Blogging the democratic revolution
This from the BBC yesterday, on Russia finally having had enough with OSCE election observation missions. (thanks to Nathan for picking it up) Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the protests, blaming "extremists". "Extremist forces must not be allowed to use political instability to create a threat to the democratic foundations of the Kyrgyz statehood," it said in a statement. Russia also rebuked the Organization for Security and Cooperation Äin EuropeÅ (OSCE) for declaring that the elections had fallen short of democratic standards. It urged the body to be "more responsible" in its election monitoring conclusions "to prevent destructive elements from using…
The huge protest looking to obtain 1 million protestors is scheduled for Saturday, but some people are getting involved a little early. The story I’m going to link to has to do with the EU arms embargo, but the picture and caption is about Taiwan 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 Tuesday, March 22, 2005, in Taipei, Taiwan. The protest leads up to Saturday’s planned protest to gather one million Taiwanese to show public disapproval to the anti-secession law that give…
Last Friday, the Venezuelan government declared a new law, one that makes it an actual crime to ‘offend Chavez.’ Chavez of course will say when he is offended. The king decides. And this means bloggers. A new Venezuelan blogger, called Jolly, gives his take here.
The past few days have brought quite a bit of good news from countries we wouldn’t expect. Just yesterday, the President of Azerbaijan signed a decree to release 53 political prisoners, and scores more. BAKU, Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliev pardoned more than 100 prisoners on Sunday, including dozens of opposition politicians whose release had been demanded by Europe’s top human rights body. Fifty-three of the 114 people pardoned were on a list of political prisoners that the Council of Europe demanded be released, Aliev’s office said in a statement. Aliev’s decree came just four days after the Parliamentary…
In my Lebanon roundups, especially when the mass protests were going on, I referenced the online forum of an opposition group known as the Lebanese Forces. Their leader, Samir Geagea, was thrown in jail by the Syrians because of his work against them. Recently, there is a move to get him out. A move is underway in parliament to get Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea released from jail before the spring elections, slain ex-premier Hariri’s Al Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Monday. It said six parliament members have signed a proposed draft bill to amend the 1992 amnesty law on an…
Bruce Chang recently conducted a survey among Taiwanese-Americans living in Southern California and asked them to answer a few questions regarding Taiwan, China, and the new anti-secession law. They seemed pretty calm about it, which is reassuring to those of us on the outside. UPDATE: Last week you may remember something I said regarding the countries supporting China’s anti-secession law. And has anyone noticed that all the countries supporting China????????s anti-secession law have secession problems themselves? Looks like that support is paying off for Azerbaijan, who has just received total support for China on its territorial integrity.
WILLisms is looking into the babe theory, that successful revolutions are more likely to occur when pretty women are involved. And I think he may have gone off into the deep end, given the utter depth of his post. I’m glad someone is crazy enough to do it! WOW: A.M. Mora y Leon has let me know about sweet collection of pictures of the Venezuelan female opposition. Remember to right-click, save-as.
To start off, if even haven’t read it, make sure to catch Daniel’s Ukraine roundup over at Bloggledygook. Now, there are two things regarding the situation in Ukraine that has made me crack a scowl lately, except it doesn’t have anything to do with what Ukraine is doing. It has to do with Washington. Tim Russo from Democracy Guy points me to an article in the Washington Post, while biased sounding as it is, throws out some numbers that just irritate me to no end. In the weeks after a popular uprising toppled a corrupt government in Ukraine, President Bush…
Arthur Chrenkoff has a special roundup of recent events in the Middle East that he has dubbed the “Pro-Democracy Edition.” And in that respect, you should definitely check it out. For an older post in this same regards, check here if you haven’t seen it already.
The object of the caption contest was to fill in the rest of the sentence for this anti-war protestor Below is Sortapundit’s entry: “…the models used in this picture, but all the attractive Americans are Republicans.” Congratulations! You’ve won a one week blogad. I’ll be getting into contact with you to put it up. And thanks to everyone who participated. All of the entries can be found here.
The protests in Kyrgyzstan seem to be having some effect: OSH, Kyrgyzstan – President Askar Akayev ordered the Central Election Commission and Supreme Court on Monday to investigate alleged violations in the recent parliamentary vote that have triggered weeks of nationwide protests led by the opposition, the president’s office said. Akayev ordered the commission and court “to pay particular attention to those districts where election results provoked extreme public reaction … and tell people openly who is right and who is wrong,” Akayev’s office said in a statement. The president’s statement came as more than 17,000 people seized government buildings…
Last Monday Publius posted an entry on Iraqi protests against Jordan following reports that Jordanians celebrated a terrorist attack which killed 125 Iraqis because the bomber was Jordanian, and then a Jordanian newspaper spun the event positively (see Bad Journalism Causes Iraqi Outrage). From what I saw on Al-Jazeera about an hour ago, a week later the Iraqis’ fury seems not to have tempered much. The footage showed crowds still protesting at the ravaged Jordanian embassy. The Al-Jazeera report noted that Jordan has now pulled all of its embassy personnel from Iraq for security reasons, and Iraq has also recalled…
Regime Change Iran has its weekly briefing of Iran up. Don’t miss it!
While the opposition has attempted to step up protests against the monarch, he has been relentless in cracking down. Some pictures are posted at Radio Free Nepal that I’ll reproduce here.
And over in the next communist regime, it’s wild caribou marinated in blueberries and other confections. It’s been quite a sybarite feast this weekend for the hemisphere’s communist regimes. Here Val at Babalu fills us in on the dinner menu in Havana from a Canadian trade mission. The excesses are Bourbonite. But alongside that, doesn’t it give you a funny feeling that this might be the decadent end? One day, these excesses will be as memorable as Marie Antoinette’s champagne and cake eating feasts. Read the whole thing here.
Judging from the Orange Revolution, it is known that for a political movement to be more likely to succeed, the opposition must be united behind a charismatic candidate. There is a new face for the Belarussian opposition front these days, who has recently appeared to challenge Lukashenko for the presidency in summer 2006. And it looks like he may be uniting two of the opposition parties. The Minsk-based “Narodnaya volya,” the biggest opposition daily in Belarus, carried a front page manifesto on 19 February of a new political movement called Will of the People (Volya naroda). The manifesto was signed…
Alek Boyd has one hell of a good news report and short analysis of the Boston “friendship” meeting with Chavista officials, who are conducting a propaganda offensive in the U.S. The details about grilled shrimp and duck quesadillas among the jeweled chavistas is priceless. But it goes well well beyond that to give us the scope of Venezuelan ‘active measures’ to manipulate perceptions in the U.S. It’s not normal stuff. There is one particularly wrenching encounter between a Russian woman who has known communism firsthand and has a perfect grasp of its underlying dynamic, and a Chavista official who keeps…
It’s Sunday, and you know what that means! Actually, not much. Except that I’m catching up on my blog reading. Which means you need to check out that latest of David McDuff’s series of posts Dragons and Democracy, part 10!
A lot has happened since the last update. Lahoud was already weak, but now he is even in the position of possible resignation. Karami is thinking of resigning again, and Hizb’allah’s hold is weaker as well. The most startling news over the past couple of days has been a car bomb, which is roundly being said to be a “goodbye present” from the Syrian services.
Husayn from Democracy in Iraq (is here!) has written a lengthy post relaying his thoughts on this important anniversary. Two years is about 730 days. In those days what have I seen. My eyes have seen more than I had ever hoped, more blood, more death and more pain, then I ever imagined or hoped I would have seen. In those days I have seen the worst of humanity, the animal that lives in all humanity, the ability of humanity to destroy at will others, and rob the life given to others by God almight himself. So you ask me,…
A terrorist attack recently occurred in the Qatari capital of Doha; and blogger Natasha Tynes was right in the neighborhood! How terrifying is that? Make sure to read her account. UPDATE: She has some post-blast thoughts up and will be updating with photos soon. PICTURE: Alright, the pictures are up.
A new day, a new anti-war protest! But given that they were wrong wrong wrong, I think it would be fitting to make fun of them. So here’s what I want you to do. Rules: Use the following photos and post in the comments section what you think the sign should say. It should be funny, and made to make fun of hippies/anti-war protestors/liberals/etc. The image starts out as “We apologize for…” and then you fill in the rest of the sentence. Prize: To the best caption goes a one week blogad. Have fun!
Last year, Castro threw 75 brilliant, thinking people – economists, journalists, leaders – into his dungeons. This wasn’t the usual garbage from him, it was a desperate effort to destroy a new generation of potential opposition leaders as he declines into his fading years. The U.S. embassy put up its Christmas display to let them know they are not forgotten, triggering a rabid reaction from Castro’s goons. But most of the imprisoned are still there. Val at Babalu blog doesn’t forget. He has a tribute to them here.
I was a little surprised by how much attention I got from an essay I wrote for Babalu Blog the other night on Castro’s wealth, but in retrospect his position on the Forbes billionaire’s list is an important news story as the the Cuban dictator begins to eye the vultures circling. He’s been on the Forbes list before but now the value of his fortune is suddenly sensititive as his grip on power slides, his party hacks begin to jockey for power, and Cubans begin to learn the true scope of how his vast wealth derives from their poverty. And…