Blogging the democratic revolution
A lot has happened in Bolivia since last week. For one thing, elections were declared Dec. 18. That’s probably the most gripping story in the Bolivian blogosphere, and for obvious reasons – democracy has been put back on its rails – or well, apparently, the perspectives are different. Eduardo Avila at Barrio Flores has his…
Luis Ramirez at Voice of America, the best correspondent in East Asia, as we and even Amnesty International have noted before, has come up with some kickass reporting on …. North Korea’s rich elite and the continuing famine in North Korea. It is fearless journalism, and like none other you have read. Even people who…
Awhile back I was disagreeing with someone I respect on the nature of France and its need for democratic revolution, same as the rest of the unfree world. Today, I feel sad but sort of vindicated. The eighth day of rioting in France can’t be called a democratic revolution, but it’s the end result of…
Senators Bill Frist and Richard Lugar have taken the initiative in Congress and presented a resolution calling for the fair treatment of Sanjar Umarov, the Uzbek opposition politician who has presented the most reasonable challenge to President Karimov so far. He was detained in late October. Here’s the text of the resolution. The resolution prompted…
I’m still sick, everyone. I will see if I can do some blogging today, but at the moment the doctor has me pumped up on anti-biotics. They don’t seem to know what it is (after a week!) so they’ve run some blood tests and will hopefully know soon. Until then, it’s back to bed with…
I have now posted my Middle East Week in Review news bulletin, albeit two days late. In re to democracy issues, make a point to check out the link to the new national intelligence strategy, which focuses on this point.
The UN-Afghan joint commission, JAMB, has delayed the release results from parliamentary elections held in September. This is due to some 500 complaints filed related to possible electoral fraud committed at individual polling stations, all of which are being investigated before any final results are announced. The certification of final results from Afghanistan’s 18 September…
Try as he did, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez still hasn’t made America’s coveted ‘Axis Of Evil’ list of nations. But it’s not all a vale of tears for him, he did get Venezuela promoted to ‘Rogue State,’ right up there alongside Syria, quietly raising the likelihood of military conflict with the U.S. No fireworks, no…
Here in the states, we all had a good laugh when Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez denounced Halloween as part of ‘the U.S. culture of terror.’ He also said that Halloween costumes were terrible efforts to scare people as well as alien to the Venezuelan culture. By the sound of it, you could almost imagine that…
With the ruling party once again stealing the elections back in May and putting down an impending uprising, the people of Ethiopia aren’t ready to give up that quickly. The opposition has called for a boycott of companies and products controlled by the government. It has also called for popular protests. Of course, the government…
The United Nations Security Council, at the behest of the United Station, France, and Britain, adopted a resolution by unanimous consent against Syria in order to compel the rogue government to cooperate with the Mehlis investigation and turn over an officials involved. The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution demanding Syria’s full cooperation…
ForeignPolicy.com has a good and relevant article up about China’s crackdown on civil society following the colored revolutioned in Eastern Europe and Central Asia over the past few years. Georgia and Ukraine were bad enough, but when Kyrgyzstan — also a part of China’s growing sphere of influence — also joined suit, the Chinese government…
Miguel Buitrago has done a very valuable translation of an interview with Felipe Quispe, a Bolivian romantic indigenous leader running for president whose views are even more extremist than those of Evo Morales. It’s positively surreal but an absolute must-read for perspective on what an out-of-it space case this guy is in this election year….
Aleksander Boyd has posted a long and extensive report on the state of democracy in Venezuela from its leading democracy advocate, Sumate. The report shows in precise terms the parlous state of Venezuelan democracy and the news is not good. But it is a very important and historic report and Alek read all of it…
El Universal has its weekly Venezuelan land-expropriations roundup, illustrating how the increasingly Marxist government is taking ever greater numbers of rights from the people. The disturbing string of ongoing confiscations is here.
Argentina is rapidly hurtling toward the front of the news with the upcoming Summit of the Americas and President Bush’s visit to the beautiful but sinking-economically-to-the-bottom country. All this will be front page by the end of the week. David Sasaki at Global Voices has an excellent blog roundup on all that’s being written in…
Following the approval of the new Iraqi constitution despite opposition by the majority of Sunnis, Sunni Iraqi leaders are getting serious about the political process and their own stakes in the new Iraq. This past week a new Sunni coalition party was formed from three parties – the Iraqi People’s Conference, the Iraqi Islamic Party,…
Zanzibar held presidential and parliamentary elections over the weekend. As with many elections in Africa that we have covered here at Publius the aftermath has been a violent one with protestors clashing with state police forces. The opposition is claiming victory although, as is suspected, fraud is likely to be committed on a wide scale….
Speaking at the “World Without Zionism” conference, the president of Iran said that he wanted Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Here is a picture of him at the conference: But that’s not the whole thing. Gary Metz over at Regime Change Iran has the exclusive picture that the media isn’t showing you. That’s…
It is true that the investigation just about completed by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald is not related to the Iraq war, but the incident giving rise to the investigation does relate to one of the reasons why the liberation of that country was necessary. For background you probably aren’t getting from the MSM, see…
Felipe Calderon’s entry into the Mexican presidential race for 2006 creates a whole new dynamic in the election. It’s something I’ve believed since the beginning. Calderon is from the right-leaning PAN party, same as incumbent President Vicente Fox, but he comes across as a different player because he wasn’t Fox’s choice as successor. Fox himself…
Now this is something you have to see! Venezuela’s Francisco Toro has challenged Venezuela’s Gustavo Coronel to an ‘Opinion duel’ on a special blog they set up for just that purpose. They are arguing about the nature of the ‘ni-ni’‘s, those people in Venezuela who have not made up their minds about whether they support…
Breaking news – and likely trouble. An electoral board has ruled that the Dec. 4 presidential election will not go through, due to a redistricting dispute. Now, the possibility of roadblocks and using food as a weapon looms. The current caretaker president – who’s in office only because the last two presidents were thrown out…
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the weather here in Boston. But anyway, I’m sick again and have been for the past three days. It seems to be climaxing today so that’s why I haven’t blogged. You know it’s bad when you can’t even swallow your own saliva! So have a nice weekend…
One of the world’s most important under-reported stories is the ongoing struggle for political influence and commercial advantage in Central Asia – mainly Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyryzstan and Tajikistan – between Russia, China and the United States. Security Watchtower has an important post, The Battle for Central Asia, which is worth reading and which links…