Dreck's Diary — Issue 3
By Sebastian Dreck
Gennady Zyuganov, leader of Russia's Communist Party, said after the State Duma elections that "if the course does not change and this exhausting war continues, everyone will lose." The Communist Party received 13.65 percent of the vote in elections Zyuganov himself described as fraudulent. He noted that Russia has failed to produce its own mobile phone in two decades, that the number of Russian billionaires grew from 105 to 155 during the war, and that basic food prices have risen 40 percent. He recently proposed forcibly seizing $1.6 trillion from private bank accounts to fund the military budget. One understands his position to be nuanced.
The United States, Denmark and Greenland reached a security agreement under which the United States gains access and rights it already held under a 1951 treaty. Greenland remains part of Denmark. The agreement requires approval from the Danish and Greenlandic parliaments. Donald Trump described the deal as securing "permanent control" of Greenland. Denmark described it as preserving Danish sovereignty. One of these descriptions is accurate.
Frank Füredi, executive director of MCC Brussels — the Brussels think tank funded by the Hungarian state under Viktor Orbán to promote conservative values across the EU — resigned on Monday after the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, MCC Brussels's parent institution in Hungary, failed to provide further funding, describing the decision as "unprofessional and childish." MCC Brussels was established in 2022 with a pledge to "shake up European debate." It received more than €6 million in Hungarian state funding in 2024 alone. The Hungarian government has sent a liquidator to MCC's Budapest headquarters. The Brussels office is closing. One notes that the commitment to shaking up European debate did not survive contact with the European bank transfer.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on 20 September plans to cap the number of pupils with insufficient Italian in first-year classes and to ban face coverings in schools. Non-Italian citizens currently account for 11.6 percent of Italy's school population, according to the research institute Fondazione ISMU. A 30 percent guideline for foreign students in classes already exists in Italian law. Meloni described the measures as ones that "do not divide." The Italian president recalled that school is "open to all" under the Constitution.
Russia has been invited to the G20 summit in Miami in December at leaders level. Putin is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. The United States is currently attempting to dismantle the International Criminal Court. The same week, the United States and Russia jointly opposed a proposed UN framework on the regulation of artificial intelligence in military applications, arguing that national security considerations should take precedence over international oversight. When asked about the invitation, Donald Trump said he did not know if Putin was coming and doubted he would. "If he came," Trump added, "it would be probably very helpful." One notes the timing.