Blogging the democratic revolution
In his memoirs, Ernest Hemingway wrote: “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” The Russian variant would be just a bit different: ???????If you are lucky enough to…
Scenes from Mexico’s Congress Source: El Universal, via StJacques at Free Republic Mexican Congress has opened, and supporters of failed presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the ridiculous little man who could not take defeat like and man, and instead inaugurated himself president last week, are determined to not allow real electoral winner, Felipe Calderon,…
Amid the recrudescence of Cold War murder from Russia, the specter of strife in Lebanon, and the shadow of tyranny darkening over the defiantly hope-filled streets of Venezuela, there also is great suffering among the people in Iraq, where the recent attacks have been the war’s most violent. Of course it is a civil war….
With the victory of leftists Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua just in the past month, it would seem as if a year-long string of defeats for the Bolivarian Revolution — most exemplified by Mexico and Peru — has been broken. With Fidel Castro regrettably still alive, Evo Morales looking to impose…
Rafael Correa, 43, an avowed leftist “economist” educated at the University of Illinois, has won the presidential election in Ecuador. He’s a good friend of Hugo Chavez and has campaigned on promises to de-dollarize Ecuador, default on the sovereign debt, and nationalize private oil companies, chasing out every last penny of foreign investment. He’s one…
Now I know what you are thinking. This being Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, getting stoned means he was caught smoking the holy leaf. Particularly since this was Santa Cruz, home of granola, Angela Davis, Surf City, leftists up the wazoo and the banana slugs volleyball team. Who could be surprised if Evo was stoned…
The Manuel Rosales presidential election rally in Caracas Saturday Source: Aleksander Boyd at VCrisis The size and depth of the crowd at the Rosales rally in Caracas Saturday Source: Daniel Duquenal at Venezuela News & Views Venezuelan flags at the Rosales presidential rally in Caracas Saturday Source: Anonymous, via Venezuela Today The babe count was…
Poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko on his deathbead Source: Kim Zigfeld, at La Russophobe In his defiant last statement, poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko said, “The bastards got me. But they won’t get everybody.” Incredibly brave words for a man going down in lingering pain from a now-unknown poison. Less than a week ago, Alexander…
Relatives of assasinated Lebanon minister Pierre Gemayel mourn Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! News Following the assassination of Lebanon’s Pierre Gemayel in a hail of gunfire by Syrian agents this week, the funeral in Beirut has rapidly turned into a gigantic anti-Syria demonstration. Lebanon’s leaders have lashed out at the Syrian tyrants who are attempting to…
This time, avalancha in Barquisimeto, Venezuela Source: Aleksander Boyd, VCrisis How does one explain this? The huge ‘avalancha’ crowds of Venezuelans from end to end of the vast South American nation the size of three Texases, all seeking an end to Chavismo is the rainbow swirling edge of pure democratic revolution. The photos – and…
After putting Mexico through a summer of turmoil and protests over a presidential electoral defeat he could not bring himself to accept, all I can say is: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Source: AP, via VOA Look …. at that …. ridiculous … little … man. He’s like the little man on the wedding cake! Yesterday,…
Cuba’s immensely wealthy Castro family, which Forbes magazine pegs for just under a billion provable dollars, is beginning to look outward for asylum with their money. That’s why the Chilean press yesterday reported that Mrs. Castro, the second or third wife of the Cuban dictator, has just bought a parcel of land straddling the Chile-Argentina…
Inflation, as Milton Friedman said, is a monetary phenomenon. The only way you get inflation is to print out money like there’s no tomorrow. Because when you do that, there IS no tomorrow, money-printing destroys savings and with it, future investment. Which would have great implications for a nation’s stability and passage to or from…
On Sunday, the British press exploded with reports about the poisoning in London of KGB defector Colonel Alexander Litvinenko (pictured above, circa 2002), who had been in the process of investigating the murder of Anna Politkovskaya to see whether the KGB (now called the FSB) was involved. The Associated Press reported that ???????Toxicologist Dr. John…
Vietnamese wave as the motorcade of U.S. President George W. Bush makes its way through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Monday, Nov. 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Nghat Le) Vietnamese onlookers react to the arrival of U.S. President George W. Bush at Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ho Chi Monh City, Vietnam, Monday, Nov….
See you all on Monday! I have a very special anniversary to celebrate this weekend, so Publius goes on hold until then… :)
Milton Friedman, Democratic Revolutionary Source: John Petrie’s Milton Friedman Quotation Page The great Milton Friedman died yesterday in San Francisco. His ideas changed the world the most in our era. When we say ‘free markets,’ we think of him. I can think of no one whose ideas made more revolution and genuinely changed the world…
Just over one month ago, at 5:10 pm Moscow Time on Saturday October 7, 2006, the heroic and valiant Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was found shot dead at her home. As Publius Pundit reported soon afterwards, Politkovskaya was far and away Russia????????s most internationally recognized and lauded journalist, and a harsh critic of the Kremlin????????s…
From a post at my Free and Secular Iran Yahoo Group: The bitter reality under the Islamist Regime of Iran, where Love is a crime. A young couple in a park in Tehran. The Islamist regime????????s Police on a daily basis scrutinizing and eavesdropping on citizens???????? private lives The park police approaches the young couple…
A much talked about concept (and concern) over the summer and autumn in EU foreign policy circles has been the birth of what is being called the “Kosovo double-standard,” by which the EU and United States support Kosovo’s independence from Serbia while declining to recognize the supposed self-determination of Georgian breakaway provinces Abkhazia and South…
You’ve heard of VCrisis for Venezuela, no? Now, there’s ECrisis, for Ecuador. A couple of Ecuador hands who believe in democratic revolution and free markets, have gotten together and come up with a beautiful new Web site for all developments regarding turbulent little Ecuador. It’s full of richly sourced stories and the most up to…
The mind of Hugo Chavez is like a compost heap. It’s full of layer upon layer of muck, and when he gets to spreading it out through what comes out of his mouth, you never know what will come up to the top. Greg Wilpert, a Chavista agent who edits a prominent Chavista Web site,…
Monday the trade Neanderthals in Congress rejected endorsement of Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization. It was slopped through a lame-duck committee and Congressional Republicans and Democrats voted against bringing Vietnam into the world trading system. They wanted to shut Vietnam out. And keep all the trade to themselves. Problem is, it takes two…
Alek Boyd has taken some photos of Puerto Cabello’s refineries, showing all how Hugo Chavez is painting the entire industrial complex a bright communist red. Rather than the ethereal white of the Long Beach refineries, it’s this rage-inducing comrade red, Chavez’s own color. The only othe place I’ve seen this done is Tijuana, Mexico, where…
What’s gotten into Brazil’s supposedly decent president, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva? He flew up to Venezuela and openly endorsed Hugo Chavez for president, hugging and kissing him, and openly meddling in an election for a country that’s not his own. Oddly enough, Chavez did not do the same for him, which is to say…