Blogging the democratic revolution
Joshua Landis, living in Damascus, has a media roundup from around the world and talks about all of the proposals. The press, for the most part, has seen this as a “great step forward” — Ba’ath words actually — in reform toward democracy in Syria. But if that sounds too good to be true, then…
Gateway Pundit has been doing a fantastic job rounding up what’s been going on for the past two days. Students all over the country were peacefully protesting the rigged elections, when the army and police broke it up with brutal force. At the Addis Ababa Tegbare’ed (Technical School), police tried to disperse about 200 peaceful…
Victor Mallet of the Financial Times seizes on Rumsfeld’s recent comments on June 4, in which he said that China needs to open up its political system. Victor argues that economic growth and western influence — one in the same in China’s case — will bring with it inevitable internal democratic reform, even as the…
President Mesa offered his resignation to Congress as huge protests engulfed the capital for the past two weeks. These protests were led by angry leftist and Indian groups, demanding nationalization of Bolivia’s energy industry. But they are not the only angry group in the country – there are equally angry people in Santa Cruz, where…
Two disasters happened this morning in South America. A slew of bombs went off against U.S. retailers in Buenos Aires, Argentina from a previously unknown ‘revolutionary’ group that’s suddenly got a lot of money for bombs. The bombers made no secret of their anti-American intentions as they hit a Citibank, a Blockbuster and attempted to…
Where is dictator Hugo Chavez taking Venezuela? Straight to hell. Two powerful essays by Gustavo Coronel and Carlos Alberto Montaner, about the deteriorating situation, one that will cost Venezuelans three generations of progress, are out with the same conclusions about the Chavez vortex of destruction. This is the reality. Don’t miss either of them, this…
The awesome President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia and all of his presidential challengers are setting up blogs for the upcoming presidential race. It’s going to be hotly contested, but I defy anyone to outdo President Uribe in sheer eloquence. He’s a quiet little academic-looking man, but his power is in his thinking, and not only…
Miguel in Caracas, Venezuela has a fantastic picture show, comparing and contrasting the people George Bush associates with, and the people dictator Hugo Chavez associates with. Take a good look and draw your own conclusions about who’s the democrat, who’s the authentic revolutionary. Go see the amazing photos here.
Welcome to this week’s Carnival Of Revolutions! I’ll take a cue from Nathan and not pull out the humor. I don’t know where I’d pull it from. So let’s cut to the chase, down to this past week’s developments in democracy, elections, tyrannous acts, human rights, and pie. Apple pie. General: The World has a…
Regime Change Iran is posting this week’s week in review, the most important roundup on Iran you can read. If there was ever any doubt that the voter turnout is going be tantamount to the aftermath of this election, get this: – Townhall.com reported that the son of the late Shah said, Boycott Iran’s Sham…
After weeks of so-called “clean up,” where tens of thousands of opposition supporters have had their homes and trader stalls demolished, trade unions, churches, and civil organizations are banding together to call for a nationwide working strike. A SHADOWY coalition of civil groups and opponents of President Robert Mugabe called today for mass strikes to…
The nightmare continues to unfold in Zimbabwe. Publius Pundit has previously reported on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s “Operation Clean Up” which aimes to abolish private property, make homeless masses of people who oppose him, and ban independent traders and small businesses which are the only real economy Zimbabwe still has – see The Mugabe-China Connection,…
The Liberator of East Central Europe and Central America, the leader who made the U.S. believe in itself again, the man who changed the world forever, we remember our great President Ronald Reagan. He was the father of the modern democratic revolution. Just consider what the world was like before Reagan became our leader. In…
Voting has begun in Lebanon’s southern district. Six of the South seats have already been taken by ticket members officially declared ‘winners unopposed’ in Sidon, provincial capital of the south, and in Jezzine, South Lebanon’s largest Christian city. Jezzine’s population was staying away from the polls to protest the concept of Christians being carried to…
I’m going to take this opportunity to remind you that I’ll be hosting Monday’s Carnival of Revolutions. That means if you have a blog post or know of a blog post relating to democracy movements, tyrannical regimes, the spread of freedom — and all that sweet stuff — be sure to email it to me…
To give some short-term background: The Azeri government has, in the past few weeks, really cracked down on opposition leaders and arrested hundreds of people. With this rally, as with all, the opposition applied for approval to hold their rally but they were denied. But instead of staying home, they came out into the streets…
Zapatero may have given in to Al Qaeda an easy time after the Madrid train bombing, but the Spanish won’t have any negotiating with the Basque separatists. Victims, relatives, and supporters are marching in Madrid against government plans to negotiate with the ETA terrorists. Great photo here. Spain’s prime minister Jos???? Luis Rodr????guez Zapatero faces…
It is a unique blessing of the free world that its people can express a wide variety of opinions and choose how to live peacefully without being persecuted by their own governments. These are examples of real, universal human rights that need to be defended and brought to the dark corners of the world. This…
I normally don’t comment on the media, but this bit from the AP is egregious: But in a development that could affect efforts to get Shiites and Sunnis working together, President Jalal Talabani said Saddam, a Sunni, could be put on trial in the next two months. Hello? Excuse me? As though it’s not a…
The regime is going to be starving for legitimacy if this is true, and by all accounts it looks highly probable. A nationwide survey conducted by an Iranian opposition group showed widespread voter apathy in Iran’s upcoming June 17 presidential elections. The People??????????s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) said in a press release that a…
It is not unusual for countries to have “rubber-stamp” parliaments, but they don’t usually make it as obvious as Egypt does. I recently posted a roundup on Egypt’s ruff-up of the opposition in the recent referendum meant to endorse a change to the election law which would superficially allow for open elections while in reality…
A columnist for the Lebanese publication An Nahar has been murdered in a car bombing, in which his car was rigged to explode upon ignition. Here is the report from Reporters Without Borders: Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert M????nard, who is currently in Lebanon, voiced dismay at the murder of columnist Samir Kassir of the…
On Monday I posted to this blog an entry on the constitutional process in Europe and the rejection of it by the French. See, The French say “Oui” to Sovereigny, and to the Welfare State. That post received some comments, and as they were likely to take us off-topic here at Publius Pundit, I have…
Before anything, read Austin Bay’s fabulous piece fisking Amnesty International on their bizarre claim that Gitmo and Abu Ghraib are modern day gulags, and that the U.S. is the leader in human rights abuses in the world. Hahahahahaha. Right. Anyhow, I received an email with a really good idea: Go to Google News and search…
Two weeks ago, Robert Mugabe started his “Operation: Clean-up” which has destroyed the market stalls of thousands of Zimbabweans and now left up to two million homeless. On both the human rights and geopolitics scale, the role that China plays in Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular is especially important. They have been making…