Blogging the democratic revolution
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in April called on the IRA to lose its arms after getting totally snubbed by the usual supporters in Irish America. Yes, even Ted Kennedy gave him the cold shoulder. This announcement seems several months in the making, though hardly anyone believed the organization would seriously embrace the message. They…
On Tuesday I discussed how pressure from the ASEAN countries forced Burma to forgo the chairmanship, a notable break from a general policy of nonintervention with regards to any particular country’s internal affairs. The move was cheered by the United States, the EU, and pro-democracy activists everywhere. Representatives from both bodies had threatened to boycott…
Only a few days after the United Nations issued its “damning” report about the genocide in Zimbabwe, Mugabe figured it might be a good idea continue demolishing homes. Shows how much he takes the dreaded UN seriously, huh? The United States and Britain, however, have been stepping up the pressure on South Africa to do…
A few weeks ago when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization met in Kazakhstan, it called for the quick pullout of U.S. forces from its bases in Central Asia. The U.S. has bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with special flight rights in Tajikistan, which are members of the SCO. Even Kyrgyzstan at the time was making statements…
The G8 summit is over, aging hipsters have finished playing concerts the nostalgic world over, and experience as old as their songs has been cast out the window in favor of some feel-good debt relief lovin’. Dictators from the Middle East to Asia are outraged and harping on endlessly; not because they’re being forced into…
It looks like a couple of things are going down in Iran. Jim Hoft is rounding up news on a protest in front of Tehran University calling for the release of Akbar Ganji. But there is other unrest throughout the country. I’ve reported over the past week about the state of emergency and mass unrest…
Foreign ministers from an arc of ten Asian countries of various degrees of political openness are meeting in Laos to drink wine, joke, and maybe sign a few important cooperative agreements at the annual ASEAN summit. Underscoring the whole event, however, is that Burma is next in line to take over the leadership position in…
Well, this almost totally slipped under the radar! If it weren’t for certain services that focus specifically on this kind of stuff, the world may never know that Bush was following up on his promise to support the democratic opposition in Belarus. They met at the White House. George W. Bush declared support to Belarusian…
Don’t miss it, soapgun is hosting this week’s carnival of revolutions! And might I say, he did a very good job. Regime Change Iran has up it’s Iran week in review, filled with very important news and information. The second edition of Azerbaijan election monitor is up. Very in-depth. The Eurasia Daily Monitor also has…
It’s time for another hard hitting report by Amnesty International, and this time the Iraqi “insurgents” have found themselves in their, er, verbal crosshairs. They’re still recovering from the whole “Guantanamo = Gulag” controversy, so this is the perfect time to wise up and release a real report on real human rights abuses. It’s the…
Earlier in the week I wrote about martial law being declared in Mahabad, a city in the north-western Kurdish area of Iran. According to Kurdish Media, protestors are defying the crackdown. And now, the protests are spreading throughout Kurdish cities in Iran. Since the killing of Shuana Kardi, a Kurdish activist, on Saturday July the…
After suffering through terrible years under a populist madman who suspended the national legislature when free parliamentary threatened his rule, and following three years of a bloodless military coup, the people of Guinea-Bissau are ready to return to multi-party democracy. Indications are showing that, indeed, today will be a good day for the otherwise turbulent…
Protestors demonstrated for the Prime Minister of Nepal who was removed from office following the King’s constitutional coup nearly half a year ago. When to police rushed in to break it up with batons, the protestors fought back with bricks. Not what I’d call a healthy situation. KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) – Police used batons to…
Gateway Pundit rounds up the news on pro-democracy dissidents imprisoned in Cuba for protesting the regime. One of these dissidents is a woman named Martha Beatriz Roque, an organizer of the first ever Assembly for Civil Society in May. Now, at least five of the 20 dissidents have been freed. Cuban authorities have released some…
Soapgun is hosting this week’s carnival of revolutions. Please submit your democracy-related posts to him by sometime on Sunday: soapgun99Éyahoo.com. Thanks!
Kofi Annan is mad. That’s right, Robert Mugabe is still plundering the entire country of Zimbabwe, and Kofi has to take time away from shredding Oil-for-Food documents to read a 100 page report about it. Hey, if I were the head of an ineffective international institution and I had to read about something I couldn’t…
I have already discussed thoroughly the ongoing trade embargo that Syria is imposing on Lebanon. By closing off the border, Syria is effectively shutting out Lebanon’s only means by which to transport their goods to the rest of the Arab world. This in the middle of an enormous fiscal crisis worth upwords of $30 billion….
Kurds in western Iran, on the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, have been engaging in massive unrest following the election. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty has superb background on the story as usual. Unrest among Kurds living in western Iran, which has been continuing for several weeks, has prompted a government investigation that began on…
On July 19th I posted on a leak of the draft Iraqi bill of rights, which was published in Arabic on June 30 and translated to English on July 6. After I posted about that draft, a new one was released on July 20 and subsequently translated by Nathan Brown at the Carnegie Endowment for…
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to pay a surprise visit to Beirut, Lebanon this fine Friday. The purpose of the visit is to give support to the new government after the withdrawal of Syria. Here are the details: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beirut on Friday for a surprise visit, the…
Andy “Now that’s what I call inflation!” Young has come across a few gems detailing the incredible rate that corruption and bribe payments are growing in Russia since just after Putin took the presidency. In fact, sincev2001, the average bribe has grown 10-fold. INDEM’s “Corruption in Russia: Dynamics and Perspectives” report claims the average bribe…
I just wrote an article about trade as the needed force for democratization in Africa. I think it’s really good and would like to try to get it published. Not to mention I have tuition to pay, so getting a little bit of cash would be cool too. Can anyone here get me in touch…
Last week I noted a leaked memo from the Kremlin discussing its fear of the collapse of the republic of Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus. In essense, their ultra repressive tactics against separatist Chechnya has led to an endless cycle of repression, which breeds extremism, which earns an even more repressive repsonse from Moscow….
People in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi demonstrated for the second day against proposed constitutional changes that will leave the country with a watered down premiership and an ultimately authoritative presidency. The government has banned the demonstrations, but protestors say they will take to the streets for a third day. Clashes are also being reported in…
It looks like there is a mass mobilization against the self-serving and corrupt government. Check it out: SANA????????A ???????? Violence spread through a number of cities in Yemen on Wednesday, July 20, resulting in a number of deaths and numerous injuries, as protestors displayed their anger at price increases imposed on fuel and gas. The…