Happy days for dictatorship

What a wonderful time to be a dictator.

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will be reviewing the world with some satisfaction this Easter. Their rivals are in disarray, democracy everywhere is under challenge, while their own power and influence is expanding.

The United States, once the unchallenged superpower, is led by a president who makes war on his own people; who purges his staff at the first sign of any disagreement and promotes his own family with a ruthless efficiency not seen since the days of the Borgia Popes.

Obsessed with internal issues such as ending migration, and continually lashing out at those who would question him, President Donald Trump’s ventures into foreign policy have only underlined his ineffectiveness.

Much heralded summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have done nothing except boost Kim’s standing on the international stage.

Despite a barrage of threats, Nicolas Maduro is still firmly in place as President of Venezuela, while his US backed opponent, Juan Guaido remains in limbo.

Moving the Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem and recognising the country’s annexation of the Golan Heights has destroyed any hope of a two-state solution to the long-running Middle East crisis and wrecked Washington’s reputation through much of the Arab world.

Repudiating the Iran nuclear deal has done nothing to blunt the Islamic Republic’s support for dissident groups throughout the region.

Having engineered the collapse of American international influence, Trump’s domestic agenda is in tatters.

As the country gears up for another election next year, the wall on the Mexican border has not been built, much less paid for by Mexico, illegal immigration continues at high levels, jobs have not been repatriated.

Yet incredibly, Trump’s support base has suffered little, with many voters insisting, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, that he is a man “who does what he says”.

In Beijing and in the Kremlin there is growing hope that Trump might actually win a second term, and plans are no doubt being made to help him along that path.

Putin and Xi might also look with some optimism at the European Union, beleaguered with a Brexit crisis that seems likely to go into a fourth year, still grappling with an influx of refugees, largely of Putin’s making, and with the possibility of a new surge of migrants as Libya descends into civil war.

The EU has been distracted and weakened by the United Kingdom’s long-running departure, while the distinct possibility of a no-deal ‘Global Britain’ cast adrift and friendless, will present more intriguing possibilities for both dictators.

Meanwhile Xi’s Belt and Road initiative is drawing more countries into its orbit, and may even make headway in Europe, while Putin now has a firm foothold in the Middle East having rescued his Syrian ally, and will have high hope of advancing its cause further in Ukraine and other countries of its ‘near abroad’.

No doubt about it: Authoritarianism is in this year.