Upon reading through Act III of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, I believe that Caesar’s attempts to consolidate his power and his self proclaimed divinity are comparable to two current situations transpiring within international politics: the controversy of the 2018 Russian election integrity being compromised and Chinese President Xi’s consolidation of power.
Roman aristocratic Senators’ biggest fear was the Roman Senate being deemed powerless by Caesar. No authority when justifying war, no influence on budgetary issues, and no jurisdiction over any legal matters. The fear of consolidation of power was the impetus that led Brutus, Cassius, and Trebonius to assassinate Julius Caesar in order to restore the power of the Senate and ‘the people’ in Rome.
This situation, in my opinion, mirrors the current developments in China and Russia. Recently, Russia held their 2018 Presidential election. Vladimir Putin was re-elected to a fourth term and faced virtually no opposition. His lone legitimate opponent, Alexei Navalny, was imprisoned for “organizing a protest against President Putin without permission.” In Beijing, China’s communist party voted to change the nation’s constitution in order to abolish term limits, which in turn would allow President Xi to serve for life.
This draws similarities to Caesar appointing his own Senators to serve in the Roman Senate, and become subservient to Caesar’s power addictive agenda, thus consolidating his power even more.
How does our current Presidential administration respond to these attacks on Russian and Chinese election integrity? So far, the response has been unprecedented.
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/2/26/17053220/china-xi-jinping-constitution-thought-term
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/world/europe/putin-russia-election.html
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