Blogging the democratic revolution
After so many complaints that the United Nations Human Rights Commission is host to some of the most abusive human rights violators on the planet, one would think that the United States is being hypocritical by opposing planned reform at the UN for scrapping it and creating a new Human Rights Council that’s more effective in dealing with these issues. That’s what you’d think if you only read the headline and first paragraph of this Guardian Unlimited article, anyway. U.S. Against Proposed U.N. Rights Panel UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United States announced its opposition to the proposed new U.N.…
The sweeping victory of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary election has the Bush administration and foreign policy experts on their toes. Isn????????t democracy supposed to be what frees the entire region from tyranny? That????????s how the meme goes. Yet fairer elections in Egypt gave one quarter of the seats to the Muslim Brotherhood, and now Hamas rules the territories. If we define democracy on these terms alone, then what we have on our hands is a political census that shows the possibility of many countries electing Islamic extremists to power. I seriously doubt the world wants to handle more than…
President Gloria Arroyo has announced a state of emergency in the Philippines following the thwarting of a coup plot. Somewhat ironically, today is the 20th anniversary of the original People Power revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos. MANILA (Reuters) – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared emergency rule in the Philippines on Friday after the military said it foiled a coup attempt, but analysts criticized the move as unwarranted and potentially damaging to the economy. Talk of plots against Arroyo, who survived a crisis last year over allegations of vote-rigging and corruption, has been running high around this week’s anniversary of…
The blogosphere has been abuzz about the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Iraq, one of holiest shrines in Shia Islam. Of course, news reports always labels shrines as one of the holiest shrines, but it’s definitely true this time. This one is at the top. The attack was so profoundly felt by Shia Muslims that it has led to attacks on Sunni Muslim mosques and believers all over the country in retribution. Some think this may be a precursor to civil war. Others think not. I think not. But many haven’t looked at is the politics behind the attack;…
If it weren’t sketchy enough that this is the second opposition leader assassinated in Kazakhstan within the past three months, the head of the government intelligence agency has resigned. He did so because several of his officers were implicated in the murder and have confessed, or so the story goes! ALMATY, Kazakhstan ???????? Kazakhstan’s intelligence chief resigned Wednesday after several of his subordinates were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the slaying of an opposition leader. The opposition has said the Feb. 11 killing of Altynbek Sarsenbayev was politically motivated and was carried out by the special services. Nartai Dutbayev…
Rumors flying for months about a military coup in the Philippines may just have turned out to be true, as an investigation has led to the finding of 16 officers planning to overthrow the government. MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine army has questioned at least 14 lieutenants and sergeants linked to a plot to unseat President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a general said on Wednesday, adding he was confident no coup attempt would ever succeed. Lieutenant-General Hermogenes Esperon, head of the army, said authorities had identified about 16 junior officers who were planning to carry out a coup. Two of them…
Iran is dangerously close to producing a nuclear weapon and igniting a region-wide arms race. It could be within a couple of months or a couple of years. Nobody knows exactly how much time is left, but the day that Iran goes nuclear is one that many hope will never come. The thought of a government run by Islamic extremists who want to ???????wipe Israel off the map??????? should send chills down the spine of anyone who lives in the free world. Fortunately, there is time left. The breaking point is when Iran actually produces the weapons. Until then anything…
Finally, investigations are being held into the existence of Shia-led death squads in Iraq. Apparently the U.S. military caught some policemen about to execute a Sunni, and when questioned about it, they admitted it as if nothing were wrong with it. The incident has prompted an official investigation, though that it has not happened yet is absolutely astounding. The so-called “death squads” are formed by members of the different Shia militias, like Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army and the SCIRI-linked Badr Organization that was trained by Iran for about twenty years. These squads have targeted, and still target, Sunnis and kill…
The municipal government in Volgograd has decided to close down a local newspaper for printing a cartoon showing Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and Moses watching a crowd of clashing people while saying, “We never taught them to do that…” The mayor of the city is quoted as saying that the paper was shut down in order to prevent inter-religious strife; meanwhile, the prosecutor-general is looking to file charges. Jim Hoft wonders if Russia is just being PC or crushing dissent. I’d say both. But more than anything it is being opportunist. Volgograd is in the south-west of the country, has a…
Rene Preval has been declared the new president of Haiti following mass demonstrations and accusations of fraud. Well, not just accusations, but a garbage dump full of ballot boxes. So in order to prevent large legal complications that would further decrease the legitimacy of the rule of law, the interim government and electoral council decided to allow Preval’s victory by removing blank ballots from the count. Haiti’s interim government and the electoral council have declared Ren???? Pr????val the winner of the presidential election, ending frantic negotiations to stop violent street demonstrations in the impoverished Caribbean nation. Mr. Rene Preval “Ren????…
I’ll be in Washington, D.C. from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. Anyone in the area want to have lunch/coffee?
Protests in the Middle East are rarely both large and spontaneous at the same time, although often it will appear that way. The same holds for the printing of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohemmed in a Danish newspaper, in which it appeared that many of the Muslim protestors took the same streets, bought and burned hundreds of readily available Danish flags, and were ready and willing to torch European embassies. All at the same time. Obviously, it has come to be shown since then that incitement and organization had been prepared for some time by a Danish imam, followed by…
More photos here. The failed state of Haiti, which has only been able to maintain minimum order because of UN occupation and a transitional government, held its first presidential election on Feb. 7 following the exile of former President Aristide. The frontrunner Rene Preval, favored by the country’s impoverished masses, was winning handily with well over 50% of the vote while his nearest contender barely broke ten. His lead quickly diminished mysteriously and accusations of fraud began to fly. The shit hit the fan as violent protests in support of Preval began to break out. No election is perfect, not…
Six days ago, I reported that American and British diplomats were meeting to discuss how to promote democratic regime change in Iran. Needless to say, most of the commenters were skeptical, generally pointing to the mere ten million dollars set aside for pro-democracy activities. That’s chump change. As Marko in the comments said, “$10 million to spend? Let????????s buy them all pro-democracy keychains!” Thankfully I know better than others that internal regime change is a serious policy direction for the administration because it is the only way a nuclear Iran will be acceptable to the Western powers. News of diplomats…
Today marks the one year anniversary of the assassination of Rafik Hariri and the start of Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution. At least 500,000 people took to the streets of Beirut to commemorate that fateful day. Images here. All the links you can handle here. Let’s hope that not only will today be used to commemorate the death of Rafik Hariri, but to help build momentum toward bringing the regime who killed him and occupied Lebanon to justice.
Following the super-flawed municipal elections held last week, the Supreme Court in Nepal has decided that the Royal Commission for Corruption Control, setup by royal decree soon after King Gyanendra took power one year ago, is completely unconstitutional and all decisions made by it are annulled. This is a major blow to the King and a major step back onto the path of democracy and the rule of law. He justified the commission by stating that it would be used to weed out corruption in the government, but instead it was used as his personal eight-man search and destroy party…
The Shia-based United Iraq Alliance finally made its nomination for prime minister evident, voting by an inter-party margin of one vote to choose current Prime Minister Jaafari to lead the country’s first democratically elected government. I think the choice could end up in a stalemate, with a new candidate eventually having to be proposed. Iraq the Model has thoughts on the matter, ultimately concluding that it’s too early to speculate too much — but that won’t stop me! Iraq’s ruling Shia coalition announced yesterday it had chosen incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister, clearing the way for…
The tiny island nation of Tonga, population 100,000, got it’s first commoner prime minister after the king’s son was removed from the position following months of public protest against his rather senile rule. Here’s the backstory. Tonga has moved closer to democracy with the king’s unpopular youngest son stepping down as prime minister in favour of an elected commoner – an historic first in the Pacific island monarchy. Without giving a reason, the Tongan government announced on Monday that after six years as prime minister, Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata resigned all his ministerial portfolios on Saturday. A statement said Crown…
The BBC Radio ran an interview with Natan Sharansky on its “Taking A Stand” program. There’s no transcript of the interview, so you’ll just have to listen to the report. He talks about his time in the Soviet gulag, his release, his career in Israeli politics, and most interestingly his take on Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian elections. His position is that though the election obviously represented the true choice of the Palestinian people, it is not good for democracy. His book, The Case For Democracy, focuses extensively on the issue of promoting democracy in the Palestinian territories. He says…
I’m totally swamped with reading for my so-called “formal education,” but since it’s mostly on democracy and terrorism perhaps you all will be interested in checking out the books that I myself am reading at this time. – Democratization: A Critical Introduction: Very basic. If you’ve been reading this site, then you will easily understand all of the major concepts and theories introduced in this book. – The Dynamics of Democratization : Elites, Civil Society and the Transition Process: I like this one a bit more than the above, because it focuses a lot on the role of elites and…
The United States and Britain are discussing democratic regime change for Iran, the only possible way that the nuclear row will ever be solved without potential violence. This is very good news for both the international community as well as the Iranian people. The benefit for us is that we won’t have to worry about a hostile Iran with nuclear weapons, and the benefit for them is that they get to live in a free society. It works both ways. The only criticism I have of this policy is that it should have been implemented much, much sooner. WASHINGTON (Reuters)…
Andy Young of Siberian Light fame is now blogging over at Taking Aim, and he reports now that Russia is expecting a huge shortage of vodka. The issue is so big, in fact, that it was front page news on Komsomolskaya Pravda. Cause? An anti-counterfeiting law that came into effect on January 1 stipulating that every bottle of vodka must have an excise duty stamp on it. It sounds like the Stamp Act of 1765 that helped produce a boycott of British goods and push forward the American Revolution. A shortage of vodka would be terrible politics for Putin. Hell,…
Nepal is holding municipal elections today, the first vote for the people of the country in seven years. The King is heralding it as a step toward democracy in a country besieged by a Maoist insurgency. With any luck, the country will return to normal within good time and everyone will live happily ever after. Oh, sunny days! Or not. Unlike other posts about elections and the spread of democracy, this is anything but. It has been exactly a year and a week since the King took absolute power by disbanding the parliament. He is now attempting to legitimize his…
Imagine for a second that you’re the head of a secular authoritarian regime in the Middle East. The West is pressuring you to liberalize your political system, but elections are bringing to power grassroots Islamist groups who are looking to take you out of power. The root of this, you realize, could always be due to your terrifying rule of oppression, but of course that would be impossible. Simply unbelievable. I mean, who doesn’t love you, RIGHT? But nonetheless, you’re shitting your pants at the prospect of overthrow by Islamists, whether violently or democratically. Lucky for you, Muslims across the…
Rage across the Muslim world persists and grows for another week over cartoons published in a Danish paper depicting the prophet Muhammed. It has culminated in violent protests with chants of death, the burning of embassies, and a round of condemnations from governments in the region. Meanwhile, in Europe, the cartoons have been reproduced by newspapers all over the continent in a show of solidarity with the Danish journalists — who are now in hiding for fear of their lives. The battle lines are being drawn. They are not between nations, defended with vast armies as it has been throughout…