Blogging the democratic revolution
Terry Rogers from Notes From Kiev has found an interesting article about the relative difficulty of purging the bandits from Ukraine government post-election.
Via Instapundit, the New York Times reports on the actions behind the scenes of the Orange Revolution. It is an extremely detailed, seven page account of the story about how intelligence officials blocked the suppression of the opposition by the government. For a news story, it was a very exciting read… the kind of thing you would only expect in war novels. Update: But it looks like Daniel Drezner already predicted this!
David McDuff over at A Step At A Time came out with some great content today that I found very unique. He posted a translation of a post on a message board by a Russian man describing how he feels about the pensioner protests. Very, very profound. He also posts his translation of an interview done for a Russian newspaper with Vil Mirzayanov, who gives his expert opinion into the dioxin poisoning of Yushchenko. But again, McDuff is an expert in his own right, having done translations of many Russian works, making a very unique addition to the blogosphere with…
Putin says Israel funded Yushchenko victory. I think Bloggledygook said it perfectly: Notable here is the implication that Putin doesn’t consider Russian aid and support to be foreign per se. Indeed. And I’m not sure how anti-semitic Russians are, but this might be aimed at mobilizing people against Yushchenko on the basis of distaste for Jews or Israel. It has been a mighty political tool in the past. Can anyone comment on this?
Discoshaman has got an update on Ukraine news for January 17th.
Eurasianet has published an article regarding the Human Rights Watch: 2005 World Report, and they sum up the situation in one well-written sentence: According to the rights advocacy group, all of Russia is effectively controlled from Moscow, elections in Belarus are laughable, abuse of prisoners is the norm in Uzbekistan, while Armenia and Azerbaijan are run by authoritarian regimes as the two countries continue their standoff over Nagorno-Karabakh. True. And this article focuses a lot on Russia especially, given that it is the main political body attempting to maintain control in the region. I’m going to go ahead and read…
The Kyiv Post has an editorial that makes a case against Tymoshenko and makes sthe case for its endorsement of Poroshenko. An interesting read with very good points, and definitely fair. They outline what Poroshenko has to do in order to be an effective Prime Minister, such as his business transparency and selling off Channel 5.
I have been rather reluctant to cover this, given that it is being organized by the Communist Party. The real reason I’m more interested now, however, is because Veronica Khokhlova from Neeka’s Backlog is right in the middle of St. Pete with her digital camera. She spent some time at the rally and has written up a report from what she saw. Did I mention she took 55 photos? First, all those Nazi/Soviet/Communist/Che Guevarish trash – it’s repulsive, and dangerous, and if bringing down Putin means giving power to these people, I’d rather stay with Putin. Really, I don’t understand…
Discoshaman has posted his Ukraine news roundup for January 16th. – Katerinchuk, from Yushchenko’s HQ, spoke today about the unprofessioanl nature of Yanukovych’s Supreme Court complaint. Remember, that this is coming from a partisan source. Here’s what he had to say: 1. The majority of the complaints are identical, regardless of their ostensible city of origin. They’re also mostly photocopies. 2. The “Tomes” of the complaint aren’t as Tome-ish as one might think — Tome #10 consists of 1 page, #3 – 9 pages, #6- 8 pages. . . 3. Most of the complaints center on alleged election-day “agitations.” One…
It is the fourth anniversary of the ZUBR Belarus opposition movement on the 14th. Complete with pictures. On, and on the 10th, the Georgian Parliament voted in support of Mikhail Marynich, an opposition leader who has been sentenced to five years of imprisonment. I love it when democratic movements support each other, even if it’s just spiritually.
Just yesterday, there were only 18 tents erected. That has grown to 50 tents and 8000 people. Of course, that’s nothing. This comes on the heels of the Supreme Court agreeing to investigate to Yanukovich’s complaints today. In response, Maidan is collecting evidence of falsification of complaint allegations by Yanukovich.
It seems there is some rumblings over secrecy in Georgian privatization. And for good reason, because when this happens in third world countries, there tends to be large-scale embezzlement. Well, it happens at the UN too, but that’s another story… Some independent analysts disagree. The lack of public information–and public knowledge–about the sales underway can only complicate attempts to evaluate the government????????s performance, warned Dato Narmania, a privatization expert at The Association of Young Economists of Georgia. Yes. Transparency in government is very, very important, because it allows the people to not only make better decisions, but to give more…
So is named a huge, seven page article at Transitions Online. Read the whole thing. I went in rather skeptical, but all of my points of contention were addressed. In fact, I think it covers just about everything. One thing I don’t agree with was the need for at least a little bit of pluralism in the system for it to happen. With some covert organization, anything is possible. I believe that the more these regimes react negatively to the spread of political and civil liberties, justice, and morality, the quicker they will incite a revolution all by themselves. Oppression…
As seen here. “I don????????t have any doubt that parliament will support my candidacy if Yushchenko will propose it to the parliament,” Tymoshenko said. And due to a written agreement with Yushchenko, she’ll have no problem getting the nomination either. Nice to hear. But there was something I found somewhat misleading about the article: Some critics have suggested that naming Tymoshenko, a Western-leaning former deputy prime minister, to the premier????????s job could deepen the division between western and eastern Ukraine, a rift vividly exposed during the election. “A rift vividly exposed”? You mean, the all of 18 tents set up…
Here’s the story. Looks like, instead of the opposition trying to create instability, it would be the government trying to disenfranchise the resistence by making accusations before any honest investigations are made. It very well could have been opposition forces, but then again, what is a political office to the government when they are seeking re-election?
And now a week later, it seems that the protesting has not let up. A little surprising; I thought it would have been dispersed much harsher. The government doesn’t really need to react though. They’ll possibly grant Roza Otunbaeva her ability to run… but that won’t change that most of the major media in the country will be favoring the current administration. With that kind of advantage, granting the opposition a small personal victory in exchange for a large political victory is priceless. I mean, then they can claim that the elections were fair and open, and that they have…
A very rare occassion, The Argus notes, that President Karimov of Uzbekistan will give an interview. Apparently, however, the leader holds a firm grasp of the potential for democracy and what it will do to his government if the people are unsatisfied. This is a good thing for the people of a nation to realize, but… The Argus notes correctly: At the same time, his firm grasp on the situation is problematic. He has appraised the situation, come to the conclusion that people force governments out of office when extremely dissatisfied, and looked for ways to stave off such a…
Scott Clark updates his lengthy post about the differences between Russia and Ukraine that will hinder possible progress toward its own revolution. I’m not sure what color it’d be anyhow. On that note, Russian politicians are at least really starting to worry. Once they react and start to close the iron fist, they’ll just be setting themselves up for an ousting eventually. Siberian Light has got a weekly Russia news roundup. I’ll have to drop by more often! Russia is now barring people who talk smack about them from entering the country. I wonder what would happen if they would…
Discoshaman has your Ukraine news roundup for both the fourteenth and the fifteenth. And just in case you’re wondering what music he listens to. The brief about Yushchenko being pushed as a potential Nobel peace prize winner is interesting. I hope it will not be rushed and be based upon the merit of his presidency, and not simply the revolution in itself. The first shipments of Orange Ukraine stuff is in the mail! The EU Parliament voted to recognize Ukraine for the possibility of a “clear European perspective, possibly leading to EU membership.” A better article can be found at…
Just another before I go to sleep. Blogging is so addictive. I’m leaving this one up to The Argus. He’s got the lowdown on the shutdown of democracy in Kazakhstan. Fantastic commentary on the sad state of support and the disorganization of the opposition.
It all started with Georgia, followed soon after by the larger Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Since then, a domino effect has literally begun toppling the entire region toward the west, as the people of these countries have realized that Russia is no longer in power over them. The real fight is now between them and their own governments; a much easier battle. I’ve talked a bit about recent events in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, but it seems Armenia is joining the list of unsettled citizens. There are several reasons for Armenia’s distaste for Russia now. It was criticized heavily by Armenia…
-Scott Clark at Foreign Notes has some commentary about Kuchma in reference to a Financial Times article calling Kuchma a statesman. -Discoshaman has his daily Ukraine roundup (and sometimes juicy gossip!) available at Le Sabot Post-Moderne. -Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine has a long post about how Yushchenko needs a sidekick. -Central Election Commission declares Yushchenko the victor of the presidential election. In other news, Yanukovich plans an appeal to the European Court. This after the Ukraine Supreme Court refused to see his last four complains. Maybe that’s because they were unsubstantiated. -The U.S. is praising Ukraine for having commited…
The protests in Kyrgyzstan have actually entered day three now, with more opposition groups joining in. The Argus has the news and some commentary. According to the most recent government response: There are no conditions for ???????velvet revolutions???????? to take place in Kyrgyzstan during the parliamentary and presidential elections, due to be held here in 2005, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov said here on Monday. … He urged the opposition not to use various forms of exerting pressure on the authorities, and to refrain from appeals to civil disobedience actions. This is like code for saying “we will stay in…
Maidan broke this story today with a quote by Yuschenko’s press office: “Withdrawing Ukraine’s peacekeeping contingent from Iraq remains one of Yushchenko’s priorities once he takes the office,” a statement released by his press office January 10 says. For Ukraine, I hope this doesn’t hurt diplomatic relations with the U.S. I think after all their country has been through in these past couple of months that withdrawing from Iraq and concentrating on their internal affairs are much more important. While they might no longer be able to contribute to the success of democracy in Iraq, at the very least, they…
Word out of there is that the main opposition leader just got wrongfully denied ballot candidacy. Zamira Sydykova, editor in chief of the Kyrgyz opposition daily “Res Publica,” had this to say about the move by the administration: “I don????????t understand this hysteria,” said Sydykova of “Res Publica.” “I don????????t understand why Äthe authoritiesÅ decided to throw out Otunbaeva from a competition with Bermet, because Bermet already has a huge administrative resource. As they say, ????????the eyes of fear see danger everywhere.???????? I think, through this case, the authorities gave themselves away completely.” This mud is more visible on their…