Daniel Ortega is cancelling elections. Is Nicaragua's democracy dead?

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega has declared there will be no more elections. The frail 80 year-old former Sandinista guerrilla seized power in 1979, was voted out, clawed his way back in 2006, then jailed opponents, banned parties and had security forces shoot dead hundreds of protesters. He has since installed his wife Rosario as co-president and moved to scrap the vote for good.

Former Australian diplomat and Managing Editor of International Intrigue, Jeremy Dicker,  joins hosts Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue to explain why Ortega is betting Washington won't bother stopping him.

Plus, Is Australia trapped between two artificial-intelligence superpowers? A cheap new Chinese system, Kimi K3, is reportedly matching the best American models at a fraction of the cost.

Have American export controls on advanced chips backfired, forcing China to build faster and cheaper artificial intelligence? 

Guest: Jeremy Dicker, Managing Editor of International Intrigue and former diplomat

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.