Blogging the democratic revolution
With Juan Forero at the helm, the Paper of Record once again shows itself to be the paper of record lows. Arrogant and ignorant, it refuses to correct its errors. Alek Boyd wrote a letter to the NYT to point out the uncomfortable Chavista fact that poverty has grown dramatically under the Chavez regime. Facts from Chavez’s own government statistics show that Chavez’s love of the poor is nothing more than an effort to create more of them. Not only was it in the facts themselves, it was also the topic of one of the most chilling Oppenheimer columns ever…
Credible sources inside Cuba report that Val Prieto’s estimable Babalu Blog has been banned by Cuba’s brutal dictator. That means his eloquent words are resonating grandly to Cubans through the pinhole access to the Internet a few Cubans have. It also means that the cringing and cowardly caudillo supremo is thrashing around like a chawed up turkey now that the cat’s eaten half of it. Val is blogging Cuba’s democratic revolution. Shrivel, tyrant, squeal, and die. Vaya Val! UPDATE: Steve’s humdinger analysis on the situation is an absolute must-read. I am so tempted to post it, writing doesn’t get better…
Under white-hot political pressure, Mexico’s attorney general dropped charges against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, freeing the Mexico City mayor to run for president of the nation in 2006. The intent is to cap a flaming political crisis. They now say the Mexican standoff is over. Let’s see… Read it in the Spanish-language press here.
Oil prices are rising. Yet US inventories are up. That’s not normal. Venezuela is pumping below its OPEC quota, with production down. (Link UPDATED). The state oil company is in shambles. And Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is on the rumored verge of firing 12,000 oil workers in already-rebellious Zulia state in the west. Meanwhile, his oil minister denies it. Screaming ‘sabotage’ and ‘CIA infiltration’ and ‘silent strike,’ Chavez’s underlings are in distress as the oil refineries (including the gigantic Amuay refinery which was shut down last month amid rumors of worker sabotage) slide into turmoil. The generals of the military…
Big Gun Rumsfeld lays down the law: There will be no U.S. intervention in Venezuela. It will be strictly Venezuelan. Because frankly, he thinks Venezuelans know how to take care of business. The Liberator of Baghdad and Kabul also takes aim at Chavez, warning of Venezuelans’ desire to live in a country that ‘is respected,’ – indirectly indicting Chavez for his clown dictatorship. Notice Chavez’s wimpy response to Rummy’s curt words, with his ‘welcoming’ of the Rummy statement, a weak answer uncharacteristic of him. He seems to be ignoring the squinty glare in Rumsfeld’s eye that signals The Thug of…
An amazing article in today’s New York Sun has the number on how blogging is revolutionizing the world. Now, there is a new project to rationalize what we look for in from blogs, utilizing their inherent competitive advantage, when a global news event happens. (Because we want to know just what it is like in the middle of the crowd when Beirut happens!) And fascinatingly, this new development is led by the genius who understands this phenomenon better than anyone else on earth, Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds, specifically speaking of revolutions. When you read the article, notice Glenn’s powerful way of…
No, it’s not a government statistic, it’s Datanalisis, a highly regarded private pollster. They report that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez now sports a 70% popular approval rating. The kind of news that makes you wonder if the Revolution is on his side of the fence. Or if the revolution has been frothed up by growing anti-U.S. sentiment, courtesy of Chavez, but not exclusively Chavez, a trend I am hearing from Venezuelan sources. Did people lie to this guy? How come Chavez’s May Day crowds were so small then? I don’t know. There are some mysterious contradictory currents within this news…
Instapundit links a superb items on how technology is fuelling revolution in the Middle East and Central Asia. It’s a must-read. Read it here.
Bolivia’s excellent Miguel Buitrago, who blogs in English, warns that big trouble may begin tomorrow in Bolivia. The Congress is set to vote on the question of taxes and royalties on Monday, May 2, and Coca King Evo Morales, fresh from being succored by Chavez and Castro in Havana this past week, is in no mood for backing down. As such, Bolivians will be deprived of the opportunity to develop their resources and Bolivian natural gas faces a great future underground. If the worst happens, Evo Morales should be so proud. But Bolivians may not stand for it, and that…
The most amusing thing about world revolutions is that there always are a pack of decadent Marie Antoinettes out there somewhere, living it up large, while the underlings seethe. In modern times, Indonesia’s Soeharto Kids are the benchmark, but Marcos, Ceaucescu and Saddam also are notables, and one day, the Saudis of Marbella will be, too. But for now, it turns out Venezuela’s got a Marie-Antoinette class of fast, trashy, loaded wastrels whose antics are eyed with lurid disgust by Venezuela’s opposition. The other day, one of these Chavista new-class princelings trashed his Lamborghini – yes, Lamborghini – out on…
Fidel Castro’s Big Dumb Houseboy down in Caracas will listen to any sweet talk from his hairy Havana caudillo provided he says it nicely enough. That was why it was so easy to convince the hulky fool to turnnnnnn the checkbook, uhrrrr …. precious oil resources … over … to Castro’s own loving care. Fidel, you see, has convinced Chavez that he knows his wants and needs better than even Chavez himself. And can take care of Venezuela’s oil supply mucccccchhhhhh better than the Venezuelans can. It all makes perfect sense. Doesn’t it? Miguel Octavio has the deadly lowdown on…
Randy Paul has a short item on Miguel Inzulza of Chile winning the post as OAS Secretary General. He points out differences in media coverage on this somewhat mysterious issue. Why was it so controversial? Inzulza had been Hugo Chavez’s candidate, which is in itself a minus, because Chavez is the Foremost Troublemaker in our hemisphere. On the other hand, Inzulza is a Chilean, and with Chilean attitudes, apparently this was enough to convince Condi Rice to accept him as the U.S.’s candidate, too. If he’s good enough for Condi, I am going to bet he’s O.K., too. Now, with…
Alvaro Vargas Llosa, an author of The Complete Guide To The Perfect Latin American Idiot (it has a whole chapter on Castro worship) and now, Liberty for Latin America: How to undo 500 years of state oppression will be interviewed by Jim Lehrer of PBS. Alvaro Vargas Llosa is one of the world’s foremost experts on Latin America. Like Hernando de Soto, he’s a Peruvian, and he’s now at the Independent Institute, in Oakland. When people ask me where I learned about the place, I always point in his direction. He is one of the most brilliant and interesting intellectuals…
Ever wonder how Chavista-dom is changing the face of Venezuelan society? Blogger Daniel walked into a Caracas restaurant now frequented by the nouveau elite of the newly wealthy Chavista class and encountered a plethora of hoggishness. He dubs this new Marie Antoinette class of communist thugs the Boliburguesa, or, Bolivarian Bourgeois. Believe it or not, they’re out there. Daniel then wrote an essay of manners a la Voltaire or Samuel Pepys. You have to read it here!
Instapundit alerts us to a Babes of Cairo sighting, see it here.
…that he can trust his military anymore? Not very. He’s got more things to worry about from his army than he can list. My own analysis of the galaxy of factors is here.
… among the Chavistas and the white coats are calling. Just another sunny day in Caracas. Read it here and here.
I spent the day on the phone, talking to people in Chile. Somehow, Chile’s famous world-class social security system always got brought up, and on every occasion, Chileans, no matter who they were, expressed a vibrant enthusiasm for the program. I can’t describe how intense it was – and it was utterly real. As the U.S. debates adopting the wonderful Chilean system – which, by the way, has a lot to do with why Chilean stocks are so hot in the market – Miguel Octavio asks the penetrating question of: Why isn’t the rest of Latin America looking at Chile’s…
Alek Boyd has a disturbing e-mail message from someone inside Venezuela’s phone system, reporting the growing signs of a potential Internet blackout in beleaguered Venezuela. If so, this would be the first steps toward making the Internet as accessible to Venezuelans as it is to Cubans. And that’s not a step upward. Read it here.
This editorial suggests that Ecuador’s problems – like its absence of institutions, combined with the availability of technology, and the reluctance of militaries to shoot – could mean other countries may topple too. Ecuador’s action is like the flailing around of the tail of a thrashing snake. It could strike other countries. Read it here. UPDATE: Agencia EFE reports it has started in Peru: Protestors have blocked off Macchu Picchu, a top tourist income source in Peru.
None other than blogger Alek Boyd – who’s been featured in a Sunday front page feature in El Universal, the top newspaper in Caracas, Venezuela for his awesome blogging exposing the corrupt political networks of the Hugo Chavez political machine in the U.S., something for which the U.S. owes him a debt of gratitude. Who says blogging doesn’t lead to revolution? Check it out here, here and here. UPDATE: Free Republic has an excellent English translation of the interview. Be sure to read it to see the depth of Alek’s grasp of the current issues surrounding the Venezuelan government’s propaganda…
Communist regimes don’t just white out the images of newly designated enemies of the state. Given the attention these photoshoppings get, and their capacity for changing history (as the phony Dan Rather memos did in the U.S. elections), the Chavez regime of Venezuela seems to be beginning a new tactic of simply and systemically ignoring names of enemies, designated enemies and potential enemies in photo captions. There’s a very good analysis of this new trend here.
If there is going to be a revolution in Venezuela, it’s going to involve the military. There are increasing signs of distrust between Chavez and his military. American Thinker Web site is down, so I posted my own analysis of the growing signs temporarily here.
How low can it go for Venezuelan sciences? Apparently much lower than anyone imagined in Hugo Chavez’s pseudo-revolution. Venezuela’s IVIC, which had been the finest scientific research institution south of the Rio Grande, is now being forced to conduct research not based on what will advance science but what will advance the Chavez party. That means no more petroleum engineering discoveries for efficient production but instead new orders from on high to conduct “scientific” experiments on what the best Orisha voodoo methods are for divining the future and getting back at one’s enemies. If you can stand to read more,…
Congress voted to remove President Lucio Gutierrez from power today, and swore in his vice president, Alfredo Palacio Gonzalez, a St. Louis cardiologist, as his successor. The legislature acted after 50,000 people filled the streets of Quito and fought troops and police in pitched battles. A Chilean photographer was killed and more than 180 were injured. (See the burning tires on the front page of the El Comercio Web site.) Congress was emboldened to make the move after the police chief of Quito suddenly resigned, saying he was unwilling to fire on demonstators. Gutierrez prompted the protests against his two-year…