Reprinted from hartmannreport.com
Worldwide Democracy is under threat - not just as a result of Putin's murderous war against Ukraine, but brewing since the 1980s and Reagan's neoliberal revolution
Putin's attack on Ukraine is producing a series of crises which are going to, in all probability, bring a period of great pain and instability to the world and to America in the near future.
Republicans are already working to exploit it.
By the election this fall much of the unity that exists because of today's Ukraine passion will be exhausted, but the crisis it's produced will just be beginning. And, just as Putin probably now hopes, it'll stretch some democracies to the breaking point.
Americans think we've stood down Putin, but the forces he represents - strongman authoritarian neofascism combined with hard-right "Christian" nationalism - will grow a lot stronger over the next few years as fallout from his war in Ukraine.
If we're not ready for it, those forces of bigotry and nationalism could overwhelm the US and other democracies around the world, particularly across Europe. Even if we are ready, oligarchs and wannabee strongmen are going to do their best to exploit the situation.
Those multiple forces now converging to threaten democracy, although many are the result of Putin's murderous war against Ukraine, have also been brewing since the 1980s and Reagan's neoliberal revolution.
They include:
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Refugee crises
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Shortages and spikes in the cost of both fuel and food
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A worldwide recession
None of these are world-ending, but each has an exploitable political impact. Combined, they can destabilize governments, change which parties are in power, and even flip democracies into autocracies.
To quickly summarize each of them:
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