Blogging the democratic revolution
Ghana football player John Pentsil after his team’s victory Source: AP, via Ha’aretz What a lovely story! Following Ghana’s tremendous and unexpected soccer victory over the powerhouse Czech Republic, a Ghanaian player whipped out an Israeli flag to show his support for the embattled Jewish state at the moment of his own victory. What a breath of fresh air for Israel, which usually has to hear horrible things about itself in the international political arena. This Ghanaian player wanted to honor them along with Ghana. The soccer player, John Pentsil, plays for teams in Israel between World Cups and feels…
Argentine babe, during Argentina’s spectacular soccer victory over Serbia Another Argentine babe, harder to please, she has an Argentine scowl Fox News, on the job, hunting for babes – don’t tell me Fox didn’t try Source, all photos: Fox Sports Another Argentine football babe Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! More babes, significant because they are in a group, lone babes do not make a revolution Source: El Opinador Compulsivo (who has more photos and excellent Spanish commentary) I am rooting for Argentina in this World Cup match, same as last time, and this year, they are dazzling us all. Although I…
As Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez flashes his rifles this week, ranting on and on about a nonexistent “U.S. invasion” – a real war is going on in Venezuela, one in which real criminals are waging on Venezuela’s poor people, and one in which its combatants, the police, are starved for funds, as Chavez happily shoots his wad in a bid to buy ever fancier military hardware. Miguel has the facts and figures on this, in an extraordinarily good essay that can be easily understood, even by people not familiar with Venezuela. Read it here.
Abu Bakar Bashir, Southeast Asia’s Leading Terror Mullah Source: The Sydney Morning Herald I get a visceral reaction every time I see this guy. I first heard of Abu Bakar Bashir, the leading terror cleric in Southeast Asia, in early 2002 from Sidney Jones, who was then with Human Rights Watch. She knew her stuff on Indonesia and she sounded the alarm loudly about this bastard well before the first Bali bombings in October 2002. She was absolutely adamant about the danger he posed as leader of Jemaah Islamiyah and the sleepiness of the Indonesian government to the threat he…
Chavez taking aim Source: Globovision Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez vowed to shoot down the independent press today, in perhaps his most pointed threat against it ever. Amid all the Chavista propaganda reported here in the States, suggesting that Venezuela is not a dictatorship because of an existing free press, the fact today is that the media has been threatened with total destruction. Chavez vowed to yank the broadcasting licenses of any television station that opposes him or whose coverage he didn’t like in 2002, showing that once again, he is unable to distinguish party (which he represents) from state (which…
Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez unveiled thousands of cartons of rifles, bought from Russia supposedly to head off a U.S. “invasion.” Lovingly, his official press office released the dingbat photo above. What a bunch of slobs. Via a Bloomberg item found by Alek Boyd at VCrisis, here is what Chavez had to say about this new development, and I kid you not: “Soldiers, this rifle is your new girlfriend. A real soldier loves his rifle.” Miguel has tons more photos of Chavez posing with his “girlfriend” in this special link here.
A new flavor Frito Bandito? Source: Venezuela Today Have you ever wondered whether leftist populist Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was really cut out of the same kind of cloth as his natural ally, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez? This informed essay by Gustavo Coronel, on Venezuela Today lays the two of them out, side by side, for your own comparison, well worth reading here. UPDATE: Real Clear Politics has found a second essay on AMLO on The New Republic, delving deeply into this issue, telling us what AMLO is really like, that’s well worth reading here. UPDATE: Two…
If the job of the government is to create development and prosperity, the only way to do it is to create businesses. Businesses are not rich because they have governments, governments are rich because they have businesses – lots of businesses, Carlos Alberto Montaner offers these, and other thoughts on the aim of government and the task ahead for Peru, in an entertaining style that almost resembles Mark Steyn’s creative tone in this strikingly original, kickass must-read essay here.
As if making the political comeback of the century wasn’t the ultimate in good fortune, Peruvian president-elect Alan Garcia has gotten lucky once again: Peru’s leftwing Chavista presidential candidate, Ollanta Humala, is watching his political party, one that was so eagerly expecting victory, splinter into disintegration. In the mire of their defeat to Garcia, they’ve cracked up. What does that mean for anti-Chavista president-elect, Alan Garcia? A more powerful political party, one that now holds the highest number of seats in Congress. Prior to the crackup, it was Humala’s far-left party which was set to control the Congress. Not any…
This is just breaking, thousands of Iranian women are demonstrating for equal rights now in Tehran – police are going after them with full Islamofascist barbarism. Speculatively, it might well be that the Iranian soccer babes had an impact – I felt they would when I saw them. Keep an eye on GatewayPundit, if anyone catches this in full, he will. UPDATE: I was right, go see GatewayPundit’s excellent roundup and photos here.
President Tony Saca of El Salvador Source: Yahoo! Images When we think of leaders named “Tony” – our first glint of thought is maybe of the great Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, who always has the right thing to say, yet whose actions speak louder than any of his eloquent words. He’s a great ally of civilization and some of his greatest work has been to help crush al-Qaida. By coincidence, there’s another leader named Tony and in our own hemisphere, the great Tony Saca of El Salvador, whose leadership has turned tiny, beat-up, war-torn, communist-battered failed-state El Salvador…
Following on from Stefania’s post, the World Cup match between Iran and Mexico went on, and Iranian exiles, though they didn’t win the match, did a good job cheering their team. As Stefania noted, many of the exiles were making a political statement about Iran’s regime by waving the old Iranian flag, which featured a lion and sun emblem. You might argue that there’s something off about politicizing a soccer match by waving politically loaded flags, but I see something very different – the babes are cheering the Iranian team (and I am sure it’s a state-sponsored team) even though…
In his most direct and brazen threat against the private sector yet, Hugo Chavez has warned Venezuelan businesses that unless they repatriate $10 billion in capital flight for his own disposal, he’ll take every last thing they have left in Venezuela. It’s a profoundly menacing statement, and not only because he mentions he’ll act in just a few months, after he’s reelected in December but because he sounds so sure he’s going to win. If Venezuela were a true democracy, (and Chavez was not an election cheat) he would not be so sure of that. But more specifically, the threat…
Front Page, The Bangkok Post, June 9, 2006 Today, millions of Thais turned all of Thailand into a sea of gold and yellow, wearing the colors of the widely loved Thai king, His Royal Highness Bhumibol Adulyadej on the 60th anniversary of his reign. Fishermen vowed to give up fishing endangered fishes in honor of the king. Prisoners were freed. Golden barges made rare sailings. Buddhist monks made blessings. The king addressed his subjects for the first time in 20 years, for he doesn’t say much. And he exhorted them to be kind to one another, a most divine and…
I spotted this on a leftwing Bolivian blog – Clinton is busy courting Evo Morales for his September summit. http://www.barrioflores.net/weblog/archives/2006/05/evo_to_attend_c.html The blog reports that Morales has accepted Clinton’s invitation (I notice Clinton’s site doesn’t say anything about this, he must know Morales’ name is starting to stink). http://www.eldeber.com.bo/2006/20060529/al42.html Morales announced today that he’d be confiscating railroads, power plants and phone companies. He’s already gone after gas, oil, land and possibly mines. http://www.efenews.com/detalleFrontPage.asp?opcion=0&id=1215278 This rightwing Bolivian blogger says Morales is going after bank accounts: http://aruiznavajas.blogspot.com/2006/06/rumour-has-it-update-1.html#links Morales has also ranted and raved about how much he loves Che Guevara, says he’s taking…
Alvaro Vargas Llosa, who is Peruvian, found himself unexpectedly pulled by the fate of the heavens back to Lima which he’d generally so wanted to be away from. By a further mysterious sleight of hand, it was election weekend. Vargas Llosa wrote – echoing something of what I had believed earlier – of the courage of Peruvians and the courage he felt coming to himself, as he joined the majority, in voting for the otherwise-dreaded Alan Garcia. It takes incredible courage to vote for a person like him, someone you hate, someone who’s done terrible things to you – to…
Here’s something exciting: In the days since his spectacular comeback election as president in Peru, Alan Garcia has made some softie statements about wanting to get along with Hugo Chavez and having no intention of leading a regional antichavez movement. However, Garcia’s first actions upon his election this weekend are telling quite a different story. He’s going after Chavez right at the source of his power: energy resources. Garcia says he wants to triple Peru’s natural gas investment, something that’s already on the upswing, based on ongoing capital flight from Bolivia. He pointedly says he wants to sell natgas to…
As the dust settles from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s spectacular reelection victory two weeks ago, there’s an ongoing and very interesting debate going on about whether he will amass too much power. It’s an important question, with implications for every revolutionary struggle on earth. How popular is too popular, and does absolute power necessarily corrupt absolutely?> Andres Oppenheimer at The Miami Herald wrote a column about it a few days ago, propounding the view that there are indeed dangers ahead for Uribe, based on his own stellar success. Will it entice him to undermine democratic institutions for the sake of…
Why is the International Monetary Fund still around? Formed as a multilateral entity to address “balance of payments” crises, its real purpose has been obfuscated by the ending of the Bretton Woods treaty in the 1970s, which set the gold standard as the benchmark medium of exchange. Without the gold standard with which to measure trade balances and currency and things like that, the dollar became the replacement, because SOMETHING will replace anything that’s ever taken away. Unfortunately, the dollar represents one country, the U.S. and the U.S. is as subject to pressure groups and special interests as any within…
You know I’ve posted pictures and referred to other sites where the reality and ugliness of Castro’s Cuba can be seen in whole, but there’s just something about these new pictures from Val Prieto at Babalu blog that say something unlike anything else anyone can describe about the Castroite hellhole. What a hellhole. What a dump. Communism in action. What communist could ever justify Castro’s regime within sight of such pictures? What a revolting sight. See the whole thing here. UPDATE: Fausta‘s take on this is a short swift brilliant item here.
Long overlooked on the world scene, China has been a great destabilizer of several regions of the world by its strategy in seeking to lock up supplies of oil. Sudan. Iran. Venezuela. Ecuador. China is a player in all of these areas and more. China’s efforts to lock up oil may not be as barbaric in means as the Japanese, who went on resource conquests just before World War II but it is the same idea. In any number of ways, it could lead to World War III. It’s no good for anyone. Fausta at Fausta’s blog has an illuminating…
Mexico held its presidential debate last night, and pundits are divided as to who won. Boz has some fascinating commentary here, and this Reuters piece here gives further reliable detail, as does this excellent longer EFE piece. Goldman Sachs summarizes it well: Calder????n Had a Slight Edge on the Second Televised Debate Yesterday, the five presidential candidates conducted the second presidential debate, which went on for two hours. The format of the debate was rigid, limiting spontaneous debates or fluid discussions. The debate covered six topics: governance, security, international affairs, immigration, Federalism versus regional government, and the reform of the…
Alan Garcia, probable winner, Peru presidency, and second-time lucky Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! … and his far-left Hugo-Chavez-style opponent, Ollanta Humala is trailing by about five percentage points. Assuming there are no surprises, this represents one of the greatest political comebacks of all time – the greatest comeback since …. Nixon. And it’s nothing to cry about either, we can be as happy as the people in the pictures, because although wilder things have happened in politics, it’s everyone’s victory this time. GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Garcia savoring victory, happy he beat both Hugo Chavez & his own record Source: Reuters, via Yahoo!…
Hong Kongers hold a vigil to remember young people who died at Tiananmen Square in the name of seeking liberty for China. Source: Associated Press, via Yahoo! In Hong Kong, tens of thousands of people – some 44,000 – commemorated the 17th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre in China. Even more bravely, some people in China came out to march in Tiananmen itself to commemorate the anniversary. Their signs were torn up by Beijing cops and they were promptly repressed. This commemoration was for one of the most significant democracy struggles of our times. And based on the growing…
Communism or capitalism? It sounds a little stark, but it might come down to that. Today’s the second and final round of Peru’s election for president and Peruvians today are heading to the polls. Peru’s presidential ballotSource: UPI, via El Comercio Peruvians voting in the Inca city of Cuzco Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! They will decide whether to choose Alan Garcia, a former president, or Ollanta Humala, a cashiered ex-army officer, as their next president. Alan Garcia after casting his ballot Source: AFP, via Yahoo! The former, Alan Garcia, is a failed leftist ex-president from the 1980s who says he’s…