spent his Burmese Days. This week it has become the setting of a pitched battle between the forces of democracy and military rule.
Summary of Burmese-language reports, via Frontier Myanmar:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... “I see him as the heir to an old and venerable Jewish tradition – that of Yiddish socialism – which helped build New York.”
I just listened to this podcast, having missed it when we first aired it in August. It’s well worth your time.
And we offer some speculation as to what a new phase of military rule in 2026 might look like, following the conclusion of the fake election in late January. We hope you will read: www.economist.com/asia/2025/12....
Today in @economist.com, we highlight the ongoing resistance to military rule in Myanmar, including the brave actions of Tayzar San and his friends. But we also canvass the reasons that the army has racked up a string of battlefield victories this year. (Russia, China, and Elon all played a part).
Dr Tayzar San’s sources say that Mr Htet Myat Aung was tortured during his ensuing interrogation. They fear that he may have already died as a result of his wounds, and are calling on foreign governments to make an issue of his welfare.
Delighted onlookers cheered Tayzar San and gave the three-finger salute, a symbol of opposition to military rule, before their hero slipped back into the shadows. But this is dangerous work. Another activist at the protest in Mandalay, Htet Myat Aung, was picked up by the junta the following week.
