Blogging the democratic revolution
The Transitions Trends blogger is somewhat pessimistic to say the least. I have to agree, but mostly because I like to see things done quicker than they are currently being carried out. Praktike has a few good notes and links worth having a look at. My favorite is this tidbit from an interview with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah: Question: Do you expect this to ever become a representative democracy? Abdullah: I believe it is now a democracy. I hope that isn’t telling of the future. As he notes, John is more optimistic.
Discoshaman is back with another Ukraine update for today. New government policies, evil party disintegration, and the possiblity of a PORA political party. Interesting indeed!
The LA Times is running a story by a female Iranian journalist under a pseudonym. She details the process by which she was taken by the state, interrogated, and imprisoned. It is filled with enraging details and ends with sick irony. TEHRAN ???????? “Excuse me, Miss, but here in my hand I have a warrant for your arrest,” said a middle-aged man with a few days’ growth of beard. “Please do not make any noise as you walk calmly to the Mercedes parked at the corner.” When the man approached me, I had just left a bookstore. It crossed my…
Dan McMinn from Orange Ukraine weighs in with his thoughts on the cabinet appointments, especially the none-Our Ukraine ones.
John Burgess blogs on the recent cabinet appointments made by King Fahd. He also gives his impression of them and what reforms they have (or haven’t in some cases) made for their country.
And it looks like the people at Beautiful Horizons also do a Latin America roundup!
I noticed a trackback on one of my posts by Winds of Change and followed the link. Apparently, Nathan from The Argus does a monthly roundup of all the news from the Caucasus over there. Make sure to check that out. As I have noted before, love stuff like this.
I recently watched a news broadcast on Al-Jazeera of the Sudanese parliament’s unanimous ratification of the peace agreement between the government and the Sudan’s Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA), headed by John Garang. This is certainly good news. Millions have died in this on-again, off-again conflict over the past four decades, and perhaps it really is coming to an end. (See also my previous post on the Sudan, Peace in the Sudan? Does the Arab World Care?) At the same time, a representative of the government, speaking in parliament, launched a scathing attack on the United Nations and on the United…
As you have all probably heard by now, Sharon and Abbas have agreed to a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians. SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt (AP) _ Grinning broadly, the two men clasped hands as they strained to reach across water bottles, their national flags and a bouquet of yellow and white flowers atop a wide table that spoke of the distance remaining between Israel and the Palestinians. The warm and lengthy handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, repeated three times for the cameras at a breakthrough summit at this Egyptian resort Tuesday, lifted…
Sergei Blagov writes on the possibly of colder relations with Russia after Zhvania’s death. Russian analysts and media outlets believe the death of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania could have significant repercussions for bilateral relations between Russia and Georgia, as well as for stability within Georgia itself. Official statements out of the Kremlin since Zhvania????????s February 3 death have emphasized the political leader????????s moderation and responsibility. ÄFor background see the Eurasia Insight archiveÅ. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Zhvania as a champion of “friendly and good-neighborly relations” between Russia and Georgia. Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin, who headed Russia????????s delegation…
Maidan is reporting staunch French opposition to the inclusion of Ukraine to the EU, despite approval by others. Poland, Germany, and France, with Lithuanian participation, are conducting intensive discussions, having received something more than cooperation within the framework of neighbourhood policy from the European Union. As reported by ProEuropa, based upon the Polish Gazeta.Pl., “the virtually completed text of the Polish-German-Lithuanian proposal for Ukraine has met opposition from France. Paris prefers that relations with Yushchenko be contained within ‘the borders of the European Union politics of neighbourhood policy and the so-called plan of action,’ developed during Viktor Yanukovych’s office.” A…
Nathan reports that the media has received its orders from the goverment to show the shining light on them and give as little coverage to the opposition as possible. Who would have guessed?
In a marathon-length press conference on February 3, Kremlin political consultant Gleb Pavlovsky laid certain Russian markers in Eurasia ahead of the George W. Bush-Vladimir Putin summit and, by the same token, seized the moment to announce a major redefinition of Russia’s policy in the “post-Soviet space.” Russia has revealed details on its new three-point foreign policy, which includes heavily interfering in neighboring states including the CIS and Baltics, and attempting to become a world power again. 1) Belarus represents an optimal model of integration with Russia, whereby the regime’s ultimate political reliability will override other issues. “We are totally…
Remember when we were mocking the French (well, it’s not like we ever stopped…) and we renamed french fries to “freedom fries” and french kissing to “freedom kissing?” I was just reading and found out that during World War One, sauerkraut was renamed to “liberty cabbage” and hamburger was renamed to “liberty steak.” It looks like we have a history of doing these things!
A few days ago the now late President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo died. Most disturbingly, his son was given immediate successorship to his father, despite violating their constitution. The UN told them not to do that, so what happened in response? They hastily changed the constitution. Opposition leaders and The African Union are calling this a “coup.” I would tend to agree, especially after this new piece of news: Togo has banned public rallies after decreeing two months of national mourning for President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died on Saturday. The opposition has called for a two-day strike to protest at…
I just noticed that the ZUBR website has available for download Gene Sharp’s “From Dictatorship to Democracy.” How cool! I love free stuff.
Nathan is posting daily entries in the elections in Central Asia. Check out his update for today as well as yesterday.
Regime Change in Iran gathers from the Iranian Press Service that the mullahs are reacting angrily because they are openly worried that President Bush will support and popular uprising in Iran. Mr. Bush????????s backing for the Iranian people comes as a proposed project to organise referendum on the future of the Iranian regime. It has has received strong support from the Iranians, both inside and outside as well as from large segments among republicans and monarchists. At the same time, green lights have been open to Iranian dissidents in the United States as well as in Europe. According to well-informed…
The Sunday Times has an article that details how Lukashenko is tightening his grip following Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. Via: Siberian Light. Andy notes that things are not about to get easier, now that Lukashenko is taking over the KGB.
Just when you think you’ve run into an information dead end, Neeka pops out all sorts of background, stories, interviews, and connections. It looks like the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania is definitely not being heeded as coincidental on that side of the world. UPDATE: And it looks like a prominent community activist is voicing out that she thinks there should be more inquiry into the death: TBILISI, February 7 (RIA Novosti) – Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, a prominent Georgian community activist, suspects Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania was murdered. As soon as she announced it, she was harassed with anonymous telephone…
John Burgess posts an article about a uniquely Saudi way of handling terrorists: This is a pretty interesting piece. It give a gimpse at a very Saudi way of dealing with problems. Social pressure????????from families as well as religious figures????????is applied to would-be terrorists. It????????s also the method used to resolve many issues that are not aptly handled with Western legal or policing techniques, like child abductions.
David McDuff posts an interview dealing with the culture clashes of eastern Europe and “Old Europe.” Here’s the excerpt: The notion that Ukraine or its new president-elect are now the darlings of the EU is almost laughable. The EU would have completely ignored this crisis had it not been for the new accession states–Poland and Lithuania in particular. The EU has completely ignored the abuses of the cryto-Stalinist regime in neighboring Belarus for years. The last thing EU bigwigs want is another “eastern entanglement” especially one that will cause any unpleasantness with Russia. The European left is furious with the…
Arthur Chrenkoff has posted his good news from Afghanistan roundup part nine. I hope you havea few hours set aside!
The mainstream media hadn’t really gotten it yet, but those Christians protesting that they didn’t get the ability to vote hit the streets in Baghdad: ”We are protesting because we have been deprived of our right to participate in the elections,” said Shameil Benjamin, a member of a Christian party called the Democratic Assyrian Movement. ”There were irregularities and we felt that the injustice was inflicted on us.” A spokesman for Chaldean and Assyrian parties, William Warda, said the irregularities prevented 200,000 people from voting. The demonstrators gathered outside the Green Zone, which houses the offices of the interim Iraqi…