Blogging the democratic revolution
I know that the third round of municipal elections in Saudi Arabia are coming up, so I checked out Arab News, which has a lot of material up, but I came upon this article noting that legislation had been passed in Kuwait allowing women to both vote and participate in municipal elections. KUWAIT CITY, 20…
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…
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.
Pro-Syrian businessman Najib Mikati was appointed prime minister after the resignation (how many is that?) of Omar Karami. At Spirit of America, Mike Totten has a short but pointed interview with student opposition leader Nabil Abou-Charraf. Charraf contends that the latest Karami resignation is a ploy by the government to scuttle the upcoming elections. He…
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…
Recently here on Publius Pundit we had a spirited discussion about democratic reform in Egypt, with me warning of the dangers of the Muslim Brotherhood using elections as an opening to come to power and create an Islamist state, a Sunni equivalent of what we face in Iran right now. My initial post, Egypt: Democracy…
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!
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…
This isn’t getting much attention at all in the English media, but the Yemeni government seems to be in the middle of a serious smackdown on the Yemeni press. I was first alerted to this earlier today after watching a brief news report on Al-Jazeera, but even that outlet doesn’t have anything on it either…
As accorded by the deal struck between the main Shiite coalition and the Kurdish Alliance, a Shiite has been elected Prime Minister. This is the post with the task of forming and managing the government, while the presidential role is mostly ceremonial. Iraq’s newly appointed presidential council yesterday chose Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shia, as prime…
The Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat is reporting today that Syria’s ruling party, the Baath Party, is planning to amend its charter, ditch the socialist tenets, and perhaps even change its name. The article, The Syrian Baath Plans to Dissolve its National Leadership and Bring Down its Socialist Motto (it is the third article from the…
Michael Totten and Jim Hake are on the ground in Lebanon, raising money for the Cedar Revolutionaries. I got this email from Jim just a while ago: I’m in Beirut, Lebanon to kick off a project to support the pro-democracy demonstrators at the "tent city" in Martyrs’ Square. Their goals are independence (i.e., Syria out…
The mainstream media largely missed it, but here at Publius Pundit we recently noted a flickering of Ukraine-style protests for democratic reforms in Bahrain. But there is danger as well, for part of the opposition is aligned with Iran (the Sunni-ruled country is majority Shia, but of course only a faction among the Shia population…
The death of Pope John Paul II, although expected, has nevertheless been strongly felt around the world. One of his main themes was the promotion of democracy and freedom. What I would like to do here is to use this opportunity to look at two other issues close to John Paul’s heart – the future…
Through two months of bold and sometimes bitter negotiations, pluralism wins through and Iraq has a speaker for parliament. BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi politicians chose a Sunni Arab tobe the speaker of parliament on Sunday, ending a politicalimpasse and taking a decisive step toward forming a governmentnine weeks after historic elections. In a ballot, the…
Two articles published recently in the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat suggest that Arab governments may be making a decisive change in their dealings toward the Palestinians. One was a March 30 article, The Amir of Qatar: ‘The Palestinians Have Proven that Reform and Peace Can Go Together’. The article, citing remarks of the Amir of…
So far this is the fourth bomb to strike within the last three weeks, just as Syria will finish pulling out its troops by next week. BEIRUT, Lebanon — A bomb damaged a shopping center in a Christian area northeast of Beirut Friday, the fourth attack against an anti-Syrian target in two weeks. The blast…
Defying a ban against unauthorized rallies, several hundred people took to the street. Hundreds of supporters of one of Egypt??????s largest opposition groups have defied a government ban against unauthorized protests and taken to the streets of Cairo to demonstrate. Ahead of landmark elections, dozens of Muslim Brotherhood officials chanted that President Hosni Mubarak was…
So much is going on in the world that a large roundup of Lebanon has been hard to do, but there’s been quite a bit of news lately so it’s certainly a good time to do one. News: Over the past week and a half three bombs exploded near Beirut in mainly Christian suburbs. Christians…
My post yesterday questioning whether opening elections to the Muslim Brotherhood might bring about disaster got more responses than any other post I have done on Publius Pundit. I felt that some of the issues raised by the comments had sufficient significance for democratic development theory to justify a full post response. (To read my…
Gary has been reporting on the huge democracy protests that have been going on in Iran and the mainstream media has failed to report them. Here’s the latest: Iran Press News claims hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured into the streets of cities all across Iran last Friday night. Iran’s TV media blamed anti-regime Iranian…
Those in the United States and elsewhere who are pushing hard for the spread of democracy around the globe (including Publius Pundit) may soon get their toughest test yet. Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak recently made a much publicized announcement that the constitution was to be amended to allow for genuinely competitive presidential elections. Today the…
I’m still not finished with my residence move, and still have books all over the floor, but I felt the need to start blogging again after a six-day hiatus. So, since I recently posted an entry pouring water on the Palestinians’ united front, as it included a release of terrorists by Israel in exchange for…