Blogging the democratic revolution
I awoke to a Google News alert to this fantastic editorial describing how Togo was betrayed its rightful place among democratic nations. It has only been a few weeks since terribly falsified elections were held in that country, and the political crisis has only deepened since. After hundreds were killed in the aftermath, thousands more fleeing the country, both sides were urged to form a unity government. That just fell through. Togo’s political adversaries have failed to agree on a government of national unity at a summit of African leaders in Abuja, Nigeria. The meeting was held to stem a…
I admit that I ran across this item on accident, because as under-publicized as it is, that would be the only way to find it. While speaking to the International Republican Institute — one of the main organizations that allocates democracy building aid — President Bush proposed creating a special corp of federal workers that would help young democracies create a sustainable future. WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush, seeking to put muscle behind a promise to support young democracies, said Wednesday the administration is creating a special corps of federal workers that will deploy quickly to help foreign governments in…
The Council of Europe ended its third summit since 1949 in Warsaw on Tuesday with everybody calling for democracy in Belarus, which is the only European country that cannot attend the event. Out of all the countries, however, Poland really stood out with its calls. WARSAW – Calls for democracy in Belarus and agreement on the Warsaw Declaration charting the course for the Council of Europe over the coming years closed debate at the council’s summit in Warsaw on Tuesday. Poland’s president Aleksander Kwasniewski slammed human rights violations in Belarus and called for the democratisation of Poland’s eastern neighbour, dubbed…
Alek Boyd has some shocking information about the extent of Hugo Chavez’s international networks. Not only is the Venezuelan dictator suspected of being fully engaged in meddling in the internal affairs of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Grenada, Argentina, Chile and Mexico – he’s meddling in France! That’s right, the thug is buying up the mainstream media there in France and manipulating it like Telesur. It’s really shocking. Not only that, he’s got maybe some contact with some communist union there about schoolbooks and he’s manipulated history taught in French schools to tell the story of the glorious him. Yes,…
Venezuela’s vindictive dictator, Hugo Chavez, was revealed in all his glory to be the author of the infamous ‘Tascon List’ – a blacklist of all the people in Venezuela who legally and openly signed the referendum petition to recall Hugo Chavez last year. The price they paid for that was high. The Thug of Caracas vowed to exact revenge on them if they defied him and he made good on his threats. Chavez got people fired from jobs, denied them passports, denied them services, and otherwise made 3 million people second-class citizens. It was a relentless vindictiveness not seen since…
Note: I posted this earlier at Bloggledygook, but then realized that the back story has a lot to do with the struggle for Cuba. Make no mistake: there are those who will do anything to make excuses for Fidel. A post in abdymok on Reporters Without Borders (or RSF for Reporters sans fronti????res) caught my eye this morning. Founded in 1979 by Robert Menard, RSF is a rights organization based in France that monitors press freedom abuses around the globe, with special focus on Cuba. It has been a frequent and vocal critic of the US, most recently over “self-censorship”…
Here is the first mainstream media editorial I have seen hailing Cuba’s brave democratic revolutionaries – it can be read here.
Miguel has some new developments on the Posada Carriles case that illustrates just how weird this case is getting. There’s all kinds of information the mainstream media hasn’t touched on yet, and should. Why does the government of Venezuela really want this guy back? That it does doesn’t make sense, so it’s going from bad to bizarre. Read the whole weird thing here.
Thousands of people crowd the city square, moving as a singular mass. It stared upward, demanding liberalization and an end to corrupt governance. Looking back downward, with scorn, was another mass; armed with machine guns and a stake in using them if the situation out-stepped its bounds. And then they used them. Hundreds dead, multiples more wounded, and thousands behind bars. A complete news blackout. Is this Tiananmen Square or Andijon, Uzbekistan? If we’re talking about renegade totalitarianism obstructing the liberties of its own citizenry by use of force, then they are one in the same. But this is about…
I hadn’t really discussed it because, as far as superficial information goes, the mainstream media and famed international election observers like Jimmeh Carter went ahead and gave the whole thing the green light. WILLisms has a great roundup of the media coverage during the past week, and yes, Ethiopia is one of the more progressive nations on the continent. Relative to everyone else, Ethiopia’s ruling party looks like a model for the rest of Africa. In fact, they were the opposition alliance that overtook the Marxist dictatorship back in the ’80s. Jimmy Carter had some good things to say. Carter,…
President Mesa declined to sign or veto the oil and gas tax bill on his desk Tuesday. As a result, the Senate leader ratified it this morning. Energy royalties will now be raised to 18%, on top of 32% taxes, both steep hikes. The move is expected to chase out $10 billion in foreign investment, delivering to Bolivia a great gas future under the ground. The news item is here. Bloomberg reports that huge projects have been shelved: Kieffer said projects such as a $1.5 billion petrochemical plant and a $400 million fertilizer project, both of which depended on tapping…
Miguel Octavio explains in a good piece the dynamics of oil production in Venezuela, all of which proves that Venezuela’s oil production is severely lower than anyone thought, and its earnings are crippled. That’s bad news for dictator Hugo Chavez who depends on oil earnings to buy the loyalty of his shantytown voters. It’s worth reading. Read the whole thing here. Blogger Daniel Duquenal also has a good essay on the oil company’s fake figures. Fine work. Read it here.
Right on the heels of the U.N.’s oil for food scandal, where much of the U.S. is appalled at the chutzpah of British MP George Galloway and his defensive tantrum in U.S. Congress today over his oil for food take, who should come along but some bureaucrat from Mayor Ken Livingston’s office – that’s ‘Red Ken’ to the London locals – caught red-handed by intrepid Aleksander Boyd setting up a Web site on behalf of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Have you ever heard of anything sleazier? He was so bold and shameless about it that he used the full name…
Is it me… or are these becoming more frequent? Hundreds of demonstrators have rallied outside Syria’s feared state security court, chanting for freedom and demanding an end to the 42-year-old state of emergency. “Long live liberty,” the protestors on Sunday chanted in Arabic and Kurdish as the trials of three Kurdish activists got under way. “We want democracy ??????? End the emergency laws”. The authorities dispatched 15 riot police to the courthouse, but they did not intervene. Placards brandished by the demonstrators demanded the release of political prisoners, many of them members of Syria’s 1.5 million-strong Kurdish minority. Pictures of…
Our dear friends in Central America are fighting for their survival. Carlos Alberto Montaner has an important essay out about what he saw in the eyes of Central America’s presidents as they came to Miami to plead for the DR-CAFTA trade bill. He warns that is this bill does not pass, it will be to “invite the Devil to supper.” He’s right. I was in Los Angeles when the President of El Salvador came through on the same mission. The mass media, including the LA Times ignored it, but the room full of Salvadoran immigrants who fully shared his passion…
Castro’s henchmen have disappeared their first delegate to the Conference on Civil Society. His name is Antuan Clemente Hernandez. His event is to be held this weekend. They know what a threat it is to the communist regime. It’s Cuba’s Charter 77, its Declaration of Independence. And its participants face the same risks as those brave men of history. Stefania has the first alert, and my writeup on Babalu about this struggle against a monster who cannot countenance freedom is here. UPDATE: Juan Paxety has information about a new support center for the Civil Society assembly inaugurated in Miami here.
I can understand why the U.S. government has been hesitant to call shots on the events unfolding in Uzbekistan. Good information has been rare, and they are obviously waiting to see what political and strategic maneuvers to make. But come on, enough it enough. With every report indicating massive deaths in the hundreds, this is certainly a situation meriting unflinching pressure from powerful nations. It looks that Britain is on the case and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will be flying to Washington to meet with Secretary Rice and other U.S. officials in order to reach a plan of action. Foreign…
Tens of thousands of union supporters from El Alto, apparently, people even more extreme than Evo Morales, have begun roadblocks through Bolivia to shut down the country until it comes around to their point of view about developing Bolivia’s natural gas resources. And they’ve since raised earlier demands from a mere 50% royalties to full Stalinist-style nationalization. Until Bolivians consent to that, they are going to starve them, preventing the entry of food into the cities. The government is powerless to stop them. Agencia EFE reports that tens of thousands of these supporters tried to storm Congress in La Paz.…
The wording of the election law amendment is vague on some points, but it appears that the women of Kuwait have been granted the right to vote and run in elections. The prime minister, Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said that he planned to name a woman minister. “I congratulate the women of Kuwait for having achieved their political rights,” he said. Kuwaiti women join their counterparts from the neighboring Gulf countries of Qatar, Oman and Bahrain in having the vote. The amendment, which was finalized after several years of debate and struggle by Kuwaiti women, passed by a vote of 35…
Our good friend blogger Stefania in faraway Sardinia alerts us that Cuba’s brave civil society delegates, seeking to forge a free Cuba out of the ruins of Castroism, in a conference this week, are now being abused by Castro’s goons. My writeup on Babalu is here.
Word is out that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez was ranting and raving about this El Universal piece we linked this morning here. Chavez angrily cited it by name, calling it all lies. The piece itself was built around the first-rate research and writing of Gustavo Coronel, whose essay this morning we linked here. Coronel clearly is getting under the dictator’s skin. This is what blogging is all about.
Looks like ol’ Shirin’s figured out how the world works much better than the rest of us. American Revolution? Orange Revolution? Tulip Revolution? That’s just wrong! The best means to help create democracies in societies ruled by tyrannies is through negotiations, and if that fails, by resorting to the United Nations,” she pontificated. “This is the only way, this is the only means. Hear that, Babes of Beirut? You’re doing it wrong! Kindly send a copy of her memo in triplicate to Cuba’s civil society democrats, Venezuela’s angry oil workers, Ecuador’s furious street demonstrators, Bolivia’s pro-trade Santa Crucenos and Venezuela’s…
Profoundly good analysis by Gustavo Coronel. A must read. Read it here. UPDATE: My own take here. UPDATE: Another good take from El Universal. (Man that must have been a beach to translate!)
Andy from Siberian Light is hosting this week’s carnival. Check it out for link-filled goodness reviewing democracy movements over the past week.
I’ve just posted to my own blog a piece on Pan-Arabist political movements in response to an email from an Egyptian reader who has just started a new blog to promote his. I post about 20% of my entries here on Publius Punditbut I’m not posting this one because (1) most of it doesn’t deal with democracy movements and (2) it is extremely long, much longer than my typical posts, and I don’t want to crowd out everyone here. There are some sections relevant to Publius‘ mission, however, and the broader topic is very important for the region. I am…