Blogging the democratic revolution
SFGate put together a timeline of events for Nepal over the past 4 years, and The Independent put together a little biography of King Gyanendra. It gives you a pretty good idea of where this country has come from. UPDATE: Transition Trends has some detailed followup as well. Now, disturbing reports are leaking out of the central town of Pokhara, where on Tuesday evening a student protest was followed by a brutal attack by the army. From reports I’ve seen, the BBC’s account is only half the story. Apparently, when the army raided the student hostels in Pokhara, they went…
The Asia Centre for Human Rights has this overview of the situation in Nepal since yesterday. Here’s its suggestions: International community must act more decisively and swiftly, NOW, by freezing all assistance including military assistance to Nepal unless His Majesty King Gyanendra: – Lifts emergency and restores all democratic freedoms and institutions including the immediate release of all those who are detained following the dismissal of the Deuba government, restoration of communication lines, including mobile, internet, long distance calls, and opening of the Kathmandu International Airport and lifting ban on press freedoms; – Creates a national consensus process involving all…
I always forget to check INBB International Bulletin because I always go to the main website. But you need to make sure to visit it because Zed posts a Daily Burma roundup with news about the situation there.
I was taking a nap and woke up to images on the television of people rioting in the streets; behind the broadcaster’s words that “King Gyanendra of Nepal has just sacked the democratic government for failing to hold parliamentary elections and fight rebels.” Maybe it’s just years of training my fine intuition, but that just doesn’t seem like the right answer. Nepal was thrown into a dramatic crisis yesterday as King Gyanendra sacked the entire government, put the Prime Minister under house arrest and announced he was taking direct power into his own hands. Already reeling from a Maoist insurgency…
We had already witnessed one sign that North Korea????????s totalitarian system is dissolving, even as its leaders boast of owning nuclear weapons to deter their enemies. ???????It????????s just like the Berlin Wall,??????? Pastor Douglas Shin, a Christian activist, said by telephone from Seoul. ???????The slow-motion exodus is the beginning of the end.??????? In interviews for this article over many months, western policymakers, Chinese experts, North Korean exiles and human rights activists built up a picture of a tightly knit clan leadership in Pyongyang that is on the verge of collapse. Some of those interviewed believe the ???????Dear Leader???????, Kim Jong-il,…
I was reading the comments from Iraq the Model and noticed the sweet presence of visitors from other lands fighting oppression in their own distant countries. I loved the greetings from the Chinese and Venezuelan names. Word is spreading to every corner on earth,. And the reality is, their time for freedom is going to come too. We are all in this together. And we all share in Iraq’s joy. Miguel’s got a beautiful short item up in his Venezuelan blog, well worth reading.
Commies are so bizarre. Hu is saying that communism is still the ‘correct road’ for China, but honestly. when is communism ever the right way to go? “Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the logical and correct choice for China to further realize national rejuvenation, prosperity of the country and happy lives for the people,” he said. The Chinese leader also said “socialism is in a constant development process.” “As practices of socialism with Chinese characteristics keeps growing, so will our understanding of the laws of socialist construction,” said Hu. “We should apply these laws creatively to guide the study and…
Zed over at INBB has posted several recently published reports about companies that do business with Burma’s military dictatorship. There are a lot of travel agencies on there. I can just see the slogan: “Come one, come all! Tour the abject poverty and learn how they keep it that way!”
Canadian MP Jason Kenney of the Tories visited the home of Zhao Ziyang. He was the first foreigner to visit the house in 15 years, and did it as a show of support for Ziyang and the underground democracy movement. Mr. Kenney said later that he made the effort as a show of support for those who back the underground democratic movement in China. “Why should we as Canadians be shy about appropriate expressions of support for democracy and human rights in China?” Mr. Kenney asked. “I hope other foreigners do something symbolic to show the underground democracy movement here…
Can anybody say “domino effect?”
It looks like Taiwan’s trade to China took up 36% of its exports. As the article suggests, this is a 28% increase in trade volume from 2003, making China as Taiwan’s biggest market. It will be hard for Taiwan to achieve its national identity apart of China if it becomes too dependant. China is willing to use military force, by all means necessary, to keep Taiwan as part of the greater nation. Given the governmen’t high regards for human rights, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just cut off all trade with Taiwan if they tried to secede. It would…