Blogging the democratic revolution
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 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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
Kill terrorists ‘like rats’ Just so you know.
Cartoon jihad seems to have reached Iran. I say seems because as you know, in Iran most of the population cannot stand the regime anymore and is looking for a secular and democracy system of government and of course they’re not willing to participate in the regime-organized rallies. From SMCCDI : the demonstrators stayed under…