Blogging the democratic revolution
Garry Kasparov, writing for Newsweek International, calls President Putin out on the misnomer that he is a true ally of the West in the war on terror, and even less so committed to building a democratic society. And he really nails it. The embattled George W. Bush isn’t going to pick a fight with Mr. Putin on matters of democracy and economy when these days everything is secondary to the war on terror. Here we come to the most dangerous delusion of all????????that a strongman in the Kremlin is good for security and necessary for stability. What started as a…
The State Duma, in all of its scary Soviet decor, has completed its first reading of a bill that seeks to essentially halt the abilities of NGOs operating in Russia. It will forbid foreign funding, force them to register with the government, and allow the authorities to monitor every last activity that these organizations undertake. Most dreadfully, it will allow the government to brand any of them as an extremist organization, paving the way for politically motivated closings. It’s Yukos all over again, but instead of focusing on oligarchic opposition, the authorities are now focusing on civil society opposition. This…
Eduardo Avila of Barrio Flores has this week’s Bolivian blog roundup, in what I suppose I could call ‘The Special Sandalista Edition’ as it is chiefly focused on the writings of foreigners writing about Bolivia, and some of them, who shall be nameless, are knee-deep in Sandalista do-goodery that is utterly unsalable in their home countries. But that’s not the only kind of foreigner who blogs about Bolivia – there are all kinds – normal humanitarian workers, Lonely Planeters, curious outsiders, people working in the country. For a Bolivian, it must be a really fascinating experience to see their country…
Miguel Buitrago has uncovered new polling numbers in Bolivia as the elections close in there in less than a month. He’s got terrific insights and observations about the narrowing lead of Evo Morales in the election, along with some anomalies we might not have expected, like the fact that Morales is doing well in Santa Cruz, a place we expected the opposition to take, and that Oruro, a very old traditional – and beautiful – mining town, expected to be a Morales stronghold, apparently is up for grabs. Miguel suspects the government (I think that means non-Morales forces) to likely…
During the old days of the Soviet regime, one of the most salient features seen of the public under communism was the telltale sadness in the faces of the people. I remember asking a Soviet diplomat about this during the days of the Cold War and recall his defensive lying – ‘The people are contented,’ he insisted. Then I saw the sadness in his face too as he spoke to me. Someone else I recall said that people in Soviet communist regime always look like they are about to cry. It is the same story in Cuba. The Real Cuba…
Markets exist to distribute resources most efficiently. Rejection of them inevitably leads to huge, Soviet-style inefficiencies, all the way up to the violation of human nature itself. But in the end, markets, which chase out the inefficient in favor of the efficient, always triumph. Francisco Toro has a fascinating little essay about the economic principle of creative destruction applied to the dictatorship of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who in fact presents a vastly better technical model of how to be a political leader than his older opposition. It’s an intelligent and well-argued essay well worth reading here.
Miguel Octavio presents new evidence that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez continues to persecute his political opponents through the use of a blacklist called the ‘Tascon List.’ This blacklist was derived from the public signatures of all the Venezuelans who signed the recall referendum petition against Hugo Chavez, something they legally had a right to do. Chavez “won” the recall referendum anyway, and like a captured weapon, he then used the petition signature list as a blacklist and an instrument for politically motivated revenge, something that truly destroys faith in democracy. Miguel’s post is well worth reading here.
Olavo de Carvalho is a brilliant Brazilian intellectual who keeps closely focused on the origins of the far left movements that exist in Latin America and why they are so insidious. Aleksander Boyd at VCrisis spent some time with him, and a terrific, deeply thoughtful exchange of ideas between the two revolutionaries followed. Carvalho attributes the new traction for nondemocratic leftism in the Americas to the writings of an Italian intellectual named Antonio Gramsci. In the ruins of communism’s demise in Eastern Europe, this Italian’s stock has risen, because his approach to Marxism is quite new and different from the…
There is something very eerie about black markets flourishing imperviously in a place like Fidel Castro’s Cuba. It’s one of the world’s most repressed places, with only North Korea more hostile to the perfectly human activity of trade, there demonized as ‘capitalism.’ But such trade markets do flourish in Cuba, on, of all things, the elusive Internet. Yet other than in North Korea again, there is no country where Internet access is more tightly controlled than Castro’s island carcel. Somehow, they flourish anyway, giving us a window into the holes in the Castro police state, holes that allow the human…
It has been ten years since the Dayton Accords ended officially ended the war in Bosnia, which killed over 200,000 people and displaced over a million more. The agreement marked a peaceful separation of nations into a loose, autonomous confederacy of three peoples who had been forced together under Soviet totalitarianism and left to kill each other after its fall. But after all these years, it’s possible that these people are willing to begin the move toward living — together — under a unified nation. The first step will be reforms to enable more effective governance, along with the capture…
”We are not a shill for anyone in this,” claimed Steve Schwadron, chief of staff to U.S. Congressman Delahunt who’s just concluded an oil-for-loyalty deal with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, in the first-ever brazen effort to buy political influence through cheap oil to the underclass through the offices of willing U.S. Congressman. The real story on this gamy political deal to buy political influence in the U.S., and the dangerous implications for Venezuela’s democracy can be read in this spectacular expose by a Venezuelan oil director here. Meanwhile, the depth of Venezuela’s own poverty can be seen in photos here…
Instapundit has found a terrific blog called Yannick Laclau from Spain showing that Nicolas Sarkozy of France is getting ‘down in the trenches’ of the blogosphere, which is to say, actually publishing comments on other peoples’ blogs. Yannick, the blogger who discovered this notes that while Dominique de Villepin writes love poetry and Napoleonic history, Sarkozy hops into the blog pool and blogs with the normal people. It’s an extremely clever political move and is certain to get him both popularity as well as headlines. It shows that he is both nervy and in tune. Yannick’s terrific post and analysis…
Somewhat more literally, Kenyans had an orange revolution of their own, rejecting a new consolidation of power by President Mwai Kibaki in a fair, democratic process. This represents significant progress in Kenya’s ongoing struggle over its freedom from corruption and pursuit of real democracy; the story I linked to has a good amount of detail. Mr Kibaki has spent a large amount of political capital trying to push through what would have been the first major amendment of Kenya’s constitution since it won independence from Britain in 1963… Mr Kibaki told the nation that any new effort to revise or…
This article was posted to my blog over the weekend, prior to the second round of voting. As indicated in my Middle East Week in Review post, the second round took place on Sunday amid a major crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Early indications are that this crackdown has had the result intended by the regime. A more detailed analysis is to follow when the results of the second round are clear. The first stage of Egypt’s three-stage elections, including both the initial round and the run-off, has left three basic results clear: the ruling National Democratic Party is showing…
It’s been one year today since the beginning of the Orange Revolution, Ukraine’s democratic movement that has solidified a prompt for change across the entire region. Genuine and copycat attempts have broken out all over, some failing and some reaching realization. This blog was started based on inspiration drawn from the Orange Revolution. With its one year anniversary, what has the legacy of these mass popular movements been? What do you think the future holds for this part of the world, where freedom and democracy have been so elusive? There are plenty of assessments out there, but I want yours’.
Looking for a fiercely independent country in the heart of Central Asia, with a penchant for free enterprise and building a working democracy? Then you’re looking for Mongolia, a stab in the heart to all of the region’s dictators. Well, President Bush just made history by being the first U.S. president to visit Mongolia, a visit he used to praise the country’s developing democracy. Gateway Pundit has a roundup. Registan has links to Mongol blogs.
Two rounds of voting out of three have been undertaken in Egypt’s parliamentary elections, with the Muslim Brotherhood scoring approximately one fourth of the total seats. But after its initial strong showing in the relatively peaceful first round, the government took the initiative to crack down on the organization by arresting hundreds of its members during the second round. DAMANHOUR, Egypt: Police arrested hundreds of activists from Egypt????????s strongest opposition group and thugs trying to intimidate voters shot dead a man in legislative elections yesterday. The thugs shot Mohamed Ibrahim in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and set fire to…
This is the scariest picture ever of evil Donald Rumsfeld, couretsy of CBS. Why does he have no pinky? And is he doing some Darth Vader move, or did he just rip out the CBS producer’s face? What is going on? Via Academic Elephant.
I have now posted my Middle East Week in Review bulletin for the past week. Topics for this week’s bulletin include Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Morocco, Yemen and Iran. Notable for democracy watchers is that the second round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections took place on Sunday, and this time the government clamped down hard on the Muslim Brotherhood, even reportedly sending armed thugs to polling places to attack MB supporters.
Venezuela’s Aleksander Boyd at VCrisis has a stunning piece translated from the Mexican press about the extent of Hugo Chavez’s and Fidel Castro’s political meddling in Mexico and its elections. That’s MEXICO – right on our border, walking distance from San Diego and El Paso and Laredo and Matamoros and Yuma – that Mexico! The extent of the cash shoveling and gunrunning is far deeper than anyone knew, and extends even to violent groups who have commenced blowing up banks in Mexico these days, over free trade. Which just happens to be what Chavez has declared war on. With Chavez’s…
…through free trade. It’s put Mexico on the world map as a player, while Venezuela grows ever less significant. The Fox-Chavez spat just brought it all to everyone’s attention. Investor’s Business Daily has the editorial here. Meanwhile, via Boz, I read in Marcela Sanchez’s pretty good column of the critical need for free trade and all the Neanderthals in Washington who are blocking it. She’s right, but doesn’t mean they should not be fought. The whole story is here. Andres Oppenheimer hit a true home run, one of his best columns, called ‘Chavez Started It’ describing what went on at…
Where’s the hemisphere going politically? Boz has an excellent news roundup showing the latest political cross currents. Among these are a poll showing left-leaning Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dropping down in the Mexican polls, Evo Morales of Bolivia apparently ticking downward, Michelle Bachelet of Chile a little lower and possibly facing a runoff and Lourdes Flores in Peru holding her lead (and I’m really glad the godawful Alan Garcia can’t get more than 15%). There are a host of smaller indicators of public sentiment too. Go read the whole thing here.
Election results from Egypt’s first round of parliamentary elections are coming in, and due to the greater transparency and lesser violence than before, the Muslim Brotherhood took a big chunk of seats. Of course, there were instances of fraud, intimidation, and genereal irregularities, but they seem to be committed on an individual basis instead of being part of a widespread campaign. Members of the more liberal opposition, however, didn’t fair so well despite that the Al-Ghad party candidate, Ayman Nour, taking second place in the presidential election. Egypt’s ruling party won 112 seats in the first stage of the country’s…
In the wake of the Fox-Chavez spat, Mexico’s leftist presidential frontrunner, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has slid by nearly 8 basis points in the presidential polls. From a Goldman Sachs research note: Gentlemen, Start Your Engines – AMLO Slightly Down on the Polls According to pollster Mitofsky, in November Lopez Obrador (AMLO) lost some ground in the opinion polls, falling to 29.5% in November from 37.9% in August. Most of the intentions to vote lost by AMLO went to PANista candidate Felipe Calderon, who climbed to 24.4% in November from 20.2%. Madrazo (PRI) remained stable in second place in the…
Jane Novak at Armies of Liberation writes regularly about the perfidy of President Ali Saleh of Yemen and the way his government pretends to support the U.S.-led war on terror. Now she’s done it on Al-Jazeera, and it appears to have stirred the pot. This is the specific post regarding her appearance: Jane Novak Slams President Saleh’s Regime on Al-Jazeera.