No one paying attention would disagree with Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s assessment that the “war on drugs” has failed miserably. But highlighting the failure of previous strategies to tackle drug trafficking does nothing to protect the embattled Petro from what has happened to Colombia’s cocaine trade since he took office.
Domestic Politics
At a far-right conference in Budapest this month, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni delivered a speech bashing a supposedly “woke” left. But the pro-European Meloni showed more caution in discussing the EU with the famously Euroskeptic Viktor Orban, hinting at divisions between right-wing movements often viewed as natural allies.
Robert Fico, the highly controversial three-time former prime minister who opposes military support to Ukraine, looks set to win Slovakia’s parliamentary elections on Sept. 30. He has pledged to reverse the EU and NATO member state’s political direction, after years of deep reforms designed to realign Slovakia with the EU mainstream.