| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an iron-pumping circuit of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. Poland’s new populist president Karol Nawrocki — a former boxer — admits to joining a free-for-all football fan melee back in 2007. That more than qualifies him for the ranks of world leaders enamored of physical strength and thuggish joys, says Adrian Wooldridge. Among them, Adrian lists Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko. Lionel Laurent says the US State Department might just call them America’s “civilizational allies” since Donald Trump shares their preoccupation with athletic prowess. If they all seem to belong to the same political spectrum, that’s the point, says Adrian. “The right’s cult of physical strength is not incidental,” he writes. “It is a metaphor for a much broader argument: that liberalism is synonymous with weakness and that the only way to escape from such weakness is to embrace headstrong, authoritarian leaders. Liberalism’s preoccupation with rules and consensus leads to paralysis, the argument goes, and its concern for society’s casualties leads to self-paralysis.” Nia-Malika Henderson says it’s a restoration of sorts — “it’s an ideology rooted in nostalgia and restoration and the belief that ‘real’ men, the kind who work with their hands and lead with aggression and brawn, have been left behind and now need a hand up — and room to say and do whatever they want, without any consequences.” It all seems to feed into the politics of a lot of Wall Streeters who get ripped (as in muscles via the gym) that Chris Bryant wrote about last year. That’s to deal with the stresses and strains of high finance — but the emphasis on strength dovetails with the predilections of the new autocrats. But male body-worship isn’t confined to the far right. He may be a Republican but Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t a fan of Trump’s style of politics (he endorsed Kamala Harris). His super-ripped body (on steroids) was key to his rise from mere celebrity to Hollywood dominance to governorship of California. His Austrian birth may have been the only thing that kept him out of the White House. Here in Europe, we have the Klitschko brothers of Ukraine — arguably the most popular politicians in the country. Vitali, the mayor of the capital Kyiv, and his activist younger brother Wladimir are supposedly on Putin’s hit list. The duo also have held every heavyweight boxing title in history. Maybe all these guys should just get into a ring to settle this once and for all. Lionel has also written about the mess in the Netherlands, where the Dutch government has collapsed after far-right leader Geert Wilders pulled out of his own coalition. “This looks more like Machiavellian self-interest than the humanism of Dutch philosopher Erasmus,” Lionel says as the country of 18 million people faces weeks or months of political paralysis. It could be worse. In 1672, the Dutch golden age collapsed in a bloody frenzy that saw the country’s leader, the mathematician Johan de Witt, and his brother Cornelis, beset by a mob furious over military catastrophes. They were killed, strung up and, according to various accounts, partly cannibalized. The rioters were inspired by a royalist cause — that of William of Orange, the royal family of the intermittent republic. William would wed Mary, the daughter of Charles II of Britain, and together they’d reign in London as William and Mary (and also give their name to the college in Virginia). “The election of left-leaning former labor activist Lee Jae-myung as South Korean president Tuesday is just the latest example of how much of the world is moving in the opposite direction to the US. In common with recent elections in Canada and Australia, it’s a rebuke of leaders on the right who’ve fought a rearguard action against the transition to renewables. Lee has promised to phase out coal, limit use of natural gas, and accelerate the building of wind and solar… The biggest challenge will come from fixing the crippling costs of renewables. South Korea pays more for its wind and solar than any other major economy. It’s the only significant market where you can still build a new coal power plant more cheaply than a new solar or wind generator..” — David Fickling in “South Korea’s New President Has a Chance to Clean Up.”  “All conversations about threats to the greenback’s role as the world’s reserve currency tend toward either imagining a collapse of American financial dominance, or stubborn shouts of TINA — There Is No Alternative… [But] There are alternative monies in this world and the best of them is the euro. For Europe to enjoy some of the privileges that belonged to the US alone for decades, the euro doesn’t need to become the preeminent global currency. Nor must the dollar suffer a fall from grace as deep as sterling did over the first half of the 20th century as the British Empire unraveled.” — Paul J. Davies in “There Is an Alternative to the Dollar — It’s the Euro.” Whose side is the US on anyway? — Max Hastings Labour will break its promises. — Rosa Prince India is right to talk to the Taliban.— Mihir Sharma Apple’s China syndrome. — Catherine Thorbecke Mark Zuckerberg will make AI creepier. — Parmy Olson Feel 55? You can work till you’re 70. — Chris Bryant London’s housing market cools off, frigidly. — Marcus Ashworth Brazil’s learning from Argentina. — Juan Pablo Spinetto Why buy what Glencore’s selling? — Javier Blas The cliques behind Trump’s revenge tax. — Shuli Ren A US hedge fund’s rebound victory in London. — Chris Hughes Walk of the Town: Copenhagen Edition | I was in the Danish capital last week to attend a symposium on the future of restaurants and to catch up with friends in the industry. But I decided to put a non-culinary item on my agenda involving one of Denmark’s most famous citizens, Hans Christian Andersen. There’s a London connection. In 1857, Andersen — an ardent and insistent fan of Charles Dickens — inserted himself as a guest in the English novelist’s homes in Kent and in Tavistock Square in London’s Bloomsbury district. The socially-awkward Andersen (author of “The Ugly Duckling” and other fairy tales) annoyed the Dickens out of his host family, weeping at inappropriate times and becoming petulant when he didn’t receive enough attention. When he finally departed, Dickens wrote Andersen a letter that, while civil, apparently made clear the Dane should not plan a future visit.  The inconvenient guest. Photograph by Howard Chua-Eoan/Bloomberg I don’t know why that anecdote made me visit Andersen’s grave in Copenhagen — perhaps past bouts of overstaying my welcome. The actual tombstone — cracked in an accident in 1984 — is being restored. Wikipedia adds a creepy detail: The writer shares his resting place with a family that is not credited on the tombstone. Indeed, the plot originally belonged to the Collin family and Andersen moved in, posthumously. The facsimile gravestone reproduces the writer’s original epitaph, which reads in part, “Our earthly life here is a seed of eternity, our body dies, but the soul does not die.” Overstaying is one thing. Eternity another. God give Dickens — and the Collinses — strength.. What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s happening.  “No worries, hive. This cutie’s my latest drone.” Illustration by Howard Chua-Eoan/Bloomberg Notes: Please send honeyed words and feedback to Howard Chua-Eoan at hchuaeoan@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and find us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. | 
