Pauline Hanson risks becoming risible in her quest for presidential immovability
Jamie Walker reports on Pauline Hanson’s demagogic inclinations, The Weekend Australian, Saturday:
Pauline Hanson has been made president for life of One Nation under revised party rules that will let her pick her successor
Hanson appears to be in the vanguard of an international trend. London’s The Express, May 10:
The Kremlin is exploring plans which would allow Vladimir Putin to remain in office for another 12 years, which some believe would see Putin become a virtual president for life.
China’s Xi Jinping also wants to be president for life, according to the BBC, March 11:
China has approved the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life. The constitutional changes were passed by the annual sitting of parliament, the National People’s Congress. The vote was ... a rubber-stamping exercise. Two delegates voted against the change out of 2964 votes.
Could US President Donald Trump join the bandwagon? “That’s no joke’’, according to The Washington Post, March 7:
The President of the United States apparently regards the leader of the Chinese Communist Party as a model. “He’s now president for life,” President Trump told supporters “President for life. No, he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”
Presidents for life are a dime a dozen — Idi Amin, Napoleon Bonaparte, the North Korean Kim dynasty, Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier among many. Perhaps Omar Bongo could be Hanson’s role model. Foreign Policy, November 2007:
The longest-serving leader in Africa, Bongo maintains tight control over the media and security forces. In 2003, the National Assembly, dominated by Bongo’s Gabonese Democratic Party, passed a number of constitutional provisions that removed presidential term limits and run-off voting.
Perhaps Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea fits the bill. Foreign Policy again:
Africa’s wealthiest leader, with a net worth estimated at $600 million, Obiang came to power in 1979 by murdering his uncle and taking control in a coup.
Architecture columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald Elizabeth Farrelly has bought a farm, she reveals on Saturday:
I want to engage physically with place. It may sound weird, for an intellectual, but I want to make things, grow things, do stuff. Maybe it was one too many mud pies as a kid, but I crave real dirt.
The Huffington Post website, August 7, 2011, sheds some light:
Some people crave dirt — especially pregnant women and young children, especially in hot, moist climates. The craving, known as geophagy, has been noted in cultures throughout the world ... Until recently no one knew why we would have evolved to want to eat earth, given its lack of nutrition.