Memory fail Brutal week that Biden, and voters, won't forget
The Guardian Weekly|February 16, 2024
For those campaigning to bring Donald Trump back to the White House, last week saw much to celebrate. For those concerned for the health of American democracy, it felt like a disaster.
Chris McGreal 
Memory fail Brutal week that Biden, and voters, won't forget

Joe Biden was hit by a brutal special counsel report that painted him as elderly with a failing memory, fans of Trump eager to see him on the 2024 ballot appeared set for victory at the US supreme court, and Trump's only remaining serious challenger in the Republican primary race suffered humiliation at the polls.

Trump could even draw satisfaction from Biden's decision to turn down an hour on national television before Sunday's Super Bowl.

Biden said he wanted to save people, about to enjoy one of the biggest spectacles in American sport, from a lengthy dose of politics.

But few believed that was the real motive during a week in which Biden was officially and devastatingly painted as too old and forgetful to know if he was committing a crime.

Biden had refused the pre-Super Bowl interview before Robert Hur, the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents while out of office, released a report clearing but damning the president.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 16, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 16, 2024 من The Guardian Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY مشاهدة الكل
Votes of confidence
The Guardian Weekly

Votes of confidence

From India to Venezuela and Senegal to the US, more people voted this year than ever before, with over 80 elections across the world. With rising authoritarianism and citizen-led resistance revealing its vulnerabilities and resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges, has democracy reached its breaking or turning point?

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Out of touch How president sealed his own fate in martial law gambit
The Guardian Weekly

Out of touch How president sealed his own fate in martial law gambit

For Yoon Suk Yeol, this month's short-lived martial law declaration wasn't just a catastrophic miscalculation - it was the culmination of a presidency that had been troubled from the start.

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2 mins  |
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Son of the soil Who is François Bayrou, the farmer turned prime minister?
The Guardian Weekly

Son of the soil Who is François Bayrou, the farmer turned prime minister?

François Bayrou, the new French prime minister, calls himself a country man. A tractor-driving \"son of the soil\" and breeder of thoroughbreds, he has run for president three times, saying his rural roots and centrist politics led him to try to find common ground between left and right.

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2 mins  |
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Power plant workers keeping the lights on
The Guardian Weekly

Power plant workers keeping the lights on

The Guardian Weekly visits a Soviet-era coal-fired thermal installation to learn how it has held up to Russian attacks

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3 mins  |
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Prince charmed Alleged spy scandal may have exposed China threat
The Guardian Weekly

Prince charmed Alleged spy scandal may have exposed China threat

Prince Andrew should be commended for doing Britain a great service, according to longstanding China watcher Charles Parton. The now marginalised royal has, the analyst observed, \"almost single handedly\" succeeded \"in highlighting the threat to free and open countries\" posed by the contemporary Chinese state.

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2 mins  |
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In Moscow, a new life of secluded irrelevance awaits Assad
The Guardian Weekly

In Moscow, a new life of secluded irrelevance awaits Assad

He was whisked away without a last message to his people, the aircraft's transponder deliberately switched off to avoid detection as it departed from an airbase in Syria.

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3 mins  |
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'We fear new oppression' Alawites worry over rebel rule
The Guardian Weekly

'We fear new oppression' Alawites worry over rebel rule

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3 mins  |
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'Gisèle is waiting for explanations'
The Guardian Weekly

'Gisèle is waiting for explanations'

The Pelicot rape trial has horrified the world. But as it comes to an end, the questions it has raised about French society and rape culture have still not been answered.

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10 mins  |
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FROM DOCTOR TO BRUTAL DICTATOR THE RISE AND FALL OF ASSAD
The Guardian Weekly

FROM DOCTOR TO BRUTAL DICTATOR THE RISE AND FALL OF ASSAD

0N THE FACE OF IT AT LEAST, the Bashar al-Assad of 2002 presented a starkly different figure from the brutal autocrat he would become, presiding over a fragile state founded on torture, imprisonment and industrial murder.

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What fresh alternatives can be used to placate coriander haters?
The Guardian Weekly

What fresh alternatives can be used to placate coriander haters?

Everyone knows a hater of coriander - also known as cilantro - who won't go near the stuff. Itamar Srulovich, however, is not one: \"I adore fresh coriander, and always have,\" says the chef/co-owner of the Honey & Co group in London.

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