Blogging the democratic revolution
Finally: Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati announced he has succeeded in forming a new government, after a month and a half of political wrangling by pro-Syrian and opposition politicians. Lebanon’s fledgling Prime Minister Najib Mikati made the eagerly-waited announcement that he had put together a new government at the presidential palace. The government, with those…
Blogger Tim Russo, who did democracy work in Armenia, tells us not to hold our breath on a united opposition front there. Armenian opposition parties might be the most splintered opposition in the entire former Soviet Union. Almost daily, some guy decides that the other guy running the party doesn’t deserve to run the party,…
Nathan points to an article saying that Georgian President Saakashvili will unveil the next country to undergo a “velvet revolution” at the next GUUAM meeting. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has said that a new velvet revolution will follow the regime changes in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, Rosbalt news agency reports. ???????We have defeated our enemies in…
I was just sent a link to a photo gallery of all the rulers of “Not Free” countries as ranked by Freedom House. Perhaps this is an obvious common denominator, but they are all ugly people.
More than usual, anyway. The UN Commission on Human Rights just passed a resolution condemning Belarus for abuses. Following the adoption on 14 April of a resolution by the UN Human Rights Commission alleging human rights abuses by Belarusian officials, Syarhey Aleynik, Belarus’s permanent representative to the UN, criticized the document as “another attempt to…
Probably one of the least noticed news items of the day is the results of municipal elections in the Basque separatist region of Spain. BILBAO, Spain, April 18 (Reuters) – Spain’s ruling Socialists declared Basque premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe’s plan for virtual independence from Madrid dead on Monday after he suffered a setback in regional…
Stefania sent me this link to a plea for help from the Iranian student movement. They run a website that publishes information and they have run out of funds for it, so they are seeking donations. Under “more” I’m posting the letter in full, so click that in order to view it.
I am back from Boston. I’ve never actually been to New England, go figure, but I really liked the city. My posting will resume as normal starting Monday afternoon. Daniel and A.M. Mora y Leon have been doing a fantastic job with their posts while I was gone and deserve a big hand for their…
I’ve been reading a lot about the maneuvering in Asia between China, India, Australia, and India. Of course, in the midst of all this, it doesn’t help U.S. policy that China has been portrayed as a capitalist boomland with the slight burden of a communist regime. Up until now, most people and even legislators have…
Hey everyone, I will be in Boston from now until Sunday evening. In the meantime, you’ll have the other three holding a beach party. Feel free to drink, be merry, and discuss international politics!
I’ve almost lost count of how many times this guy has quit, threatened to quit, and cried in a corner simply because he was on the wrong side of history. Look like this is the last time. Premier-Designate Omar Karami has resigned the task of forming Lebanon’s new government Wednesday. He made the announcement at…
The latest drama out of Kiev is that Boris Kolesnikov, a prominent supporter of Yanukovich has been arrested. KIEV, Ukraine — The arrest of a top politician and businessman closely linked to Ukraine’s richest man has sharpened the conflict between President Viktor Yushchenko and the embattled power brokers of Leonid Kuchma, his predecessor. Boris Kolesnikov,…
I fell asleep and crashed hard last night before I could make a post on this, but 4000 students protested in Moscow. In the crowd were students from various Moscow universities and several groups from Lipetsk, Voronezh and the Moscow region. Some students came to the rally with their professors. Another rally of 2,700 students…
I knew that the parliament had declined new election for June 26 as set by the old parliament, but I didn’t know that they’d set a new date. In any case, it’s not the much further away from the old date. Legislators initially hesitated in accepting his offer to step down, reluctant to allow him…
I thought I’d round up the media from last week’s visit by Yushchenko to the United States. One Eyed Cat has two photos up from the rally at the Shevchenko monument. Leopolis has more photos from this rally, which took place in Washington, D.C. Aussiegirl points us to another gallery from the rally. This website…
Immediately after the falsified elections, the MDC had declared that it would not bother with going into parliament and would not challenge the results in court. The strategy since then seems to have changed since then, with the opposition taking its seats today. Zimbabwe’s leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has taken up…
Will Franklin is looking at Bhutan’s Freedom House ranking, the king’s policies, and the newly proposed constitution. Here is the entire thing in PDF. He notes: Bhutan’s proposed constitution is ambitious, bordering on too ambitious. The beauty of the American Constitution is its relative simplicity, which has helped it stand the test of time. Bhutan’s…
This week’s carnival of revolutions is up! Find out what’s gone down.
As I begin writing this, it is 4:40am, and that makes me feel like starting out with the most ironic item of them day. Lebanon saves Syria from a car bomb. Yes, you heard that right. A truck loaded with 40 kilograms of explosives was seized overnight while on its way toward the Syrian border,…
Always a favorite of mine, Chrenkoff has his 25th installment of good news up!
Several hundred journalists, activists, and colleagues of the late Elmar Huseynov rallied and called for the government to speed up investigations into the murdered editor’s death. BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – About 700 journalists and rights activists rallied in Azerbaijan’s capital Saturday to protest what they call authorities’ failure to fully investigate the death of an…
Gary Metz has posted his week in review for everything that has happened in Iran. Templar Pundit quotes one specific post from Regime Change Iran that I find interesting: At least 1,500 anti-government protests, strikes, and clashes took place in Iran during the year that ended on March 20. More than 450 strikes, demonstrations, and…
It seems that on the way back from Pope John Paul II’s funeral, Karami made the announcement that his new government will be formed by tomorrow and that elections may be delayed by up to six months! Premier-Designate Omar Karami has scheduled the announcement of the new government from the Baabda presidential palace for 11…
Djibouti — One of the many unfree places left in the world where a “president” can call the opposition cowards while firing tear gas at them for protesting a rigged election. Djibouti’s incumbent leader, Ismail Omar Guelleh, has won presidential elections boycotted by the opposition and in which he was the sole candidate. The high…
The official Pora website hasn’t been updated in months, so I’ve been really wondering what they’ve been up to since the Orange Revolution. Since then, they’ve created the Red Pora youth organization, which seeks to immitate its Ukrainian civic campaign in Russia. There still isn’t much, but according to this article, Pora has backed Mikhail…