The UK’s Ascendant Far Right

Hello, everyone. Today at WPR, we’re covering China’s status as the primary arms dealer for much of the surrounding region and a corruption scandal that has bedeviled Argentine President Javier Milei.

But first, here’s our take on today’s top story:

More than 100,000 people gathered in central London on Sunday for a far-right protest march where participants were heard to chant Islamophobic slogans and expletive-laden versions of “Heil Hitler.” Pockets of violence erupted as demonstrators assaulted security forces; 26 officers were injured and 24 people were arrested, according to the Metropolitan police. More arrests are expected, as at least one man at the event called for the assassination of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The unexpectedly high turnout for the event—which one watchdog group said was the largest far-right rally in the United Kingdom’s history—has raised alarms about the growing appeal of violent xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric. In a surprise address to rallygoers, Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world and the owner of X (formerly Twitter) and CEO of Tesla, said “violence is coming” and “you either fight back or you die.”

The event was organized by far-right provocateur Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, who is known for his …

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Over the past 15 years, China has increasingly become the dominant military power in Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. It has done so primarily by establishing military dominance over contested areas and by building up its ability to fend off other major powers. But as Joshua Kurlantzick and Annabel Richter write, China is also becoming a leading military force in the region in another, less visible way: through exports of increasingly sophisticated weapons.

In late August, Argentine media outlets published audio recordings of Diego Spagnuolo, the then-head of the country’s National Disability Agency, discussing alleged kickbacks related to contracts from pharmaceutical companies. President Javier Milei fired him immediately, but that has not tamed the scandal. Spagnuolo is Milei's longtime personal lawyer. Worse still, the recordings captured him discussing payments to Karina Milei, the president's sister and closest confidant. As James Bosworth writes in his weekly column, this scandal is only the beginning of Milei's woes.

Malawi will hold a presidential election beginning tomorrow, as incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera seeks a second term. Chakwera was defeated by the then-incumbent, Peter Mutharika, in a 2019 election whose results were ultimately nullified by the country’s highest court due to widespread irregularities. Chakwera then won a re-run vote in 2020.

But the apparent democratic breakthrough that Chakwera and his party achieved when in opposition has not been built upon in the years since. “The assumption among many observers was that the democratic triumph that brought Chakwera to office and the momentum it generated would create the political will to address corruption, governance, health care and other challenges that have plagued Malawi since before its independence,” R. Maxwell Bone wrote in WPR in April. “Five years later, however, most socioeconomic conditions and virtually all governance indicators in Malawi remain unchanged.”’

As the world warms and new heat records are regularly set, governments around the world are enacting laws to protect workers against exposure to extreme heat. The past three summers in the Northern Hemisphere have been the hottest ever, and a recent report from the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Society concluded that protecting workers from extreme heat “is not just a health imperative but an economic necessity.”

As Alice Bell wrote in an in-depth piece for WPR in September 2023, the link between climate and health has sometimes been overlooked, but higher global temperatures have significant and diverse health impacts. If there is good news, it’s that “good public health policy and communications combined with the crucially needed financing to support them can and will save lives and is already doing so,” she wrote.

As the siege of the Sudanese city of El-Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces continues, those who remain trapped in the city have resorted to eating animal feed, cholera is spreading and at least 14 children have died of malnutrition in the past two weeks, The New York Times reports. The window is closing for other countries and international institutions, including the United States, to intervene to avert a major catastrophe, Yasir Zaidan wrote in WPR last week.

In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany party improved its share of the vote in municipal elections held Sunday by more than 9 points compared to five years ago, taking 14.5 percent of the vote. In her column last week, Frida Ghitis looked at how far-right parties are increasingly shaping political agendas across Europe.

More from WPR

• Paul Poast on Xi’s aspirations for China in the global order.

• Shemuel London on the Caribbean’s balancing act between fossil fuels and climate change.

• Tangi Bihan on the meaning of a recent military purge in Mali.

• Frida Ghitis on the re-resurgence of Europe’s far right.

Read all of our latest coverage here.