Blogging the democratic revolution
This is cool. Reporters Without Borders has published a broad and detailed booklet for bloggers and others who want to get out there opinion; especially people from countries where that isn’t necessarily easy to do. Check it out here.
Remember everyone, we here at Publius need a break, so there isn’t any posting on the weekends. But since I’m awake and relatively bored, I’m going to take a cue from Nathan and ask all of you fine, fine readers to delurk. What that means for everyone who sees this is to simply post a…
Even though he missed approval by only three votes the other day, President Yushchenko’s pick for prime minister, Yuriy Yekhanurov, was easily approved by the parliament. But you’ll never guess who gave him the necessary votes. Dan McMinn has the count. Ä1Å Communist Party faction (0 out of 56 votes of MPs), Ä2Å Regions of…
Months after disbanding the parliament and initializing a state of emergency, the king of Nepal has promised elections. This is the part where we all laugh and snicker. Nepal’s royalist administration has repeated its commitment to restoring democracy in the country. But the announcement has been met with skepticism in Kathmandu. Nepalese Foreign Minister Ramesh…
While the big story has always been that Pinochet came to power through a CIA-organize military coup, most people forget the influence that the Soviet Union and Cuba had on Chile at the time. There’s really two sides to that coin, but most contemporary leftists ignore the inconvenience of the fact that the KGB gave…
I neglected to write about this last week, more out of being overworked than sheer laziness (notice how late I’m posting nowadays?). But this is pretty important given the level of controversy surrounding it, and considering how “multi-cultural” Canada is. They rejected the idea of allowing sharia tribunals, and then went a step further and…
Transitions Online discusses the future of unstable Albania, who in July’s parliamentary elections re-elected former strongman Sali Berisha to the premiership. It’s really detailed, especially for a subject so elusive.
The Kyiv Post has a hilarious, lively, and insightful editorial about the political games going on in Ukraine. But here’s the best part, which seriously takes Yushchenko and Tymoshenko to task for their latest jockeying. And one more word for Tymoshenko, and indeed for Yushchenko: talk of rigging the political reform process one way or…
This report from the Guardian Unlimited draws an accurate picture about how Islamist groups like the Badr Brigade and the Sadrists, while they forcefully maintain the peace, have infiltrated government and society at all levels to the point where they are, in fact, the ones in control. Basra has not been beset by the levels…
After Ukrainian President Yushchenko disbanded the government of Yulia Tymoshenko, he appointed Yuriy Yekhanurov as the new prime minister. However, in order to become installed permanently, the Verkhovna Rada must approve him by majority vote. Well, it looks like that won’t be happening. (AP) – The Ukrainian parliament on Sept. 20 rejected the candidacy of…
In the email, Elena Steiger sends this story of an activist in Uzbekistan whose very basic human rights are being breached outright by the government. Elena Urlaeva, well-known rights activist and member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, was detained by security agents on August 27, 2005, while distributing flyers at a peaceful protest…
I almost forgot about this week’s carnival of revolutions, so check it out. Sorry for the lack of posting today. I’ve been working since Sunday afternoon with no sleep, so I’m a little tuckered out. You know what that means. Pity me!
“I am very confident ÄthatÅ on the 19th of September, the day after the elections here, we are all going to wake up and realize that the heroes of Afghanistan were the people that went out and cast their vote for their own future.” — The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl…
It’s not often that I write about politics in the United States, but the response on both sides of the aisle to the Hurricane Katrina devastation has really shaken me to the point where I feel it necessary to discuss the implications of the proposals. This blog is about democracy and good government, and especially…
The delegation of the United States, along with those of many other countries, were not present as Iran’s terrorist president was delivering a speech at the United Nations summit. Meanwhile, over 2000 people outside protested his visit to America. Ouch. In other mainstream news, Iranian president blasts US in first United Nations speech.
A string of well-connected men are re-entering Russia’s political fray by directly entering as election candidates. These are household names, the men who made up and binded the country’s oligarchy during the ’90s. The big news today is that Mikhail Kasyanov, prime minister under Putin until 2004 and a man with big ties to the…
After the bombings in London, President Musharraf promised to wage a “holy war against extremism,” as many terrorists are coming from his country. Madrasahs are basically religious schools in the Islamic world, and some of them implant militant Islamic ideology into their students. So the plan is to oversee what they’re doing and keep track…
In the email is another fascinating and huge article by Tammy Lynch, which goes into great detail about the current political crisis in Ukraine. Read it in its entirety. Ukraine-based journalist Peter Byrne doesn’t end on an optimist note, however. former sbu chief olekandr turchynov has tentatively scheduled a press conference for sept. 15. he…
The Maldives is a small archipelago country located just 500 miles south of India. To European tourists, it is a quaint, charming breath of fresh air that conjures up fantasies of sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, sun-filled days and moon-lit nights. The four star hotels are exquisite, the food likewise, and the locals sweeter than…
Peter Lavelle hits this nail on the head, with a really good article knocking all sides of the post-orange order. It takes him just a few paragraphs to dish it all out, but make sure to read the whole thing. Viktor Yushchenko’s decision to fire the government of Yuliya Tymoshenko puts to an end Ukraine’s…
Considering rallies just a few month ago could barely top a tenth of that, it just goes to show how the government’s allowing of protest rallies has swelled the ranks and notoriety of the united opposition. In the largest rally I have yet to cover for this country, 20,000 opposition activists clad in the color…
For a complete roundup of the past week’s developments in democracy, check out the latest carnival of revolutions!
Four years after the day that the world changed forever. A lot of people are using pictures of the burning buildings, but I always liked this one better.
Have a good weekend everyone. I’ve done quite a bit on Ukraine and Egypt of late, so get reading if you haven’t already. Posting resumes on Monday!
I’ve received a lot of emails about this. They go something like, “Robert! I know how much of a fan of Yulia you are. What do you think about all this?” I wrote a post yesterday, but it was mostly in the context of the scandal and the sacking of the government. Now would be…