30 with Guyon Espiner Anne Applebaum
Dec 2, 2025
Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist renowned for her insights on autocracies, dives into the alarming rise of global dictators who exploit wealth and power. She discusses how modern autocrats leverage Western financial systems to launder money and hints at a troubling trend: nations like Russia and Venezuela aiding each other clandestinely. Applebaum draws parallels between Trump’s tactics and autocratic disinformation strategies, emphasizing the urgency for democracies to unite against these threats while maintaining a realistic optimism about the future.
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Shared Mechanics Of Modern Autocracies
- Modern autocracies differ ideologically but share ruling without checks, controlling information, and dominating economies.
- Anne Applebaum argues this common structure links diverse regimes into a recognizable model.
Wealth As A Tool Of Rule
- Today's dictators are often extremely wealthy, using secret funds and offshore systems to hide assets.
- Anne Applebaum traces this modern marriage of wealth and power back to Russia and use of Western financial systems.
Venezuela’s Foreign Rescue Network
- Venezuela survived collapse politically because Russia supplied arms, China invested, and Cuba aided security systems.
- Anne Applebaum uses Venezuela to illustrate autocracies exchanging practical support across ideology lines.
