Category Archives: The far right

Europe would not be able to sustain war of attrition with Russia, defence officials say

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Security experts fear Putin may be winning hybrid war with the west amid rise of pro-Kremlin, far-right parties

Defence planners working with Nato fear that if war broke out with Russia, Europe could not currently sustain a prolonged war of attrition owing to a public lack of war readiness, a conference on the future of European military coordination heard this week.

The pessimism reflects concern that Russia may be winning a so-called hybrid war with Europe, weakening the options available to Nato war planners in the event of military conflict.

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Colombia president provokes disgust by posing with bodies of ‘terrorists’

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Abelardo De La Espriella posts video of himself with rows of body bags as performative populism continues to sweep Americas

Colombia’s hardline president, Abelardo De La Espriella, has provoked outrage after posting a video on social media in which he strides through rows of white body bags that he says contained the corpses of 23 “neutralised” guerrillas.

De La Espriella took power last month vowing “all-out war” against illegal armed groups and he published the footage on Thursday in an apparent attempt to show he was fulfilling that pledge.

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Rise of far-right leader Roberto Vannacci challenges Meloni as she celebrates Italian milestone

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Futuro Nazionale party’s speedy poll rise poses questions whether PM will return to her roots before election

Giorgia Meloni’s government has become the longest-running in Italy since the second world war – a milestone the prime minister is determined not to let pass unnoticed.

In the port area of Bari, the capital of the southern Italian region of Puglia, where Meloni hosted the G7 in 2024 and where she spends her summer holiday, preparations are well under way for a festival-style showcase of her rightwing administration.

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French far-right leader Jordan Bardella to address Reform UK party conference

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Speech part of effort to strengthen National Rally party’s international ties before Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid

The French far-right leader Jordan Bardella is to give a speech at Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham next week as he attempts to boost international ties before Marine Le Pen’s bid for the French presidency next spring.

Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) is high in the polls and she is predicted to reach the final round of the French presidential race in May.

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Colombia’s new president Abelardo de la Espriella announces immigration crackdown

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Far-right leader echoes ally Donald Trump and says operations to ‘track down illegal immigrants’ should begin this week, amid earthquake aftermath

Colombia’s far-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has announced a crackdown on immigrants, ordering authorities to detain and deport people who are in the country irregularly or have committed crimes.

In office for just over two weeks, the millionaire former lawyer made the announcement on Sunday as the country continued to grapple with the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on 10 August that killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes.

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Germany’s firewall was meant to hold the far right at bay. It may have done the reverse

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An AfD win in ​next month’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt would shatter a decades-long political consensus and reverberate throughout the EU

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In just over two weeks’ time, Saxony-Anhalt – home to historic timber-framed houses, the dramatic Harz mountains and the birthplace of Martin Luther – will hold what could prove one of the most significant state elections in Germany’s postwar history.

The vote, on 6 September, could see a far-right party whose local branch is officially classified by the country’s domestic intelligence service as “confirmed rightwing extremist” appoint a state premier and govern a state alone, for the first time.

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Adviser to far-right Latin American leaders arrested for allegedly plotting to kill girlfriend

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Fernando Cerimedo, 42, arrested on suspicion of ordering shooting of Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller

A senior adviser to many of Latin America’s new wave of far-right leaders has been arrested for allegedly masterminding the attempted murder of his girlfriend.

The businessman and political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, 42, had been working as an adviser to the Bolivian president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, and was one of the main strategists behind Javier Milei’s campaign in Argentina’s 2023 presidential election.

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Swedish MEP files police complaint accusing Danish colleague of racist hate speech

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Abir Al-Sahlani targeted on social media after condemning anti-immigration chants in European parliament

A Swedish MEP has filed a police complaint accusing a fellow MEP of racist hate speech after she was targeted on social media over her condemnation of far-right, anti-immigration chants in the European parliament.

The complaint, which was filed last week with police in Sweden, relates to the aftermath last month of the decision by some rightwing MEPs to erupt in chants of “send them back” following a vote aimed at increasing deportations across the EU.

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Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, says Musk’s father

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Errol Musk says far-right activist is ‘a fine young man’ and held meetings with Russian business figures

Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, according to the billionaire X owner’s father, who was with the British far-right activist in Moscow as he encouraged anti-migration protests in Britain.

Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – appeared last month in Moscow, from where he issued calls for supporters to take to the streets after a knife attack in Belfast. He shared video of himself in a luxury Moscow hotel with the older Musk, whose son has been a vocal supporter of Robinson.

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How Pauline Hanson courts UK’s far-right – and builds a global brand – with ‘pseudo events’ and publicity stunts

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The One Nation leader is set to be interviewed by Tommy Robinson as part of a media strategy that seems designed to seek scandal – and reach millions

Pauline Hanson’s highly publicised meetings with controversial far-right figures in the UK will drive international eyeballs to her content and continue building the global brand – and that’s by design, far-right experts say.

The One Nation leader is visiting on a “fact-finding mission” with her chief-of-staff, James Ashby, ticking off a number of the country’s most divisive personalities.

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Austrian court rules ski resort hotel’s burkini ban is discriminatory

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Hotel did not allow two Muslim women to wear full-body bathing suit, which has become bugbear of European far right

An Austrian court has found an alpine hotel’s ban on burkinis discriminatory, a politically explosive ruling in a country where the far right is on the rise.

The full-body bathing suit worn by some Muslim women has become a bugbear of the European far right, which has campaigned to restrict Muslim dress in public spaces.

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Marine Le Pen to run for presidency and appeal against conviction in France’s highest court

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French far-right leader announces decision after court orders her to wear ankle tag over embezzlement

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has announced she will run for the presidency in 2027 and will lodge an appeal to France’s highest court over her sentence to wear an electronic ankle tag for the embezzlement of European parliament funds.

“Tonight, I am a candidate in the presidential election,” Le Pen, 57, told TF1 television on Tuesday night.

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Neo-fascist group Patriot Front parades Confederate flag in Washington DC on Fourth of July

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Hundreds of masked members of the white supremacist organization marched and chanted in the US capital

Hundreds of masked men carrying banners, including the Confederate flag, marched through Washington DC on the Fourth of July, the 250th anniversary of the US’s inception.

The group appeared to be led by Thomas Rousseau, founder of the neo-fascist, white supremacist organization Patriot Front. Members of the group wore white masks and gathered in front of DC’s Union Station. They later marched towards Capitol Hill, WTOP reported.

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German riot police clash with protesters hoping to block far-right AfD conference

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Thousands of police deployed to Erfurt in central Germany as party holds conference on key Nazi date

Riot police have clashed with opponents of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on the streets of Erfurt in Germany, where thousands met to block roads and prevent AfD delegates from attending the party’s biennial national conference to elect its leadership.

Police reported 20,000 protesters were demonstrating in the eastern city, where Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla are expected to be re-elected as the party’s co-leaders in the run-up to crucial regional elections in which AfD could win power at state-level for the first time.

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Spain’s conservatives and far-right Vox increase ties with Andalucía coalition

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Deal including ‘national priority’ policy brings prospect closer of countrywide agreement between parties

The prospect of a national coalition between Spain’s conservative People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox party has drawn closer still after the two groupings sealed another deal that will allow the PP to continue ruling the southern region of Andalucía.

The PP, which has governed the former socialist bastion for the past seven years, lost its absolute majority in May’s regional election, forcing it to look to Vox to help it stay in power in Spain’s most populous region.

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Colombia’s leftwing candidate concedes election to Trump-endorsed millionaire

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Leftist Iván Cepeda conceded to far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella who won by razor-thin margin

The defeated leftwing candidate in Colombia’s presidential runoff has conceded to the far-right, Trump-admiring millionaire lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella.

Since Sunday night, the preliminary count had already pointed to a De la Espriella victory by a razor-thin margin of less than 1% of the vote.

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Nearly a quarter of voters in Europe now back far-right parties

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Analysis by more than 150 political scientists finds proportion who back such parties has increased nearly fivefold since 1995

Almost one in four voters in Europe now cast their ballot for far-right parties, research shows, a proportion that has grown nearly fivefold since the mid-1990s and climbed particularly steeply over the past three years.

Analysis by more than 150 political scientists in 31 countries found the proportion of Europeans voting for a far-right party in their country’s most recent national elections had risen to more than 23%, from about 10% a decade ago and roughly 5% in 1995.

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Canadian police warn of possible copycat attacks after deadly shootout in Montreal

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Assailant behind shooting that left three people dead wrote ‘incel’-like manifesto that was posted by a far-right outlet

Police in Canada are warning of possible copycat attacks after three people died in a shootout in Montreal and the assailant’s lengthy manifesto, which called for “a new bloodletting”, was posted online by a far-right outlet.

The document contains many of the hallmark grievances of the “involuntary celibacy” – or “incel” – movement in addition racist and misogynistic conspiracy theories.

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Anger at ‘send them back’ chants by rightwing MEPs after EU migration law vote

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Other lawmakers respond with ‘shame on you’ in heated confrontation over passing of plan to increase deportations

Rightwing MEPs have come under fire after they celebrated a vote aimed at increasing deportations across the EU with chants of “send them back”, leading other lawmakers to respond with cries of “shame on you”.

The heated confrontation in the European parliament came on Wednesday after lawmakers voted 418 to 218 to approve controversial measures aimed at increasing deportations of undocumented people.

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Sweden votes to back laws reinforcing its immigration crackdown

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So-called ‘good behaviour’ legislation fiercely criticised by opposition politicians and rights groups

Sweden’s parliament has voted to escalate the country’s crackdown on immigrant rights, backing laws that allow authorities to revoke residency permits based on a vague criteria of bad behaviour and obliging most public sector workers to report anyone suspected of being undocumented.

The new legislation comes ahead of parliamentary elections in September, pitting the centre-right government, which currently depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats to govern, against a far right that has said its intent is to create one of Europe’s most hostile environments for non-Europeans.

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