John Heffern

Three down. Three left. The people have spoken. We have had enough of the chaos, the hatred, the corruption, and the authoritarian idiots who think the world belongs to them. Orbán, Bolsonaro and Vučić have all been rejected by voters. Today, Netanyahu could be next. And Trump looks increasingly likely to earn his own big red cross in the midterms. That leaves Putin. The rest of us must make sure Moscow gets its red cross too, by giving Ukraine everything it needs to defeat Russia’s imperial ambitions. The age of «strongmen» is looking a little less strong. And that is a beautiful thing. Remember when you could wake up in the morning without wondering which country was being threatened, which ally had been insulted, or which international crisis had been manufactured overnight by a man with an oversized ego? When politics was often boring, diplomacy happened behind closed doors, and world leaders generally tried to solve problems instead of creating three new ones before breakfast? It wasn’t a perfect world. Far from it. But there was a certain peace in not having to listen to angry old men demanding the world’s attention every single day. Imagine getting that peace back. Imagine a world where the morning news is about progress, discoveries and possibilities, rather than the latest threats, lies and tantrums. We deserve that world again.