Blogging the democratic revolution
It seems that my post on sexy Saudi swimwear has turned into something of a blogospheric debate. Our good friend Stefania over at the Free Thoughts blog posted on the swimwear as well, and it triggered some disagreement with Egyptian blogger Miss Mabrouk, who says that we were being culturally insensitive and the real issue is modesty. My post got linked under the word “disrespect.” Ouch. In any case, Stefania wrote another post responding to Miss Mabrouk in which she lays out how it isn’t really about modesty, but how women should have the choice of whether they want to…
Rumors are flying around Rangoon like mad, as word is going around that Than Shwe, the senior general of the military junta that rules Burma, has been possibly deposed by his number two. Everything is unconfirmed, but Burmese state media has not yet discounted any of the rumors, and Than Shwe isn’t to be seen. Nobody really knows what’s going on at this point, but intelligence officials are working overtime to figure it all out. BANGKOK (Reuters) – Rumours swirled in army-ruled Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Wednesday that junta strongman Senior General Than Shwe has been removed by the…
In my post yesterday, “Perspective on Islam in Iraq’s constitution,” I argued that Afghanistan has near similar wording in its own constitution and that the mainstream media didn’t harp on it in January 2004. Afghanistan has also not turned into a religious police state like Iran since then. So why is the media barking lunacy over the Iraqi constitution? Alenda Lux was kind enough to prove me wrong. No, not that the media didn’t talk bad about the Afghani constitution, but they actually praised it lavishly. Here is what the New York Times said in an editorial back then: Afghanistan’s…
“Twenty-five years ago next Wednesday — 31 August 1980 — unemployed Polish electrician Lech Walesa struck a major blow to Soviet communism when, after leading a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, he announced the official birth of the Solidarity independent trade union. Solidarity went on to play a central role in the demise of communism across the Soviet bloc, changing forever the course of history in Europe…” Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is running a couple of articles about the Solidarity movement in Poland, which has since become a symbol for non-violent struggle against tyranny in the…
I’m going to make this short and sweet. Bill Roggio posts the latest excerpt from the Iraq constitution and believes that the threat of Islam being a main source of legislation, thus creating an Islamic state like Iran, is overstated by the media. Here is the excerpt: The political system is republican, parliamentary, democratic and federal. 1. Islam is a main source for legislation. * a. No law may contradict Islamic standards. * b. No law may contradict democratic standards. * c. No law may contradict the essential rights and freedoms mentioned in this constitution. Bill Roggio is absolutely correct…
Samarkand may be showing itself to be the new hotbed of civil unrest after the Andijon massacre back in May. Protestors took the to streets after the government gave them only one week to clear out of their homes in preparation for a highway project. And more, the government offered them next to nothing in compensation. Another protest followed, as women demonstrated against the government’s intent to close a bazaar. There were unconfirmed protests in Samarkand back in June as well. Two public protests broke out this weekend in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. On 20 August, demonstrators from the…
If you’re sick and deranged like me, you’ve been refreshing Iraq the Model every five minutes to see the latest updates on the National Assembly meeting. It looks as if they have delayed the vote on the draft itself for three more days so that the parliamentarians will have time to read it over, discuss amongst themselves, and make grandstanding statements to the press. That said, the Shiites and the Kurds have gone ahead and worked out their differences in the constitution, including oil distribution, federalism, and the role of Islam in making laws. The latter being the most disheartening…
I almost missed it. Coming Anarchy is hosting this week’s carnival of revolutions, chock full democracy goodness.
The tyrannical government of Maldives is charging opposition MDP Chairman Mohamed Nasheed on counts of terrorism after he was detained last Friday. TVM and Voice of Maldives, the state-run media in Maldives, has announced that the Chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party, Mohamed Nasheed (Anni), is to be charged for terrorism. State run media said Nasheed is to be charged under the terrorism act????????s article 6 (b) with reference to 2 (g) Article 2(g) states, ???????any act or the attempt to commit an act that may instill fear among the people or threaten life, person or property of any person verbally…
It looks like hackers are taking shot at Burmese military junta websites. An interesting story, I think, of how pro-democracy forces can protest without being there. Aug 19, 2005 (DVB) – Burmese computer experts and hackers are increasingly targeting their attacks on websites owned by and related to Burma??????s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), according to sources close to Burmese hackers. A Burmese computer student told DVB that recent breakdowns of the New Light of Myanmar and Myanmar Times websites could be the handiworks of either independent hackers or computer experts of ousted military intelligence service (MIS).…
The Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), known for its civil unrest and terrorist tactics from countries ranging from Syria to Turkey to Iran, has declare a truce with the Turkish government after the prime minister promised to resolve the problem through more democracy — meaning, trying to help the Kurds out in their demands. I think it’s a good development. ANKARA, Turkey – Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in this nation’s impoverished southeast region on Friday announced a one-month cease-fire. A top commander of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, confirmed what he termed a “suspension of hostilities”…
Voting opened in the ethnic Somali region of Ethiopia, while a partial re-run vote was held in other districts where irregularities were too high back in May. Not that it matters, at this point. JIJIGA, Ethiopia — Voting in eastern Ethiopia ended peacefully Sunday, as elite forces, pro-government militia and police patrolled streets to secure the region’s delayed elections. Voters in the mostly ethnic Somali region, some armed with assault rifles, gathered at sunrise at polling stations to elect 23 federal lawmakers and 168 regional legislators. Some voters said they hoped the election would bring a way out of poverty…
Oh, yes. Mubarak has his official election campaign website up, in English, complete with an “email the president” feature. Click here to let him know what you think about him. As for me, I’ve written him a poem: Roses are red Violets are blue Babes in bikinis Look better than you But that’s probably a given. I was never particularly good at poetry. Jim Hoft writes: Roses are red. Violets are blue. Mubarak will win hands down. Do you think it will rain?
Perhaps another confirmation of what we may see in the future of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah promised Condoleezza Rice that the kingdom would be sufficiently liberalized to hold national elections within 15 years. Saudi King Abdullah promised Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a series of reforms that could give the desert kingdom an elected government within 10 to 15 years, says a senior U.S. official who was present when the two met in June. “He professed to transform his country and talked about having a representative government within a decade or a decade and a half,” said the official, who…
Looking for beautiful women in bikinis? Try Monterrey. Definitely don’t look in Saudi Arabia. Check out the latest summertime fashion in Riyadh. Hat tip to Light Seeking Light. Click here for the rest of this tantalizing assortment of swimsuits. UPDATE: Now here we go. The Religious Policeman does a mock interview with the Saudi Minister of tourism: RP: So men and women will be able to go swimming up there? M: Certainly RP: Together? M: I didn’t say that. Swimming together, as you know, is un-Islamic. Most hotels only allow the men to go swimming. However there are one or…
In our latest showing of theatre performances from around the world, Robert Mugabe will be performing “I didn’t get what I wanted, so I held a fraudulent election and changed the constitution,” followed by his exquisite and complex personal rendition of “How to be a leftist dictator.” The latter will be reproduced cinematically as a late night feature on CNN. Just kidding, but it just keeps getting worse and worse over in Zimbabwe. If imposing a famine through land seizures weren’t enough, the government is throwing a hissy fit because white farmers have held up the process in court. But…
After local and provincial officials chose new members for half of the country’s Senate, the constitutional court set in stone the date of the country’s next presidential elections. President Nazarbaev’s term runs dry in the beginning of 2006, but elections weren’t expected until December of that year — over a year from now. But the court, which is hardly independent, has set it for this December instead. Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court has set the first Sunday of December as the date for presidential elections, ending a lengthy debate between the government and the opposition over the timing of the vote. President…
Since gain independence in 1962, Burundi has been ruled by the Tutsi minority, but the Hutu majority rebelled against the government in 1993 when its first democratically elected leader, a Hutu, was assassinated by Tuti paratroopers. Since then, ethnic warfare has ravaged the country and lands around it like Rwanda, culminating in the deaths of nearly a million people. The country has been under a transitional government for the past four years, which is largely responsible for helping to heal the country to the point of reaching a peace agreement. In March, the country voted overwhelmingly in favor of a…
In a continuing sequence of improved bilateral relations, Russia and China are staging first-ever joint military exercises over the next eight days. Andrew Young takes a look at all of the dimensions, both charitable and provocative. Here is his conclusion: Geopolitical considerations are also important to this exercise, although less important than the practical Russian and Chinese aims that I’ve outlined above. The two countries have an increasingly close, although still edgy relationship. Any kind of operation like this allows them to develop a closer working relationship and, more importantly, gives an outward show of co-operation to the rest of…
This is something that has been lingering on my mind for the past few days, as it has really gotten more attention than usual in the media and certainly isn’t something we usually think about often in U.S. politics. There was a piece just published in the Wall Street Journal, which prompted Rush Limbaugh to take up his opinion on the matter. The reason that the issue is becoming big is because the Akaka Bill, which could grant native Hawaiians their own self-governing land, is to be voted on in the Senate in September. In effect, it would be creating…
PREVIOUS POSTS, BACKGROUND: HERE LATEST PHOTOS: HERE, and HERE. It took nearly a week, but international NGOs and human rights organizations are starting to condemn the crackdown in Maldives. I’m rather surprised that they even know about it, given that Reuters gave up after its two token pieces toeing the government line. Reporter Without Borders jumps on top and tackles the regime for its brutal destruction of press freedoms in the past few weeks, including the closure of the only opposition newspaper and the arrest of several journalists. Article 19, an NGO that promotes global freedom of expression, has written…
Even with the winner a foregone conclusion, the unprecedented multi-candidate presidential elections in Egypt started today. The official campaign period for Egypt’s landmark presidential election opened Wednesday. Ten men, including sitting President Hosni Mubarak, are vying for the presidency in the country’s first multi-candidate election. The three leading contenders for the presidency all scheduled rallies for Wednesday to launch their election campaigns. Incumbent President Hosni Mubarak decided not to wait for the rally and took out a full-page ad in Egypt’s largest newspaper, the government-run Al-Ahram. A private television station bought space on another page, trumpeting its exclusive coverage of…
And they’re off! There is exactly one month before parliamentary elections are held in Afghanistan, meaning that official campaigns between some 6,000 candidates for 249 assembly seats and and positions in 34 provincial councils are now underway. An essential element to any successful election, free media coverage, is present in large quantities and will be the deciding factor in who wins and who loses given the plethora of contenders. This won’t be decided necessarily on the media’s bias, but by how each candidate’s message resonates with the voters, as JEMB is allowing every single person running the opportunity to run…
Over 3,000 people staged a sit-in protest in Kathmandu demanding an end to the monarchy and the restoration of parliamentary democracy. My blogosphere buddy Jim Hoft has a roundup. The protesters on Tuesday squatted in the street at Basantapur Durbar Square for several hours and disrupted traffic. Demonstrators included members of the Peace Society of Nepal, supporters of the country’s seven main parties, artists and writers. The protest was called by a group called the Citizen’s Movement for Democracy and Peace, said one of the organisers, Mathura Shrestha. Women activists carried lit lanterns to symbolise their search for freedom and…
Unrest from the Kurds in Syria is continuing to forment against the Assad regime, driving cracks into its shaking rule on power. Protests and riots have become more and more frequent in recent months. Violent clashes between Syrian Kurds and police have erupted in the northern town of Ein al-Arab, according to a human rights organisation. The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said rioting broke out after Kurds were prevented from showing their support for a banned separatist group. Cars were damaged and stones thrown at police who responded by firing tear gas and making a number of…