Blogging the democratic revolution
Another crazy report, just like a lot of the bunk charges that come out of Human Rights Watch. Great name, great mission. Terrible follow through. LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday. In a report entitled “Iraq — Decades of Suffering,” it said that while the systematic repression under Saddam had ended, it had been replaced by increased murders, and sexual abuse — including by U.S. forces. Washington promised…
A sly man by the name of Tony let me know about his blog today, called Across the Bay. This is not a paid advertisement — I could only be so lucky — but this blog is of special note because it is totally about Lebanon. Here is a little bit about the author: Ph.D. candidate in Ancient Near Eastern Studies with focus on Semitic Linguistics, Ancient Levantine history, religion, and ethnicity studies. I think we can take his word for it.
Drudge has posted many fantastic excerpts from President Bush’s speech today in Brussels, which reads fantastically. “The alliance of Europe and North America is the main pillar of our security in a new century. Our robust trade is one of the engines of the world economy. Our example of economic and political freedom gives hope to millions who are weary of poverty and oppression. In all these ways, our strong friendship is essential to peace and prosperity across the globe – and no temporary debate, no passing disagreement of governments, no power on earth will ever divide us.” “Today, America…
For some reason, JerseyGOP has Yulia Tymoshenko has their 80th Babe of the Week. This is not surprising to most of us why she would be up there, but I am posting this because there are pictures.
Do I ever say how much I love news roundups? Yes, quite often. Even though I have many posts on Lebanon already, Arthur Chrenkoff offers a fantastic multi-dimensional roundup of his own!
For those who don’t know, the Jackson-Vanik Act was basically an embargo that restricted trade between them and the United States. I’ve written McCain about this and I’m glad to see something happening. From the Action Ukraine Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Representatives Henry Hyde and Tom Lantos today introduced legislation to lift the Jackson-Vanik restriction on Ukraine. Senator McCain issued the following statement: “The recent ‘Orange Revolution’ in Ukraine marked a huge victory for the advancement of democracy in the world. The Ukrainian people made clear that they would not stand idle as a…
Bill Rice thinks that the joint declaration on Taiwan by the United States and Japan was timed just right. What is amazing about the event, is its timing. US Diplomacy of old would have kept such a meeting until after China had given the message of displeasure to the North Koreans. On another level, the announcement comes on the 60th anniversary (good post from Michelle Malkin here) of the Marines taking of Iwo Jima. I give both Pacific democracies credit for supporting freedom by making a strong public stance together in word and in treaty. This puts teeth to President…
I’m upgrading WordPress, so temporarily there should be some problems, like the website not working. Should be working soon though. UPDATE: IT WORKED! Maybe soon now I can do a redesign of the website. Very cool. DONE: Alright, this is what I’ve come up with so far. Feel free to make suggestions! As for me, I’m going to go black out now.
Thomas L. Friedman makes an eye-opening personal account in the Houston Chronicle regarding the rules Syria plays by, namely, none: When Syria’s Baath regime feels its back up against the wall, it always resorts to “Hama Rules.” Hama Rules is a term I coined after the Syrian army leveled ???????? and I mean leveled ???????? a portion of its own city, Hama, to put down a rebellion by Sunni Muslim fundamentalists there in 1982. Some 10,000 to 20,000 Syrians were buried in the rubble. Monday’s murder of Hariri, a self-made billionaire who devoted his money and energy to rebuilding Lebanon…
Nathan’s weekend edition is up, and PORA is tranforming itself into a permanent think-tank. Vladyslav Kaskiv is one of the leaders of the Pora movement, whose demonstrations ???????? often laced with biting humor ???????? became a memorable feature of those exuberant winter days. Pora drew its inspiration from pro-democracy youth movements in Serbia and Georgia that also helped topple authoritarian regimes. Kaskiv told RFE/RL he and his colleagues planned to institutionalize their experience by setting up an international center in Kyiv to offer assistance and practical advice to democracy advocates throughout the region. ???????We are now in a very active…
I have been telling you all about Radio Free Nepal the past few days, and they have been an invaluable source of information. And like any good source of information, they have pictures: Arrests made during the democracy protest earlier. It is so hard to get a good idea of what is going on in other parts of the world until you can actually see it. A picture is not only worth a thousand words, but amplifies the impact of a given situation by that much. The Advocacy Project is also telling the story out of Nepal, and are posting…
There are two noteable articles on Lebanonwire that I noticed. The first is that Chirac is being accused of aiding the opposition. BEIRUT, Feb 19 (AFP) – Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad accused French President Jacques Chirac Saturday of encouraging the opposition during a visit to pay condolences after the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri. “When President Jacques Chirac came to Lebanon, he ignored completely the government, the president of the republic and everybody,” Mrad told state Tele-Liban television. “Then he came to accuse, help the opposition to escalate and encourage the opposition to escalate,” he said. Chirac…
I was just passing by C-Span2, and they had George Soros on talking about his book, The Bubble of American Supremacy, something I will probably not be buying. However, we was talking extensively about the Open Society Institute, something I find more valuable than his political leanings in the United States. When asked why he created it, he responded that it was “the result of a mid-life crisis.” Well, I’m glad he didn’t simply settle for a motorcycle.
Regime Change Iran’s daily briefing is up. New satellite intel shows that Iran is building an underground tunnel just north of the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) at Esfahan. It appears too big to be only for storage. It might be intended to house production facilities for some uranium conversion processes.. Iran already has about 500 tons of uranium concentrate. Update and observation from jriemer: Follow the road that goes along side the explosive storage site to a black topped building (on right of road) and appears to go into the mountainside. Definitely worth the daily visit.
Discoshaman has posted his news roundup and promises a more full one tomorrow. Out of the links was an editorial in the Kyiv Post regarding the reprivatization reviews: The process of reviewing shady privatization deals, recently announced by President Viktor Yushchenko????????s administration, makes us a bit nervous. It????????s true that some recent ???????privatizations??????? of valuable state properties have been pure thievery, scams devised to steal plum industrial enterprises from the Ukrainian polity and put them in the pockets of a rapacious elite. But it????????s also true that, if investigators start looking under rocks, they????????ll find something fishy with almost every…
John Burgess at Crossroads Arabia posts an article from Arab News written by a woman that counters arguments against women’s suffrage. Last week, Raid Qusti wrote yet another article about women and elections. This was not the first time he tackled the issue, making it clear to all of us, again, that he agrees with the government????????s decision to exclude women from participating in the first municipal elections ever to be held in Saudi Arabia. Despite the many letters I had received from female (and even some male) readers countering his arguments in several articles, I have thus far declined…
Courtesy: RFN Radio Free Nepal has a roundup of news out of the country for today. The King has, again, cut the lines of communication, though it seems that service is coming back sporadically. The protests for Democracy Day have also been thwarted. The situation doesn’t look to be getting better soon.
I was just made aware of this website created by Marcin Skubiszewski, a man from Poland who participated as an election observer in Ukraine during the December 26 rerun. This website deals with his experience, including his impessions of the voting process and any irregularities that occurred. It is very detailed in all regards, and includes many photos. It is a very, very interesting website. UPDATE: As testimony to the differences in elections compared to the west, Marcin offers me this photo.
Sweet: BEIRUT, 19 February 2005 ???????? The opposition parties in Lebanon declared an ???????uprising for independence??????? yesterday and called for the pro-Syrian government to step down so that a new government can be formed to oversee a Syrian military pullout. This escalated a war of words following former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri????????s assassination on Monday. In another significant development, Syrian President Bashar Assad named his brother-in-law, Maj. Gen. Asef Shawkat, as head of military intelligence to replace retiring Maj. Gen. Hassan Khalil. Syrian sources said the change took effect on Monday, Khalil????????s 60th birthday. Meanwhile, Leabanese opposition leader Samir Frangieh…
In another installment of my series “Crazy People,” some of the people who comment on Maidan topics are rather creepy and unintelligible. While I like Maidan itself, one guy got rubbed the wrong way — a little too easily — when I wouldn’t compare Iraq and Ukraine. Start at the top and read downward. Let me know what you think in the comments, but here is a sampling: Your brief comments in the reply you didn’t have time for are shallow and condescending. Your web site indicates you’re all over the place, an ideologue. Do you have detailed, specific knowledge…
Bill Rice has posted his impression that America’s move toward idealism in foreign policy is indeed a realistic approach. I’m apt to agree. In the long term, trying for big dreams like freedom, democracy, and conquering tyranny are much more pragmatic, even incomplete, than simply settling for good short-term relations with “friendly regimes.”
In particular, some executives of YUKOS and MENATEP testified to the Senate, a huge blow to Putin in a hearing that is entitled “Democracy in Retreat in Russia”: The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing yesterday (February 17) on “Democracy in Retreat in Russia.” The star witnesses were Steven Theede, the embattled Yukos oil company’s chief executive officer, and Tim Osborne, a member of the board of directors of Group Menatep, Yukos’ parent company. In a written statement provided to the committee and posted on its website, Theede accused the Russian government of carrying out “a ruthless…
Regime Change Iran’s news briefing is up, with quite a few items that are easily missed otherwise.
There are a couple of more reactions to the events on Lebanon that I thought were worth reading. The first comes from Ali at Free Iraqi: It seems that the horrible crime that took place in Beirut won’t go unpunished. Despite the continues allegations of the Syrian and Lebanese government and the crocodile tears their officials are shedding, no one seems to believe them and especially the Lebanese people. All the Syrian government could come up with is accusing Israel of being responsible for the crime. When combined with their and their friends in the Lebanese government prior accusations to…
John Burgess posts what first seems like a pretty insignifcant story: JEDDAH, 18 February 2005 ???????? The Labor Ministry????????s recent decision to postpone for another three years the Saudization of taxi business infuriated Saudis working in the sector who have now sought the intervention of higher authorities. The drivers complained of the losses they said they continued to incur as a result of the unfair competition from expatriate drivers. As many as 1,200 drivers and owners of taxis assembled outside the palace of Crown Prince Abdullah in Riyadh calling for his intervention. They said the decision by the ministry shows…