Blogging the democratic revolution
While the most over-reported story (and the most debunked) story in the press this past August was the drafting of and the opposition to the Iraqi constitution, the most under-reported story in September is how ongoing negotiations have moderated large portions of the document’s opposition. In fact, as some of the contentious issues have been negotiated down, and the document has circulated amongst the general population, its approval and acceptance has become more likely. While we can’t perfectly predict what will happen, major leaders on the playing field are saying that they will not mount strong campaigns against the constitution,…
With the trial of the 15 Andijon “terrorists” still ongoing, the West has decided that it isn’t interested in ongoing diplomatic talks with Karimov over the massacre. It’s more interested in isolating the regime. At the meeting of the OSCE, the U.S. fully condemned the Uzbek government for the actions that it took. Uzbekistan????????s disregard for its OSCE commitments is undermining its security, the United States believes. The systemic failure to observe these basic rights has exacerbated circumstances in Uzbekistan and, we believe, is a radicalizing factor, Finley said. The United States, European Union, United Nations and OSCE have called…
From the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on Feb. 14 to the almost successful assassination attempt on journalist May Chidiac this past Sunday, there have now been 13 attacks in Lebanon which have appeared to target Lebanese opponents of Syrian domination (Reuters:
The Kyrgyz parliament voted on President Bakiyev’s picks for cabinet positions. But it looks like more than a few people were surprised when it decided to reject a nice handful of them, including acting foreign minister Roza Otunbaeva. 27 September 2005 (RFE/RL) — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament today debated President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s cabinet nominations, approving some but rejecting others. The most notable rejection was Roza Otunbaeva to be foreign minister. Otunbaeva served in that post for a time in the 1990s when Askar Akaev was president. Five other nominees were rejected, among them Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, nominated to be minister of transportation and…
With the announcement of a new set of cabinet ministers, the Ukrainian government is getting back to normal. Economic projections are starting to be hopeful about the future, at least in the short term, and in the very least it means some stability for awhile. But politics in Ukraine is far from normal right now. The split between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko has effectively left a lot of Ukrainian voters disillusioned with the former and cautious about the latter. Yushchenko signed a deal with arch-rival Yanukovich in order to get Yekhanurov approved as the prime minister, while Tymoshenko went to Russia…
Confirming strongly our theory that the babes go where the heart of the action is. At the Iraq war counterrallies this weekend to defend Iraqi freedom and stand up for U.S. troops, there are some spectacular examples. Go see it here.
Hey everyone, Corresponding with SGD’s official press release below, I will be organizing a Walk For Democracy here in Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday the 15th of October. I urge anyone who is able to attend to email me: robertmayerÉgmail.com The donation will be $15 minimum, which will get you a t-shirt to wear with the other demonstrators. You can use the button below to donate, which will then be transferred on to SGD. You do not have to attend the march to donate, however, and you don’t have to donate just $15. If you would like to contribute to a…
This is great. Gateway Pundit has the roundup. And the left fades into oblivion…
Over the weekend, the Azeri opposition staged a rally that was unsanctioned by the government. The consequences for doing so were disastrous, with the police arresting up to 100 activists in one fell swoop, beating with batons dozens more. With elections coming up in just over a month, it goes to show how a government afraid for its own existence is beginning to take a hard line against the opposition. Police in the former Soviet Azerbaijan republic have beaten and arrested dozens of protesters during a rally in the capital, Baku. Opposition parties held the rally despite a warning from…
Via WILLisms, and Stefania, I just spotted this week’s Carnival of Revolutions, very nicely done this week by Ken McCracken, and full of good stuff. Read it here.
This is just what we were looking for – of all people, my boss at work discovered it and sent it to me. Just what we wanted to see, a free-market Brazilian blog written by a smart Brazilian that tells us the deal about what’s going on in Brazil. I’m really excited! The blog, called ‘Swimming Against The Red Tide’ written by Luis Alfonso Assumpcao, in Porto Alegre (!), Brazil, hits home runs!!!! I guess he saw the leftist hippies up close and wanted to say something. His blogroll links to sterling free-market other blogs we are great fans of.…
The trial of the 15 Andijon “terrorists” is underway, and the results are all too predictable. The defendants are admitting complete guilt, straight down the government line. Nathan is rounding up all the coverage of the trials, and describes it as, “a parade of confessions confirming every last detail of the Uzbek government????????s paranoid fantasies.” RFE/RL digs down deep into what this all means, saying that it is just the continuation of years of well-established pattern. It’s really something completely out of 1984, a compelling article to say the least, though it shouldn’t come as any surprise. Prague, 21 September…
The United States government could be readying up a drive to deal with Burma, one of the six main “outposts of tyranny” with one of the most repressive regimes in the world. To do this, it will be pushing for a referral to the United Nations Security Council, where at best we will be able to find out where all of the world’s major players stand on the issue. Sep 22, 2005 (DVB) – US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Eric G. John told a congressional committee that Washington intended to push for United Nations Security Council discussion of Burma,…
This is cool. Reporters Without Borders has published a broad and detailed booklet for bloggers and others who want to get out there opinion; especially people from countries where that isn’t necessarily easy to do. Check it out here.
Remember everyone, we here at Publius need a break, so there isn’t any posting on the weekends. But since I’m awake and relatively bored, I’m going to take a cue from Nathan and ask all of you fine, fine readers to delurk. What that means for everyone who sees this is to simply post a comment here and let us know that you exist. Maybe even write something about yourself. Engage us!
Source: Babalu The photographs will break your heart. Ten people from Cuba, where Hurricane Dennis hit this year, riding the worst piece of rusted junk you can see, inventively powered by a tractor motor and some strange orange sail, rode through HURRICANE RITA and its storm-tossed seas for a week in the Florida Strait determined by hope to reach life and freedom on U.S. shores. Just as they were within sight of U.S. land, a Coast Guard cutter tried to ram their boat and sink them. The poor Cuban refugees were desperately resisting the Coast Guard (see the photos here),…
Even though he missed approval by only three votes the other day, President Yushchenko’s pick for prime minister, Yuriy Yekhanurov, was easily approved by the parliament. But you’ll never guess who gave him the necessary votes. Dan McMinn has the count. Ä1Å Communist Party faction (0 out of 56 votes of MPs), Ä2Å Regions of Ukraine (50 out of 50), People’s Party (45 out of 47), Ä3Å Our Ukraine People’s Union (44 out of 45), Ä4Å Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc – (7 out of 41), Ä5Å Socialist Party (25 out of 25), Ä6Å Ukrainian People’s Party (23 out of 23), Ä7Å…
Months after disbanding the parliament and initializing a state of emergency, the king of Nepal has promised elections. This is the part where we all laugh and snicker. Nepal’s royalist administration has repeated its commitment to restoring democracy in the country. But the announcement has been met with skepticism in Kathmandu. Nepalese Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey has told the United Nations General Assembly that King Gyanendra’s commitment to multiparty democracy is “unflinching and total”. Mr. Pandey reiterated the King’s promise to hold municipal polls by April next year, and parliamentary elections within two years. But the announcement brought little…
Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas has started a terrific new blog on Bolivia, with his first post loaded with intelligent insights. I look forward to seeing his thoughts as they come, going into the Bolivian election in December. Go see the excellent new blog here.
The magnificent writer and thinker, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, has a truly awesome, knock-your-sock-off essay today on the demise of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, why it’s important, and why we should care. Brazil’s soft left revolution that so many have staked their hopes on has collapsed, leaving the hard Chavista left in place, a disturbing development for an entire continent. He carefully explains the conditions that led to the huge cascading corruption scandal in Brazil and why it’s so bad. He also cites the controversial Brazilian writer, Olavo de Carvalho, as a source. I’m so thrilled he’s writing…
Not through guerrillas this time but through pork-barrel-spending. Along with Hugo Chavez’s oil billions, Evo Morales has taken the lead in the Bolivian polls. Castro knows exactly why he’s doing this. Do we? Read the whole thing here or here. It’s on Real Clear Politics here.
Israel began its “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip five weeks ago, essentially removing all Jewish settlers within a week, although the withdrawal of the IDF from all Palestinian areas was not completed for a few weeks afterward. Prior to the withdrawal, there were some, including myself, who argued that withdrawing from Gaza without an agreement with the Palestinian Authority to disarm terrorist groups – especially Hamas – would lead to not only more attacks on Israel, but increased internecine Palestinian strife, possibly even the implosion of the PA itself, requiring a bloody reoccupation by the Israeli military. (If it helps…
Thousands of Congo’s displaced exiles are returning to their homeland in extreme hardship solely for the privilege of voting. Don’t anyone ever tell me they had the option to vote here in the states and just didn’t do it. Look at what these brave revolutionaries in Congo are doing. The news item is here and Robert or I will put together a news and blogger roundup if there is any further information we can get: Thousands of Congolese refugees are piling their furniture, bicycles, pots and pans onto barely seaworthy boats and heading back to their war-ravaged homeland, determined to…
Indonesia is at the boiling point with a whole string of frightening developments. Oil prices are going through the moon and the indonesian government, which subsidizes oil, is being crushed by those higher prices. That’s sent the miserable-anyway currency, the Indonesian rupiah, to its lowest levels in four years as capital flight takes off. Meanwhile, Bird Flu is prompting additional fears of an epidemic in Jakarta, one of the world’s most densely populated cities. There is even a row with China now that the Indonesian navy has fired on a Chinese fishing boat, killing a crewmember. They are in a…
They’re so darn dumb. How does anyone get that dumb? Rule Number One: You DO NOT do drugs in Asia. Rule Number Two: You DO NOT transport drugs in Asia. Rule Number Three: You DO NOT associate with anyone who does drugs in Asia. Rule Number Four: You read the signs at airports, the ones in great big red letters that say ‘Drug Dealing Will Be Punished By Death’ and drop your drugs in that convenient trash receptacle right under that sign before you go see Mister Asian Customs Man. Rule Number Five: You do not violate any of this,…