Blogging the democratic revolution
The topic of the week is Bolivian president-elect’s understated style of dressing. Leftwing Evo Morales doesn’t actually own a suit, but only street clothes, something that’s creating a bit of a sensation around the world. On Morales’ first unofficial World Tour to meet assorted leaders in places like Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, South Africa and China,…
Longtime contributor Kirk H. Sowell over at Window on the Arab World, and More! sent the following to me via email with regards to my post, “Dealing with the rise of Islamist politics.” It furthers the discussion by pointing out a key flaw in the article I linked to; that, while elections would certainly lead…
Brazil announced today that its state oil company, Petrobras, would spend $18 billion to develop its Santos Basin offshore natural gas reserves in a bid to reduce its dependence on imported natural gas, explicitly, from nationalization-minded leftwing Bolivia. Eighteen billion. That’s big money. A whole Iraq-War trove of cash. A massive, history-changing investment. Why the…
The Movement for Democratic Change, the battered opposition party in Zimbabwe, has officially split into two groups amid a dispute on who the leader should be. A certain Gibson Sibanda, once vice president of the party, has been declared the leader despite calls to the contrary from Morgan Tsvangirai, the (ex?)leader of the party. It’s…
Remember that whole deal between Russia and Ukraine that ended the gas crisis that the press and diplomats all over the place were cheering over like a teenage boy getting his first lap dance? Well, if you’ve been reading Publius then you’d know that there was some pretty shady behind-the-scenes dealing going on. Ex-Prime Minister…
There’s an article by Carnegie senior associate Amr Hamzawy that I think you all will find very interesting. It contends that the slow opening of political systems in the Middle East is allowing for progressively better representation of what the population actually wants, which is why Islamists are beginning to take seats. Since the majority…
I’m currently reading The Oligarchs, a truly fascinating book about the six everyday Soviet citizens who bought up Russia during the period of privatization and came to rule the country from behind the scenes. It’s very good, very detailed, and told smoothly like a story. The most fascinating part about it is not so much…
…and not just in Caracas. But what’s happening in Caracas is bad enough. Here is a Guardian account, straight out of the history of the Soviet Union with ‘Venezuela’ pasted over the ‘Russia’ part. It is a real escalation of the shortages that are engulfing Venezuela – and soon it will be made worse by…
It’s the weekend everyone — and you know what that means. No more blogging until Monday. Consider this an open comment thread. UPDATE: Hey, it looks like my prediction that the Ukraine-Russia gas crisis would fuel Ukrainian nationalism and drive it further toward the West turned out to be true. “KIEV, Ukraine Jan 7, 2006…
Iraq the Model is talking about the death, shortages, corruption, and scandals that are taking a huge toll on public opinion in the country. Omar, known pretty well for his optimism, says that, “it is a fact that it hasn????????t been this bad in Iraq ever since the 9th of April 2003.” While I’m not…
Asharq al-Awsat has run an interview with ex-Syrian vice president Khaddam, who recently accused Assad of being involved in the Hariri assassination, and is now facing charges of treason and corruption by the Syrian government. In this interview, he counters what his detractors are saying by coming up with multi-million dollar accusations of corruption against…
Here are some articles about RosUkrEnergo, the middle-man company being used in the gas deal between Russia and the Ukraine, and the particularly shady way it’s involved. – RFE/RL goes into the history of the company and why it was created. Let’s just say it involved a certain ex-president of Ukraine, a certain current president…
It’s only lately with all this free time on my hands that I’ve been able to regularly read over Publius’ blogroll, so I stopped over at Tim Russo’s Democracy Guy blog to see if he was talking at all about his time working for NDI in Armenia. More than ever, it seems. He’s self-publishing a…
Somewhat predictably, after the united opposition failed in its attempt to enact a colored revolution in Azerbaijan — or at least prevent voter fraud at the municipal level — it completely fell apart. This Eurasia Daily Monitor article goes into detail about how the Azadliq “Freedom” coalition has split up on the national level following…
Just the kind of revolutionary competition that really should be going on in the world – not of arms, not of plunder, but of which country can demonstrate it’s the most pro-free-trade? Ian Vazquez at the Cato Institute, who just got back from the Arab countries, launched this intriguing new yardstick that will be sure…
Leftwing Uruguay, supposedly fully in bed with Hugo Chavez, now seeking a free trade pact with the hated Colossus of the North, none other than the U.S. And you were told it was all going so bad down there. Uruguay is practically the vortex of supposedly anti-American sentiment, its president fully pals with the hemisphere’s…
Two weeks ago in Caracas, I was continuously monitoring Globovision TV and El Universal newspaper for information about Viaduct 1 leading to Maiquetia airport. There was a real concern that the damn thing would collapse. It was the listing bridge on the only highway leading to the airport. Rains came down, and shifted the mountains,…
Our favorite babe of politics has come out swinging in the settlement of the gas dispute between the Ukraine and Russia, and will be challenging the deal in court. The reason has little to do with the actual price negotiated, but much more to do with the single issue that she really stands out on:…
Despite the arrest of thousands of peaceful demonstrators, the further slaughter of hundreds more, and the trial the leaders of the democratic oppositions, the United States will not be joining other World Bank donors in revoking aid to the Meles regime. According to the article, the U.S. doesn’t feel this is necessary as there has…
What I reported here on the Caracas coffee shortage turns out to be a part of a much larger story many details of which I saw in different areas of the country. Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has forced producers of coffee to sell their beans below cost, or face confiscation of assets. He’s also done…
That’s Strike Two for the Venezuelan dictator. Joining Mexico, Peru has pulled its ambasssador from Venezuela on the grounds that it’s now openly meddling in Peru’s presidential elections. Yesterday, far-leftist Presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, Evo Morales’ Peruvian ideological soulmate, decided to join the cavorting with Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales in public photo opportunities to…
In a recent poll, Russian citizens picked superlatives for their politicians, naming among others who is the most honest, the smartest, and even who is the sexiest. As for the latter, ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the ironically named Liberal Democracy Party took the prize for the sexiest politician in the country. Just take a look…
…in the context of Latin America’s failed economic reforms is a truly interesting comparison. After all, failed reforms in Latin America have left it at the mercy of increasingly hostile, unproductive, dead-end leftist leaders, while rule-of-law-loving Estonia has seen itself vault to nearly first-world status in just a few short revolutionary years. Mary Anastasia O’Grady…
Fausta’s come up with a fierce photoessay showing all the hugging with all the whos that Hugo Chavez has done this past year. It’s her inimitable contribution to the year’s many lists. Blech! You gotta see it right here! Hat tip: Val at Babalu.
It’s written all over the visa lines, stretching from Mexicali to Caracas, from Havana to San Salvador, from Buenos Aires to Guayaquil, from La Paz to La Paz – and like the Drug War, its most violent edge is at the 1400-mile-long U.S. Mexican border, from Matamoros and Brownsville to Tijuana and San Diego where…