Blogging the democratic revolution
Tammy Lynch from the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy emailed me an article of hers entitled Time for Yushchenko to Step Up. It’s a very detailed, well-researched article that is incredibly relevant because of its critical look at the parliamentary battle over WTO legislation. Last week, Ukraine????s parliament (Verkhovna Rada) rejected a number of measures that would have brought the country????s trade regulations in line with international norms and that would have moved the country closer to meeting the requirements for World Trade Organization (WTO) entry. The bills included two ????make or break???? issues: the United…
Police officers raise a British flag in front of the State Department in Washington, D.C., Thursday, July 7, 2005, in remembrance of those killed in the London bombings. (AP Photo/Yuri Gripas) It was the first time a foreign flag has been raised at the State Department. MORE: Pejman Yousefzadeh notes that after September 11, Queen Elizabeth ordered her personal guards to play The Star Spangled Banner instead of God Save The Queen. As he says, “class engenders class.” If you haven’t already, you may want to fly the Union Jack on your blog today.
We don’t even know the number of casualties yet, but we know who caused them. Search deep down. You don’t want to say it because, after so many years, you think it’s too cliche. But keep digging. A lot of possible culprits are being floated, but only one name seems to make sense. Some say it was anti-G8 protestors, but get real; none of them have the capability nor even the will to organize a massive coordinated bomb attack. They break the occassional car window before going back to their tents, lighting up their bongs, and busting out their signed…
Radio news report that this morning a bus exploded near Tavistock Square in central London. Eye witnesses report that the roof of the bus was blown away and many people were left injured. The incident is cause for concern due to the fact that other explosions have also been reported to have occurred in the London underground, namely between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street Station, Edgware Road and King’s Cross stations. There is very little information available as I write this note, however London has been brought to stand still. Update: Tavistock Place near Russell Square was the location of…
This Investor’s Business Daily editorial, now available on Alek Boyd’s Web site, describes Sumate’s hard work of creating civil institutions in a democracy and explains how they function as a bulwark against tyranny. That’s what Sumate leader Maria Corina Machado has done, and that’s why Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez wants to put her in prison. There is nothing a tyrant fears more than a REAL revolution from below, which is what this brave woman, comparable to Martha Beatriz Roque in Cuba, is risking her freedom for. Read it here.
There’s nothing more satisfying than Alvaro Vargas Llosa taking on the Che juggernaut, overturning every stone and debunking every myth about the fake Cuban revolutionary poseur, Che Guevara, whose main talent was murder. A Yulia he was not. He lives on in assorted tee shirts, appropriately earmarking the world’s idiots for our easy identification. Alvaro, a Peruvian, is awesome. Don’t miss it. Read it here.
Vodkapundit posts an interview with a Kenyan economist talking about how development aid has stalled if not destroyed progress in Africa. SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa… Shikwati: … for God’s sake, please just stop. SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty. Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid…
Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Abbas offered Hamas to take part in the government cabinet so that a stable situation can be built post-Israeli pullout. At least that’s the reason he gives. In any case, it didn’t take much brain power to know that they’d refuse this offer. Palestinian mujahid group Hamas rebuffed an invitation to join the Palestinian cabinet, snubbing President Mahmoud Abbas who wants a unity government to help him control Gaza after Israel’s planned pullout. Hamas spokesman Mushir al – Masri said that Forming a unity government at this late time will not be useful. But…
I want to highlight a couple of items that reflect how the Castro-Chavez alliance is squandering Venezuela’s oil revenue in order to to sow their ideological seed. I was really concerned when I first saw this article showing that Cuba is exporting its “doctors” to, of late, politically tumultuous Belize. I’m even more concerned reading that Belize will be signing on to PetroCaribe, the much hyped oil company formed by Hugo Chavez. While the attention was focused this week on the visit of Mexican President Vicente Fox and talk of a possible PEMEX gas station in Belize, the Minister Responsible…
Probably not a coincidence either: It’s becoming all too predictable. Whenever there is an important date for the pro-democracy forces inside of Iran, the student movement website is shut down. July 9th is the anniversary of the bloody crackdown on student demonstrators in Iran.
On July 1 I wrote about the summit between Russia and China, in which they agreed to cooperate to exert their economic and political influence in the region between them; that is, Central Asia. Here is what I said: Perhaps it isn????????t explicitly stated, but most of the concern for both countries in recent months has been in Central Asia, where we have seen an revolution in Kyrgyzstan and a massacre in Uzbekistan. This translates into increased interest by the United States in seeing liberal democracy take root, which in turn means less control by Moscow. As a huge regional…
A political corruption scandal over slush funds to supporters is deepening in Brazil, and could extend to the highest reaches of government. It’s a shame, because President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a true revolutionary leader who means to do what’s best for Brazil. Left-leaning but fiscally responsible, he’s no Hugo Chavez. But Randy at Beautiful Horizons lists a growing litany of scandals and their knock-on effects. Could this topple the Lula government? It’s not known yet. Randy writes: …it certainly seems to me that none of this is good for Lula. While it would be catastrophic for it…
The very hott Boli-Nica has been trawling around in the Sandalista weeds choking the Bolivian political ecosystem and has discovered that they are a destructive alien species, which, like water-hyacinth, threatens to trash the political ecosystem. He’s reeled in a big one from something he sees as deceptively called the Democracy Center, and has at it as only a true Bolivian tired of all the carpetbaggers from Berkeley can be. He writes: This is no more than pimping some of the stupidest leftist ideology out there to a receptive audience. I have often said that Bolivians of all classes do…
Local sources report that students from the University of Carabobo have blocked Av. Bolivar of Valencia demanding the resignation of Isaias Rodriguez, Venezuela’s Attorney General. Furthermore students of University Santa Maria’s Eastern campus, located in Puerto La Cruz, have also closed the road between the aforementioned city and Barcelona. The assassination last week of university students Leonardo Gonz????lez L????rez, Edgar Quintero Torrealba and Erick Miguel Montenegro S????nchez, by the military police (DIM), has prompted a reaction amongst young Venezuelans, who feel utterly indignant at the lack of justice and sheer abuse of power of the chavista apparatus. Demands for the…
The OSCE has released it’s preliminary report on its election observation mission in Albania. The EU Observer pointedly notes the positive developments made in this round while addressing its shortcomings. EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Sunday’s (3 June) elections in Albania have only partially complied with the international standards for democratic elections, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – the body in charge of observing the process – announced on Monday (4 July) in its preliminary report. “While these were overall competitive elections and media generally provided voters with a diversity of electoral information, major political parties have…
July 4 is here, my favorite holiday! I was thinking all day what I would write here about our great country and the struggle for freedom all over the world. I couldn’t. There are too many words and too many ways to say them. So instead, I will implore you all to take the day off and spend the time with your friends and family. Celebrate and, most of all, appreciate the freedom that we as a nation are always fighting for. At the end of the day, remember that there are still many people facing the struggles that our…
I think most of the headlines calling this a “key test” are pretty correct in that description. Albania is another transition democracy in the volatile Balkans, and transition means baby steps. This means that it will be years before investment bears fruit and real liberalism takes solid root. TIRANA (AFX) – Albanians began voting on Sunday in legislative elections seen as crucial to their country’s ambition to join the EU. A free and fair vote is crucial for Albania as it hopes to sign a stabilization and association accord with the EU this year and join the European bloc in…
Our good friend Stefania of the estimable Free Thoughts blog is not only more serious in thinking about what the G8 should be doing than Bob Geldof, she’s also more serious than the G8 itself. Her suggestions about what the G8 should really be thinking about and discussing are here. Don’t miss.
My analysis of what is really going on at Venezuela’s universities, the backstory and implications, is here.
Debunked as it well deserves. I’ve seen this movie before – back in the 1980s. Simon Jenkins obviously saw the same thing in the 1960s. There’s no better debunking of this phony Live 8 revolution than here. How is a sensible person to react to last night????????s Live 8/G8 extravaganza? It defies hyperbole. It steamrollers scepticism. The money swilling, the masses migrating, the greenhouse gases combusting, the publicity bingeing, are beyond all reason. Live 8 claims political status, but the politics is totalitarian, using celebrity to mobilise a crowd. The crowd has a noble place in politics, but it is…
It looks like some people in Lebanon are suffering post-electoral loss syndrome. That is, the pro-Syria crowd outside of Hizb’allah is going nuts out of office. Perhaps they don’t know what to do with themselves now that they can’t terrorize people’s lives with the government. With this dire impropriety in their lives, it must be hard for them to keep still and play cricket like the rest of the blue hairs, so they’ve had to resort to shooting rival politicians. Lebanon worried Sunday over the outbreak of post-elections violence that left one man dead and seven others hospitalized as Premier-Designate…
Daniel has located the Babes of Caracas who were out in abundance today in Venezuela. And every single one of them despises Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez to an extent we can only dream about. What is the purpose of posting such photos? To prove that the revolution is real. The winds of change blows where the young women go, the old have the cares of the world to take care of first. The young think about things like governance and other abstractions. After all, they are going to be the ones who must live with whatever result there is the…
This brilliant analysis in The Australian about the political horror show going on right now in Philippines will make your blood go absolutely cold. Best thing written on what’s at stake. Today’s must-read is here. Hat tip: Real Clear Politics
According to the New York Times (registration required), Syrian Kurds, many of them denied not only equal protection of the law but also citizenship, are increasing pressure on Damascus for change. With democratic revolutions under way to the west in Lebanon and to the east in Iraq, the former being explicitly anti-Syrian and the latter being anti-Baathist, the Baathist regime of Bashar Assad in Damascus is feeling the heat. This is an excerpt from the NYT report (“Kurds, Emboldened by Lebanon, Rise Up in Tense Syria”): …But as Syria endures heavy international and domestic pressure to change, storm clouds are…
Three students were shot dead in cold blood this week by Venezuelan police who claim they mixed the students up with some criminals they were hunting. Just like that, three lived snuffed out on a sunny street in Caracas. It was all just … another … mistake. That’s brought thousands of people into the streets this morning in Caracas. It’s one of the first big demonstrations since the demoralization of the Venezuelan opposition in the wake of the widely-believed fraudulent recall referendum on Hugo Chavez last August. The shootings of course represent the projection of Hugo Chavez’s power. So it…