Blogging the democratic revolution
Nobody uncovers weird stuff like Boli-Nica, but this time, the weird stuff has left him flabbergasted. Subcommandante Marcos, the white-skinned, blue-eyed Latin American Idiot who says he’s really (deep down) an indigenous Indian from the Lacandon Rain Forest in Chiapas making 1960s-style ersatz commie ‘revolution’ has a new obsession, are you ready: Penguins. He’s slopped them all over his Web site and babbles endlessly about standing tall and straight like a rainforest penguin as he prepares to challenge the Mexican political establishment. Boli-Nica, for one, thinks the guy has gone Kurtz on us. Too much time in the jungle. Ate…
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has made his first address to the World Congress of Youth, one of these Soviet-era leftover mega-events that young Sandalistas from the West go to, along with their communist-youth cousins from communist countries. I’ve been to these, still have the photos, the main purpose is to get drunk and laid. Apparently, it’s no different this year in Caracas where Sandalistas from mostly commie countries but at least 300 from the states are partying hearty. Amid all this joint joy, in came the penguin-shaped Hugo Chavez, bellowing that he would repel a U.S. invasion with both hands…
They are edging in, and splattered all over the election commission’s Web site for non-easy reading. Miguel has an absolutely fascinating description, which suggests this was a disaster for the Chavistas they are trying to hide. Check out the Zulia numbers – Zulia is where the oil workers live. It’s here. Daniel has more excellent stuff here.
When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. troops and handed over to Iraqi democracy to face justice, just about every Western ambulance-chasing lawyer on the left leapt to his defense. They were a seasoned lot, having one way or another defended every tyrant they knew, some from the days of Daniel Ortega in Marxist Nicaragua, and some from even earlier, as in the days of Vietnam or Stalin’s USSR. They were in the same package of people who come to commie countries to cut cane sugar or teach ‘literacy’ in the name of propping up some dictator. But…
The great V.S. Naipaul, whose glorious fiction and non-fiction books critically delve into the world of the revolutionary countries now democratizing, shares his insights in a truly fascinating interview with the New York Times. It’s a must-read if you like literature or revolution. Read it here.
First reports are in on today’s municipal elections in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez is “winning.” But turnout is so thin that the government has extended voting by two (update: now three) hours to try to make it a double-digit turnout. First reports say it’s running at about 8%. Updated, with the polls closed, the turnout is estimated at 20%. That’s an 80% abstention rate. What a sad sorry affair this is. About 3350 municipal positions are at stake. Jimmy Carter must be so proud of his job instilling confidence in the system last August, which by his own words, was the…
6.4% GDP Diversified economy 3.1% inflation 17% stronger peso Tax cuts Pensions Competitive advantage $3 billion budge surplus equal to 3% of GDP Revolution iVIVA CHILE!
El Universal’s Roberto Giusti has an insightful interview with a top pollster in Venezuela who’s found that President Hugo Chavez is rapidly sliding in the popular approval polls. Among many reasons, he’s found that poor people can only be bought off with ‘social programs’ for so long. Chavez also has dropped in a relatively short period of time, to 45% support, partly because most of his programs have not panned out to expectations (e.g., 400,000 Chavez ‘scholarships’ were dangled before the poor, but only 78 were forked out). And about a third of that popular support is purely for practical…
The consensus, left and right, is that Colombia is an good place. And it’s getting better. And better. Colombia is in fact a bright rising star. And for all the criticism I read, left and right (but mostly left), on Plan Colombia, it doesn’t really get at what is going on in Colombia. It’s called revolution. Life is growing tolerable and free and even pleasant and desirable in Colombia. Just check out the word from the Lonely Planet bulletin boards. Poverty is falling. GDP is up. Wages are up. Trade is up. Jobs are up. Safety is up. The currency…
Election day is tomorrow in Venezuela. It’s more awful than anyone realizes. Not only are the results stacked and foreordained, the electronic evidence one leaves at the ballot box is easily traced to the individual voters, effectively nullifying secret ballot. What will follow will be retribution for dissidents. No one will be permitted to dissent in secret. Anymore. In the end, Venezuela will get Saddamite and Albanian and Castro style “democracy” where 99.99% of the votes go to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. That wrenching knowledge is fully on the minds of Venezuelans as they decide whether to vote or abstain…
Meanwhile, down at the Crawford Ranch… Source: Associated Press …too bad I don’t have a good horsy picture with ten-gallon hats, but a pickup-truck picture will do. Venezuela’s dictator can only wonder what his next door neighbor is laughing about with President Bush right here – because it’s almost certain Chavez’s name got brought up at some point. Probably with a lot of ridicule too. Hey Hugo – they’re laughing at you!
Miguel has first details of the broadcastings of the TeleChavez network. It’s totally weird. BLECCCCHHHHHH!!!!!!
Here’s a small item that looks like real news – Nick Burns, the number three guy at State, insists that the Andean Free Trade Agreement (this is CAFTA, but for Andean states like Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) is advancing nicely. News sources have repeatedly said that the bloody and terrible Congressional battle to pass CAFTA probably made the Bush administration too demoralized to try to pass more free trade agreements for the foreseeable future. But I am not so sure about that. Maybe, as Burns’ statements suggest, the Bush administration is instead emboldened by CAFTA’s success. And it will grow…
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, a vile Maoist terror group enamored of Pol Pot terrorized the Peruvian countryside. They were communists known as the Shining Path and along with their ugly cousin known as Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), they specialized in murder. Being cowards, they didn’t just go after ‘oligarchs’ (whom they never seemed to find) but unarmed community organizers and civil society advocates, the people who wanted to spread the world democracy revolution by peaceful means. They especially went after those. In the face of these remorseless, psychopathic Marxist death squads, Peruvians organized themselves into curious collectives,…
Amid growing signs of discontent in Cuba now, George Moneo at Babalu blog proposes a new meme for Cubans on the island, to remind them and reinforce them that the vile Castro regime is over and it’s time for the birth of freedom. His words, which he urges Cubans to utter, write, engrave, graffiti and use are: ‘Ya No Mas,’ meaning “No More Already.” Simple, efficient and likely to catch on, watch for these revolutionary words as the decaying pillars of the Castro regime come tumbling down.
Is there anything harder than picking yourself up to vote in an election you know won’t win? Such is the question confronting Venezuelans this weekend. In the States, those of us who are blue voters who live in red states, and red voters who live in blue cities know what this is like. But it does not stop us. How much harder it is, though, when one knows the system is RIGGED with signs of fraud. It’s hard to lose, but it’s even harder to lose when one really wins. That is what Venezuelans are confronted with. They say vote…
Venezuela’s fearless Rosalio Cardinal Castillo Lara has warned that Venezuela faces a bloodbath under dictator Hugo Chavez, and specifically cites the “unfortunate intervention” of former President Jimmy Carter. It’s about time. Carter has pretended for decades to be this pious man of peace, and feasted off his ‘Nobel laureate’ reputation while doing untold damage to democracies around the world. Because of Carter, North Korea’s monster regime is entrenched, the Iranian ayatollahs are firmly in place, Central America has endured ten years of war, Afghanistan got a communist invasion, the Soviets marched all over the world, and now Venezuela’s democracy has…
U.S. blogger Steven Vincent, whose book ‘In The Red Zone’ about Iraq, was kidnapped by Iraqi terrorists dressed as police in Basra and shot dead several times. His blog and his books were critical of terrorist infiltration into the Iraqi government, and were favorably reviewed. What an atrocity. What a damn shame. If you are not familiar with Steven Vincent, you can read about him here and here. UPDATE – with a hat tip to M: This recent essay about the sexiness of democracy in the Middle East is exquisite. What a terrible tragedy this writer’s death is! Don’t miss…
Breaking news – Colombia has jammed Telesur, the pan-American Chavez TV Station, because of its glorification of Colombia’s murderous FARC narcoterrorists. Colombia is at war with these animals. They just murdered at least a dozen policemen, see here, note that President Uribe was ‘visibly shaken.’ Now, at war, they’re acting it. It’s another sharp blow for Hugo Chavez and his Masterplan For The Takeover Of The Americas. Colombia is having none of it. Go, Colombia!
Alek Boyd has a good essay describing in detail all the suspicious meetings around machinery ahead of the August 7 Venezuelan local elections. The circumstantial evidence suggests that the fix is in. Read all the way to the end, where he has some interesting speculation about the real role of the Chavista International Youth Festival. I’ll give you a clue: They are up to no good. Read it here.
It’s as if the mighty impact of CAFTA that we all worked so hard to achieve has really started to yield something. Veneconomy, in a brilliant essay here, noted the signs of stinging defeat it rained on Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Suddenly all his oil billions are meaningless compared to the vast opportunity of the great Gringo market up north. What’s Chavez’s oil billions compared to the U.S.’s trillion-dollar buying market? Who wants charity when they can have something way bigger and own it free and clear, no strings attached, through honest two-way trade? National sovereignty? Get it, for real,…
…against humanity. The vicious Marxist dictator slave-marched thousands of Miskito Indians on a death march to ‘re-education camps’ that killed hundreds in the sweltering Atlantic jungle. He did it to force communism on them and to prevent them from joining the resistance. Now, with the glorious CAFTA passed, Nicaragua’s government has grown stronger and the human rights organizations are growing bolder. This is a great day for democracy, a mass murderer is getting called to account. This goes to show that the justice moves around the Americas are real, and do not just apply to thugs on the right. They…
All communist regimes are characterized by shortages. In Venzuela, the government suddenly announced it was suspending all steel exports, creating a new commodity shortage on world markets. But the export gate might not be where the real shortage is. I am wondering if investment-starved Venezuela simply cannot produce the steel it used to produce. It’s only a matter of time before this happens, it may be happening now. Veneconomy sees something more sinister and directional – they argue that Venezuela cannot possibly use the extra steel it produces, at least not for awhile, and will probably end up with stacks…
Hear that poofing sound? It’s the showering, shattering of electronic pixels as one by one, British Intelligence destroys al-qaida Web sites. The move cuts critical communication lines among terrorists. Suddenly they can’t plot and giggle together through sinful Western Internet technology. They’ll have to go back to inscribing on Stone-Age tablets or something. Or give up terror altogether. In war, it’s not enough to just cut financing lines and indoctrination houses like madrassas – communication lines are important, too. It’s so in any war. Britain and the U.S. should have done this a long time ago. This is war and…