Epstein Secrets

th ignored and despised. The EU has become a breeding ground for populist parties, such as Geert Wilders's Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen's National Front in France, which claim to defend ordinary people against an arrogant and incompetent elite. EFTA00684348 Greece's Golden Dawn is t

lders's Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen's National Front in France, which claim to defen

Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen's National Front in France, which claim to defen

in countries that will hold free and fair elections this year, democracy's global advance has come to a halt, and may even have gone into reverse. Freedom House reckons that 2013 was the eighth consecutive year in which global freedom declined, and that its forward march peaked around the beginning of the c

penly than ever, the extreme-right electorate of Marine Le Pen's National Front, as if he sensed that she might

han ever, the extreme-right electorate of Marine Le Pen's National Front, as if he sensed that she might

asizing the ideological divide between him and Hollande, Sarkozy is also being led to court, more openly than ever, the extreme-right electorate of Marine Le Pen's National Front, as if he sensed that she might not find enough signatures to qualify for a place on the ballot. This strategy may make sense in th

tional Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, which are allied with the two main U.S. political parties, as well as from Freedom House and some European groups. Their crime was trying to teach Egypt's young democrats how to monitor elections and start parties to engage in the very

so as to ensure a degree of deniability, but the disguise is sometimes rather thin. In late 2014, France's far-right National Front party, led by Marine Le Pen, secured a q million loan from a Russian bank with indirect ties to the government in what many interpreted as a bet by Putin on the future of Fre

million loan from a Russian bank with indirect ties to the government in what many interpreted as a bet by Putin on the future of French politics. Le Pen has subsequently spoken favorably of Putin and criticized the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU.' She has even called for a strategic alliance

and persecution. They are frequent- ly jailed on trumped-up charges of defamation, tax fraud, or drug trafficking, among others. 12 EFTA00804736 Freedom House 2. Marginalizing the opposition: As noted above, authoritarian leaders use their media power to paint critics as knaves or buffoons. Especially t

ed so as to ensure a degree of deniability, but the disguise is sometimes rather thin. In late 2014, France's far-right National Front party, led by Marine Le Pen, secured a €9 million loan from a Russian bank with indirect ties to the government in what many interpreted as a bet by Putin on the future of Frenc

€9 million loan from a Russian bank with indirect ties to the government in what many interpreted as a bet by Putin on the future of French politics. Le Pen has subsequently spoken favorably of Putin and criticized the sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU.' She has even called for a strategic alliance wi

tions with other regional states. Turkey similarly claimed a policy of “zero problems” with its neighbors in the period before the Syrian civil war. Freedom House's Tyler Roylance has described a “common set of concessions" that 21st-century au- thoritarians made to the prevailing democratic ethos in the wake of