Blogging the democratic revolution
Following the super-flawed municipal elections held last week, the Supreme Court in Nepal has decided that the Royal Commission for Corruption Control, setup by royal decree soon after King Gyanendra took power one year ago, is completely unconstitutional and all decisions made by it are annulled. This is a major blow to the King and a major step back onto the path of democracy and the rule of law. He justified the commission by stating that it would be used to weed out corruption in the government, but instead it was used as his personal eight-man search and destroy party…
The Shia-based United Iraq Alliance finally made its nomination for prime minister evident, voting by an inter-party margin of one vote to choose current Prime Minister Jaafari to lead the country’s first democratically elected government. I think the choice could end up in a stalemate, with a new candidate eventually having to be proposed. Iraq the Model has thoughts on the matter, ultimately concluding that it’s too early to speculate too much — but that won’t stop me! Iraq’s ruling Shia coalition announced yesterday it had chosen incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister, clearing the way for…
The tiny island nation of Tonga, population 100,000, got it’s first commoner prime minister after the king’s son was removed from the position following months of public protest against his rather senile rule. Here’s the backstory. Tonga has moved closer to democracy with the king’s unpopular youngest son stepping down as prime minister in favour of an elected commoner – an historic first in the Pacific island monarchy. Without giving a reason, the Tongan government announced on Monday that after six years as prime minister, Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata resigned all his ministerial portfolios on Saturday. A statement said Crown…
Millions of Iranians have boycotted the official gatherings marking the 27th anniversary of the murderous and terroristic Islamic revolution. Don’t expect the media to report it. From SMCCDI Millions of Iranians inflicted another heavy slap to the face of the shaky and unpopular Islamic regime by boycotting its “27th anniversary revolution celebration” by staying home, or far from the official gatherings. The regime’s desperate leadership was hoping to bring millions in the streets by playing their nationalistic or religious feelings. But in Tehran, which was supposed to become a show room, the regime was unable to muster more than 70…
Why? Find out more here . And remember, the Bahamian authorities behave as badly as Castro. How long will it take before the civilized world realizes that Cuban refugees deserve the status of political refugees and must be granted political asylum? I am endorsing the boycott.
Miguel Buitrago at MABB has radical information – Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales may not after all be the best of fraternal socialist buddies – the problem starts because Chavez is up to no good trying to take over Bolivia’s natural gas reserves, something I could see coming from a mile away – Chavez ruined his “own” reserves, why wouldn’t he want to steal someone else’s? The guy has no sense of ownership or stewardship, he is pure, 100% brigand, and Morales is naive. But maybe not THAT naive. Miguel’s two must-read items on this most-welcome news here and here.…
Bolivia, at the center of the South American continent, seems to have everyone’s attention. Miguel at MABB describes the now-strong interest of major nations on poor small Bolivia, including everything from the U.S.’s drug eradication efforts to Brazil’s and the Andean Community’s energy interests. My short conclusion? Things have changed, this is no business as usual. A revolution of sorts has happened. Hence, the new world out there in Bolivia. Miguel’s interesting item is here. UPDATE: More on this topic from Boli-Nica, who’s been doing some fine blogging lately. His item is here.
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has jerked Sumate around, with a high court throwing out the entire trial as it has been flimsily assembled, and a whole new one, on different grounds, in what’s known here as double-jeopardy, being started. This, in short, is political persecution, the acts of Chavistas desperately seeking a means of jailing these people … who have done nothing wrong … any way they can. The whole insane story’s updates, plus another update on the freedom-of-the-press attack using more double-jeopardy, is here. They’re just going to keep trying till they get them, it seems. I cannot imagine…
Val at Babalu blog has an important item on a hunger strike being done by an independent Cuban journalist inside Cuba who’s been denied any Internet access at all from which to file his stories to the outside world. The rest of us take this for granted but in Cuba, it’s something Castro considers his privilege. This poor fellow is willing to starve himself to get the gag off and barely anyone is noticing. It’s sad. Val’s writeup, and a photo of the Havana journalist, is here. UPDATE: And Ziva, at Blog for Cuba, has more thoughts here.
With possibly a 1,000-vote discrepancy between Oscar Arias and Otton Solis in their ultra-close and now contentious presidential election from Sunday, Jacqueline Mackie Paisley Passey has has found that plans are already under way to recycle the ballots into toilet paper. Somehow, for some at least, it will seem fitting. Her funny item is here. Oh, and be sure to see some of her other stuff on the more serious political state of affairs here and here. Via Global Voices, a site called Costa Rica en el presente, has what it says are unofficial presidential election results, in Spanish, and…
Boz has some really good polling numbers this week, all kinds of unusual numbers, including a delicious Peruvian one showing that Ollanta Humala, Chavez ally and leftist torturer of peasants, is dropping like a stone in Peru’s presidential polls for April. Peruvians just don’t like him. Not only that, Tony Saca is doing fine in El Salvador. You gotta see this whole thing here.
Daniel in Venezuela has a fascinating political analysis of what the real meaning of Chavez’s thuggish outburst directed as United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair, calling him “a pawn of the empire” was really all about. Daniel thinks that Blair’s pointed remarks to the Veneuzelan dictator were completely intentional and signal that the European Union is getting fed up with him. Daniel names a whole slew of reasons, which, if he’s right, should mean that the tropical dictator is growing ever more isolated, except among the world’s pariah states, something that will have implications for its eventual democratic revolution. It’s…
It’s a growing spectacle. Troops are taking control of every productive aspect of Venezuelan society as the private sector seeks to close shop. They’re in food production, in hotel security, in road maintenance – you name it. They are everywhere to be seen, something that Indonesia under Suharto and China before Deng Xiaoping’s reforms were. It’s fascist nationalism, particularly because of the pocket-lining aspects, something that the Suharto regime was especially noteworthy for. We often look to Eastern Europe as the model for Chavez, but the proto-fascist regimes of East Asia before the economic crisis of 1998 are also pretty…
The setup seems so marvelous, the U.S. bipartisan congressional National Endowment for Democracy gives funds to many nongovernment organizations around the world to spread democratic revolution. But what happens when the grants blows up in the recipients’ faces? Such as Venezuela, where Maria Corina Machado is facing charges for taking the money? Does anyone look out for her? Places, like Venezuela, that SAY they are democracies aren’t necessarily that. Here is one editorial that calls for taking more responsibility for the democracy-spreading recipients of these grants here.
The BBC Radio ran an interview with Natan Sharansky on its “Taking A Stand” program. There’s no transcript of the interview, so you’ll just have to listen to the report. He talks about his time in the Soviet gulag, his release, his career in Israeli politics, and most interestingly his take on Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian elections. His position is that though the election obviously represented the true choice of the Palestinian people, it is not good for democracy. His book, The Case For Democracy, focuses extensively on the issue of promoting democracy in the Palestinian territories. He says…
I’m totally swamped with reading for my so-called “formal education,” but since it’s mostly on democracy and terrorism perhaps you all will be interested in checking out the books that I myself am reading at this time. – Democratization: A Critical Introduction: Very basic. If you’ve been reading this site, then you will easily understand all of the major concepts and theories introduced in this book. – The Dynamics of Democratization : Elites, Civil Society and the Transition Process: I like this one a bit more than the above, because it focuses a lot on the role of elites and…
The United States and Britain are discussing democratic regime change for Iran, the only possible way that the nuclear row will ever be solved without potential violence. This is very good news for both the international community as well as the Iranian people. The benefit for us is that we won’t have to worry about a hostile Iran with nuclear weapons, and the benefit for them is that they get to live in a free society. It works both ways. The only criticism I have of this policy is that it should have been implemented much, much sooner. WASHINGTON (Reuters)…
Andy Young of Siberian Light fame is now blogging over at Taking Aim, and he reports now that Russia is expecting a huge shortage of vodka. The issue is so big, in fact, that it was front page news on Komsomolskaya Pravda. Cause? An anti-counterfeiting law that came into effect on January 1 stipulating that every bottle of vodka must have an excise duty stamp on it. It sounds like the Stamp Act of 1765 that helped produce a boycott of British goods and push forward the American Revolution. A shortage of vodka would be terrible politics for Putin. Hell,…
In yet another mockery of democracy, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has kicked off his presidential campaign … using misappropriated government funds, for it is not with bankrupt ideas that he leads his masses – but with buyoffs and handouts. Veneuzela’s election is in early December. Chavez cheats at elections, so it would seem he’s got it made no matter what kind of campaign he runs. But for reasons I don’t entirely understand I know this is a big deal for them. I have a source in Miraflores Palace who’s told me that in all sincerity. A really really big deal for…
Nepal is holding municipal elections today, the first vote for the people of the country in seven years. The King is heralding it as a step toward democracy in a country besieged by a Maoist insurgency. With any luck, the country will return to normal within good time and everyone will live happily ever after. Oh, sunny days! Or not. Unlike other posts about elections and the spread of democracy, this is anything but. It has been exactly a year and a week since the King took absolute power by disbanding the parliament. He is now attempting to legitimize his…
Another day, another neighbor abused. This time Venezuelan dictator has decided to abuse Trinidad over natural gas concessions. This adds to his long list of regional neighbors he’s tried to bully and destroy. The story is here.
A one-man Venezuelan court demanded 16 years in prison for Venezuelan democracy campaigner Maria Corina Machado. The one-stop-judge/jury/jailer also violated her rights by refusing to allow her to speak in the courtroom as is her right. The jail sentence he’s demanding is much higher than anyone expected. The politicized judge also demanded to detain her — in an abysmal Venezuelan prison — when she returns to court on Feb. 14. This doesn’t look good. Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is desperately looking for enemies and his actions have begun to sharply escalate as the U.S. becomes preoccupied with Iran, Castro totters…
Oil prices spiked down earlier this week after Hugo Chavez tried to drive them up by threatening $100 a barrel oil. But I bet they will go up on this news – an oil production pipeline shutdown in Ecuador, based on a real counterrevolution run by ignorant leftists intent on chasing out all foreign investment and jobs. These populists imagine that oil will just come out of the ground by itself once the foreign investors are out and the tax base (none of these bastarads pays taxes) dries up. They are likely to cause a lot of trouble for us…
As many of you maybe know, Castro’s regime increased his war on the Cuban people.By speaking with many Cuban freedom fighters in Cuba, I notice that there’s an awareness about the upcoming end of the 47-year long communist dictatorship in the Antilles. Friends who have been continously harassed by Castroite mobs tell me that Castro is well aware that his days are numbered and that he can no longer control his people’s aspirations. Opposition movements are increasing day by day and the more repression is used against dissidents, the more people join the opposition and the more determined they’re. On…
Kill terrorists ‘like rats’ Just so you know.