Blogging the democratic revolution
I’m still not finished with my residence move, and still have books all over the floor, but I felt the need to start blogging again after a six-day hiatus. So, since I recently posted an entry pouring water on the Palestinians’ united front, as it included a release of terrorists by Israel in exchange for just ten months of peace, I felt it appropriate to note that the Arab League made a more realistic offer at its yearly conference this week (see my last post on this issue, Oslo II? The Palestinians’ United Front, and the Fading Hopes for Peace).…
It’s a little known but important topic – the systematic war on science that is fuelling the coming Venezuelan revolution. It might come as a surprise to many but Venezuela produces some of the finest scientists in the world and they have low tolerance for the political hackery of Chavistadom. They stand up for their findings even when Chavista hacks try to make them back down to enable the regime to ‘look good.’ The sad part is, childrens’ lives are affected by the gagging and attempted gagging of the findings. For political purposes! Blogger Miguel Octavio keeps watch on Chavez’s…
Alek Boyd is doing an extraordinary job exposing the Venezuelan communist networks that are infiltrating the U.S. through Venezuela’s oil cash. He’s uncovered another $180,000 that’s been spread around like butter today. I am in awe of his extraordinary work, miles ahead of the news and performing a valuable service to any American interested in learning how a dictator is influencing thought about him in the U.S. Compelling reading, read the latest installment here.
How do democracy struggles, broadly interpreted, and environmental struggles, also in the greater scheme of things, specifically apply to Venezuela? Find out in Gustavo Coronel’s excellent, thoughtful, elegantly written essay here.
Class resentment is a toxic force in Venezuela and Blogger Daniel in Yaracuy has written an excellent descriptive essay of the phenomenon that gives the chavista movement its steam. It’s bitter stuff and keeps many people actively chavista for a long time. It pains me to say it but he incorrectly compares this bitter chavista group to the religious right in the U.S., using crude 1980s stereotypes that are false. E.g., I wouldn’t call this polished product the result of resentful Neanderthals covering up their own failures. But skip that graf – the rest of the essay is far more…
Bill has a post up about some protests today in Egypt, and Gateway Pundit has one up on protests in Mongolia (Nathan following up on if Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan are comparable).
For everyone visiting — relax. Well, after you’ve read what we’ve put up today. Have a beer, spend some time with the family. The world can wait one day for something like that. So on behalf of all the great people here at Publius Pundit, Happy Easter!
President Aliyev of Azerbaijan recently stated how much he wishes there was a viable opposition at the polls to give him some competition. Of course, that might actually happen if the government didn’t suppress it. BAKU, March 27 (AFP) – Azerbaijan’s ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan late Saturday elected the country’s President Ilham Aliyev as its leader. Aliyev, who thus succeeded his father Heidar in the post, called on his party to prepare for the November elections even while deploring the lack of opposition capable of giving a good fight at the polls. “The opposition’s position now is pathetic, its presence…
It’s been awhile since there’s been anything on Tajikistan, and even during the elections there wasn’t much media coverage. As is typical, the CIS election observers said the election was fair while the OSCE said it was not. Well, they still aren’t getting much attention. Thinking-East.net has it’s newest addition up, with a lot of reporting on opposition protests in Tajikistan, something that is getting absolutely no attention in the media. According to the Central Elections Committee, more than 80% of the population of Tajikistan participated in the recent parliamentary elections. The dominating president’s People’s Democratic Party received the majority…
Every revolution is the same quest for the freedom and democracy engraved on every human heart. But each one is unique, too, with different resistance tactics tailored to existing conditions with local ingenuity. In Zimbabwe, people are up against an unusually vile tyrant, one who uses food as a weapon, Robert Mugabe. Since this thug shoots demonstrators, Zimbabweans are actively, if furtively conducting wallpaper-pasted flyer raids around public places, and dumping piles of freebie condoms with the struggle’s name on it. It’s hit-and-run guerrilla stuff to get the word out – in vast quantity. In addition, there is an “election”…
Laurence over at Registan notes that both the new and old legislatures are claiming legitimacy. In the parliament building, members of the newly restored legislature – lawmakers who served before disputed February and March elections that led to the protests that brought down the government – met in one room, while politicians elected in the recent voting gathered in another. The Supreme Court has invalidated the recent elections, which the opposition said was marred by fraud. But the winners challenged the authority of the restored parliament. ééOur opinion is that we should be the legitimate lawmakers, because the people have…
Venezuelans are barraged daily with exhortations about the wonderful state of Cuba’s progress. One blogger, Daniel in Yaracuy, notes the Tortugas refugees, and thinks there must be another story. What a sad thing to have to contemplate that from Venezuela, which is rapidly heading down that Cuban path.
How’d I miss this? Here is a terrific Bolivian blog from a Santa Cruz perspective called Blog de Bolivia by Alvaro Piaggio, written with a fierce eye on Bolivia’s democracy struggle, in the context of other democracy struggles around the world today. Santa Cruz, Bolivia is the market-oriented, free-trading, libertarian half of the country, brimming with industrious immigrants, with a cold view of the communism preached by coca-grower Evo Morales. Alvaro’s blog is in Spanish but if you can read it, the perspective is crisp and fresh, not what we are used to getting from the jaded mainstream media.
Babalu blog has a tremendous scoop on a unreported story of great interest to anyone who’s keeping an eye on Cuba. Fourteen Cuban refugees reached Dry Tortuga in a rickety boat and with it won their right to stay in the U.S. The arduous journey and the determination of the Cubans is chronicled – with pictures – here. Val also has an moving editorial about how the exclusive story was obtained. The blogosphere is rapidly becoming the most important place for chronicling the eventual collapse of the communist regime of Cuba. The significance is historic.
We all know from reading Barcepundit that there is a lot of nonsense going on in Spain. But to a Venezuelan observer, it doesn’t quite look that way. In an indication of how low dictator Hugo Chavez has taken Venezuela, blogger Miguel Octavio notes interesting comparisons between the two states. In terms of progress, they seem to have switched positions, with Spain decisively moving upward and Venezuela moving downward. It wasn’t always that way. In fact, it wasn’t even that way within most of our lifetimes. There are reasons why. Read the whole thing here.
This is incredibly encouraging. From the place that just released detained bloggers, the majority Shiite protested against the government demanding reform! MANAMA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands have marched in one of Bahrain’s largest opposition demonstrations to demand democratic reforms in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state. Friday’s peaceful march, called by the Shi’ite-led opposition, follows unsuccessful talks with the government on constitutional reforms to give greater powers to parliament’s elected assembly, which is on an equal footing with a state-appointed chamber. Bahrain, the Gulf’s banking hub and home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has introduced some reforms, but the…
I wrote about the unauthorized opposition rally yesterday. I don’t think I need to say it, but Lukashenko scares the jeepers out of me. Why? He has absolutely no reservations about beating down each and every person who stands up against him . . . These guys don’t even care that they were taking down good looking girls either. Andy thinks that the presidential election in September 2006 will be the final offense that brings people out en masse. I agree, I just hope he goes down sooner.
I hate this, because I’m having to write this headline every few days now. The second went off on Tuesday and the first a week ago Saturday. This latest one occurred just today, the third in a string of Syrian intimidation. March 26 (Bloomberg) — A car bomb explosion rocked a Christian quarter in east Beirut Saturday night, killing two Indian nationals and injuring eight people, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the official Lebanese news agency ANI. This explosion, which occurred around 9:30 p.m. local time, was heard throughout the Lebanese capital, shaking buildings on hills to the east, AFP said.…
Nearly two weeks ago after China passed its anti-secession law, Taiwan called on its population to protest en masse today. It is being called the 326 protest, and it hoping to pull over one million people. It is early in Taiwan right now, but over the past week, people have already started voicing out their discontent with China. One sign of this were 400 cab drivers lining up in an aerial view that spells “peace”. Some 400 drivers line up their taxis to form the word ???????peace??????? during a protest denouncing Beijing????????s recent approving an anti-secession law aimed at Taiwan…
Having been so involved with the events in Lebanon, I was hoping to do my own analysis of the UN findings on the Hariri assassination. But due to real life work and school starting back up next week (not to mention I’m preparing to cover the big protests in Taiwan all night…) it’s going to be a bit tough. However, rest assured! USMC_Vet has a complete, thorough analysis of the document and the reactions to it. In fact, let me give you some Cliff Notes: 1. Document released detailing Syrian and Lebanese government coverup. 2. They deny it. 3. Call…
Gary Metz at Regime Change Iran is reporting huge protests against the mullahs under the guise of a soccer victory. He notes that while this is certainly not the event, as soccer games have been used as an excuse to protest before, it is certainly another step in the right direction. He also notes that, because of traffic jams, the security apparatus can’t seem to get to the protestors. That’s good.
Will is discussing the marketing of the revolution over at his blog. I noted in his comments that the revolution in Kyrgyzstan has had many names thus far — tulip, pink, lemon — and that using up so many good names on one revolution will make it harder to name the ones that follow. He notes that the other revolutions have taken up multiple names, a true travesty! So what do we do? Turn to PAC-MAN for ideas. Check out this both humorous and thoughtful piece.
A few days ago, the opposition in Belarus submitted a request to hold a large really. It was denied. The Minsk city administration has rejected a request by opposition politician Andrey Klimaw to stage a downtown protest rally on 25 March, Belapan News reported on 22 March. Klimaw says he intended to assemble up to 100,000 people to protest Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s intention to run for a third presidential term. Klimaw told Belapan he is not surprised by the refusal, although the explanation baffles him. The city government told him that the location where he intended to hold the rally, Kastrychnitskaya…
I love it when I’m emailed so I don’t have to look! Nathan brings to us an exclusive ground report straight from Bishkek. This person was there from beginning to end and writes an account of the whole thing. Oh, and one more thing. . . This is the second picture of this girl. She’s just everywhere! UPDATE: Nathan lets me know that this is a REAL babe of politics. You????????re seeing a lot of this woman because she????????s a former parliamentary deputy and a journalist. Her name is Oksana Malevannaya. And while her hair does leave something to be…
It’s been a big day in Kyrgyzstan. While the protests have been steadily growing over the past month or so, today was clearly a marker event. Even from the beginning of this website, I have always referred visitors to Nathan’s Registan.net, where he keeps up on all issues Central Asia. He has always been the guy to go to for everything you needed to know about the Tulip Revolution. I certainly wouldn’t know much about Central Asia if it weren’t for him and the news/analysis he brings to the table. I am certainly not as knowledgeable as him, but I…