• Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who was stabbed during the election campaign, is the favorite to win the election to become leader of Latin America’s largest nation. Following years of corruption charges and economic austerity, Bolsonaro pushed his “tough on crime” rhetoric to win 46 percent of the vote in the first round of the election. He faces off against Fernando Haddad of the leftist Workers Party in the runoff on Oct. 28th.
(“Bolsonaro: Far-Right Candidate Wins First Round of Brazil Election,” BBC, Oct. 8, 2018, “In Brazil, Voters Far-Right Fear Carry Weight of History,” CS Monitor, Oct. 2, 2018)
• A week before a critical election in Bosnia, Serbian candidate Milorad Dodik traveled to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin. There, Putin wished the nationalist Bosnian Serb leader “great success.” Dodik won the Serb seat in Bosnia’s three-member presidency last weekend.
(“Russia Quietly Expands Influence in the Balkans, Exasperating Sectarian Tension,” AP, Oct. 10, 2018)
• Longtime Orange County California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher is increasingly implicated in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election. In mid-September, as President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort pled guilty to a number of federal crimes, court papers cited Manafort’s lobbying of Rohrabacher, as part of an illicit scheme. The right-wing congressman, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, is now a leading supporter of improving relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
(“Rohrabacher’s Brushes With Russia Probe Complicate His Reelection Bid,” LA Times, Oct. 8, 2018)
