European Opinion: The changing face of the USA - by Gero Schließ

History is being written right now in America. That is always exciting. But in this case it is also dramatic. An entire country is changing before our eyes. Though he may not have started it, Donald Trump is the man who is now speeding up and steering this process in a very dangerous direction. Like a bulldozer on a rampage, he is destroying the foundations of this freedom-loving and once so self-assured nation.

And the country is letting him do it. Trump insults women - then gets more votes from them than his Republican rivals. He endorses liberal abortion policies, advertises for sex clubs in his casinos and stomps on Christian values - yet he has the support of ultra-conservative Evangelical Christians. Indeed, the list of those Trump has insulted goes on and on.

The country seems rotten, like a once mighty tree that is leaning precariously. It remains to be seen if it can weather the gathering storm or will come crashing down.

In the eyes of a growing number of voters, the country's elite, which only thinks of itself, is also rotten. It is an elite that, despite the country's economic well-being, has starved the middle-class and robbed them of the fruits of their labor. The fact that more and more Americans are growing angry is understandable. But the conclusions that they are reaching are not.

Read more: Opinion: The changing face of the USA | Opinion | DW.COM | 05.03.2016

Russia: Boycotting Vodka Won’t Help Russia’s Gays - by Mark Lawrence Schrad

America's favorite sex-and-relationships columnist, Dan Savage, has called for a boycott of Russian vodka to protest violent attacks on gays by nationalist thugs and antigay legislation backed by President Vladimir V. Putin. It’s an understandable response, but the prospects for the boycott’s succeeding are slim, and the potential for it to backfire on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Russians is high.

Polls estimate that two-thirds of Russians consider homosexuality unacceptable under any circumstance, similar to where American attitudes were three decades ago. In that conservative context, a perceived threat, even symbolic, from the liberal West would be a blessing for Mr. Putin, who can portray himself as the defender of the traditional Russian family, Orthodox Christian values and national pride all at once. And to the extent that Russia becomes more xenophobic and reactionary, its gay community will be seen as only more alien — the opposite of tolerance and integration.

As a scholar of Russian politics, I arrive at this conclusion with ambivalence. Vodka and the Kremlin have indeed had a long history of codependency.

For more: go to NY-Times