Blogging the democratic revolution
Note: I have been posting articles from my friend Richard Chesnoff on Bloggledygook. His latest is on the Palestinian elections. It is reproduced here in total. Chesnoff is a former correspondent for Newsweek. He currently writes for the New York Daily News and US News & World Report. He lives in New York and France. THE HAMAS GAME by Richard Z. Chesnoff, NY Daily News, 1/25/05 Final results of yesterday????????s Palestinian legislative elections are still trickling in. But one thing is sure: Yasser Arafat????????s chickens have come home to roost. After decades of dictatorial and corrupt control by the late…
‘Lo everybody. I am back after a long, long hiatus from this fine blog (incidentally, I was present at the birth) and wanted to point to a subject that is near to my heart. My daughter spent this past Summer in Morocco, studying Arabic and sociology. I have to admit that I was unprepared for her return and the impressions that she brought back. In the general scheme of MENA countries, Morocco, although economically hobbled in many ways, is moving forward in the areas of political freedom, human rights (including women’s rights) and engaging in the world. I linked to…
Viktor Yushchenko seems at time to be more interested in completing assession to NATO than to tackling the problems of his fragile presidency. This is interesting seeing that NATO officials and member heads of state have not exactly thrown their arms around the Ukrainian president as he moves from constituent to constituent trying to rustle up an invitation. One can see that Yuschenko’s tactic of assuming membership and imploring the alliance to hurry up already with the papers is starting to grate on the (admittedly) thin patience of the slow-witted NATO administration. Curious, then, that headlines trumpet a breakthrough in…
Pro-Syria, pro-Hizbollah Speaker Nabih Berri has been re-elected by the anti-Syrian parliament: The 128-seat assembly, dominated by opponents of Syria for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war, voted by an overwhelming majority of 90 for Berri, despite international and local reservations over retaining one of the main enforcers of Syria’s grip over its tiny neighbor. Though the May 29-June 19 elections were won by groups that opposed Syria’s role, they had little choice but to back Berri for a fourth straight term after his alliance with the Hizbollah guerrilla group won over 80 percent of the Shi’ite Muslim…
Christopher Hitchens has another must-read article in this month’s Vanity Fair. This time, Hitch visits Iran (now becoming possibly the only “scribbler” to have visited all three Axis of Evil members since 2000). I have a post and link on the article here. Hitchens once again reveals what is at the base of another rancid government that keeps an ancient and great civilization under its heal. The value here is that the author has no agenda to push from either the right or left. He’s perfectly willing to credit the Bush Administration when credit is due and continues to refuse…
While the French are doing their level best to scuttle the EU constitution, Egyptian voters go to the polls today to vote on a referendum to clear the way to multi party presidential elections: CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – President Hosni Mubarak urged Egyptians to vote in Wednesday’s referendum on constitutional changes that would clear the way for the nation’s first multi-candidate presidential elections. Opponents of the referendum were hard to find in the early hours of polling, but it wasn’t clear whether their absence was due to opposition calls to boycott the referendum because of the proposed strict rules on…
Note: I posted this earlier at Bloggledygook, but then realized that the back story has a lot to do with the struggle for Cuba. Make no mistake: there are those who will do anything to make excuses for Fidel. A post in abdymok on Reporters Without Borders (or RSF for Reporters sans fronti????res) caught my eye this morning. Founded in 1979 by Robert Menard, RSF is a rights organization based in France that monitors press freedom abuses around the globe, with special focus on Cuba. It has been a frequent and vocal critic of the US, most recently over “self-censorship”…
The wording of the election law amendment is vague on some points, but it appears that the women of Kuwait have been granted the right to vote and run in elections. The prime minister, Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said that he planned to name a woman minister. “I congratulate the women of Kuwait for having achieved their political rights,” he said. Kuwaiti women join their counterparts from the neighboring Gulf countries of Qatar, Oman and Bahrain in having the vote. The amendment, which was finalized after several years of debate and struggle by Kuwaiti women, passed by a vote of 35…
ABC is reporting that a grenade was tossed at President Bush as he addressed thousands gathered in Tbilisi, Georgia. Guram Donadze, spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, said no hand grenade was thrown close to Bush. “This is an absolute lie. This did not occur,” Donadze told The Associated Press. Officials from President Maikhail Saakashvili’s office were not immediately available for comment. Georgia’s security service has been merged with the Interior Ministry. The White House referred the AP to the Secret Service for comment. ABC is best known for its hard-hitting expose of American Idol. UPDATE: Confirmed, but it was…
The president has just finished a mini press conference with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The affection and good humor between the four leaders were palpable. Two of Bush’s statements were particularly telling. In answer to a question speculating on whether the US and Russia would cut a deal in which Russia would ensure that Belarussian President Lukashenko would not be reelected in exchange for American endorsement of the next government, Bush answered that cutting deals on someone else’s future was unacceptable. He noted that hat’s the same kind of deal that sealed the fate of these countries…
Michael Totten is back from Lebanon and posting, he says “by popular demand,” a very nice collection of protest babe pictures. I have read posts on some of the less, uh, optimistic websites that state that the whole protest babe thing is bogus because none of those women were Muslim. Not so, says Michael: If any of you think only the Christian women of Lebanon walk around without their own portable tents, forget that. It????????s isn????????t even close to true. My hotel was on the Muslim side of Beirut and I saw almost as many modern-looking women on that side…
If this is true, it certainly won’t help the effort in Iraq. However, take care with reading what the article actually says: WASHINGTON – U.S. civilian authorities in Iraq cannot properly account for nearly $100 million that was supposed to have been spent on reconstruction projects in south-central Iraq, government investigators said Wednesday. There are indications of fraud in the use of the $96.6 million, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. A separate investigation of possible wrongdoing continues. More than $7 million of the total is unaccounted for, the report said. An additional $89.4…
Former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has been staging a hunger strike in jail for the last 15 days. He has refused medical treatment in the Dominican Republic until the interim government drops accusations that he organized a massacre: “Mr. Neptune said he would accept to be evacuated only if all the charges brought against him were lifted,” Mike Joseph, a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, said in a statement late Sunday. “Such demands are absolutely unacceptable.” Doctors from the United Nations’ peacekeeping contingent in Haiti said on Saturday that Neptune’s vital functions were seriously threatened and he…
Today marks the 100th day in office fr Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko: KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday marked his first 100 days in office, saying his government remained on track to fulfil the demands of protesters who helped propel him to power. “We haven’t betrayed any of the slogans from Independence Square,” Yushchenko said, referring to the Kyiv city square that became the nerve centre of the popular uprising last year that became known as the “Orange Revolution.” Yushchenko has said that fighting poverty remains his top goal. His presidency so far has brought…
Earlier this week, Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky announced that he had offered 10 CDs of the Melnychenko recordings to Viktor Yushchenko. Now, the Parliament has denied Berezovsky an entry visa: KIEV, April 22 (Itar-Tass) – The Supreme Rada (parliament) of Ukraine has refused to support the request of MP Alexander Volkov to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on issuing an entry visa to political refugee Platon Yelenin (Boris Berezovsky), who has been invited to Ukraine by a group of MPs. Only 19 MPs voted in support for the request, while the needed number of votes is 226. I have this this…
UN diplomats, on a fun-packed junket to Haiti, say that the Caribbean nation is not getting the job done: April 20 (Bloomberg) — Haiti’s political leaders aren’t taking steps toward reconciliation needed for successful elections this year and the interim government hasn’t begun reconstruction projects to stabilize the Caribbean nation, U.S. and Brazilian diplomats said. Anne Patterson, the acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who joined Security Council envoys on a mission to Haiti last week, said the government needs to resolve the case of former prime minister Yvon Neptune, an opposition member detained without charges since June 2004.…
Russia billionaire Boris Berezovsky, now called Platon Elenin, says he wants to meet with Viktor Yushchenko to turn over the Melnychenko recordings from Leonid Kuchma’s office. We’re talking ten CDs that supposedly has all kinds of good juicy stuff on them. I have the latest over at Bloggledygook, with a special gift at the end for Robert.
At Bloggledygook I have a post on an accusation by a deputy of the Ukrainian opposition that Viktor Yushchenko had a hand in the sales of X-55 missiles to China and Iran.
Pro-Syrian businessman Najib Mikati was appointed prime minister after the resignation (how many is that?) of Omar Karami. At Spirit of America, Mike Totten has a short but pointed interview with student opposition leader Nabil Abou-Charraf. Charraf contends that the latest Karami resignation is a ploy by the government to scuttle the upcoming elections. He says that to the opposition the elections are everything, the government, nothing. For his part, Mikati is being described as a moderate. But he is a moderate only in comparison to his rival Abdel-Rahim Mrab. He said: “We must take advantage of this unity and…
Asif Ali Zardari was taken to his home by police immediately upon landing in Pakistan. Reposrts are alternatively saying that he has been detained or merely deposited at his home: Hundreds of PPP activists clashed with security forces at the Lahore airport in an attempt to meet their leader. The airport was sealed off after the government issued a red alert on Friday night saying there was a terrorist threat. Outside the airport police prevented any public movement and took into custody a number of PPP leaders including Makhdum Amin Fahim, who tried to gather there to welcome Zardari. PPP…
Gateway Pundit has a report on the arrest of 20,000 members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) who were anticipating the return to the country of PPP leader (and husband of former PM Benazir Bhutto) Asif Ali Zardari: Police continued cracking down on Pakistan People????????s Party (PPP) activists on Thursday and arrested thousands of them from all over the country while Pakistan Railways (PR) cancelled and barred group reservations in trains bound for Lahore till April 16. The PPP claimed the government had arrested about 20,000 party leaders and activists countrywide in a bid to stop them from welcoming Asif…
The Tajik government informed foreign embassies and organizations that they must give notification in advance of contacts with political parties, journalists and NGOs. Foreign ministry spokesman Igor Satarov said the change was designed to guard against “the spread of propaganda”. Observers say the government of this impoverished mountainous state is on the alert after popular revolts toppled regimes in three other ex-Soviet republics, including neighboring Kyrgyzstan in March. Satarov said diplomats and international groups, including non-governmental organisations, had “considerably intensified information activities on Tajik territory”. “Though these activities are perfectly legal and designed to promote democratic principles in Tajik society,…
One more: A former Yukos bigwig says that Russia will have a revolution once Belarus gets its act together. Meanwhile, government elites a trumping up such a possibility so as to portay Putin as a strongman and the only person capable of holding the country together. Indeed, it does seem as if the Russian rudder has fallen off. Bush looks as if he will push his advantage while in Europe, visiting with presidents from various ex-Soviet client states. Putin’s not happy, but there isn’t much he can do about it.
Over at Bloggledygook, I have a post on the trouble the EU constitution is having getting past the new French Resistance. The most delicious part of the story is that it looks as if Chirac might be hoisted on his own pitard. The constitution must be unanimously approved by the member states. In a hilarious twist, it looks like France may ultimately kill the United States of Europe.
Thousands of Egyptian students have demonstrated against the government in what is being called the largest protest in Egypt to date. The students – mostly from the Muslim Brotherhood movement – marched at five campuses in Cairo and the Nile Delta. Hundreds of police prevented them from taking their protests outside university gates onto the streets. Islamists, liberals and nationalists want an end to Egypt’s 24-year-old state of emergency. They also called for an end to the presidency of Hosni Mubarak. Mr Mubarak has been the country’s leader since 1981. He is hoping to win a fifth term in office…