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 April 2005 ???????? In a first step toward granting women full political rights, Kuwaiti lawmakers agreed yesterday to allow women to vote and run in local council elections, but the measure requires more legislative action before it would become law. The measure was taken on…
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 named today, he insisted, will be a short-term administration, destined to supervise parliamentary elections, quickly, and within the constitutional time frame, “God willing,” as he put it. Mr. Mikati denied that there had been a tug-of-war between Lebanon’s opposition movement and pro-Syrian politicians, in choosing…
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 says that to the opposition the elections are everything, the government, nothing. For his part, Mikati is being described as a moderate. But he is a moderate only in comparison to his rival Abdel-Rahim Mrab. He said: “We must take advantage of this unity and…
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 a news conference after 7 weeks of futile attempts to put together a viable cabinet lineup. Karami blamed his failure on ‘impossible conditions to meet’ that were put forward by his allies of the Ein El-Tineh coalition of Syria’s loyalists in Lebanon. Karami’s move leaves…
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 Enthusiasts’ Toughest Test?, drew a number of critical comments which you can read there. I responded with another post, Response to Comments – Democracy in Egypt, dealing with the issues raised. One of the points I made was that American democracy supporters had to be…
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, outgoing state minister Albert Mansur said yesterday. ???????The truck loaded with explosives was heading to Syria, according to sources of the investigation,??????? Mansur said on LBCI television. Police said security forces had seized a Hyundai truck in the northeastern district of Hermel, a few kilometers…
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 gatherings by white- and blue-collar workers, were reported in state-run and opposition media. Some strikes, such as the one by coal miners in Sangroud, lasted for more than 50 days. Non-payment of salaries, insufficient pay, and the privatisation of many sectors of work were the…
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 a.m. Monday, leaving it to parliament to decide whether the spring legislative elections could be held on deadline, An Nahar reported on Sunday. Karami made the revelation in remarks to Lebanese reporters Saturday aboard the jetliner that carried him with President Lahoud back from Pope…
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 on the English or the Arabic version of its website. (A note for those who depend on Al-Jazeera’s English site: the two are almost entirely different; only the main Arab world-related stories make it into the English version, which is clearly designed for a global…
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 minister, but the new leader indicated it might be some time before he can form a government. Iraq’s president, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani who was himself elected by parliament only the day before, informed Mr Jaafari that he should form a government, only minutes after…
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 top, for Arabic readers): Informed Syrian sources have said that the national conference of the Arab Socialist Baath Party, which will be held most likely the seventh or the eighth of the coming month, with make a decision to dissolve the party’s national leadership. 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 of Lebanon) and free and fair elections. The tent city demonstrators are the center of gravity for Lebanon’s pro-democracy movement. They are leading the charge. They put together the massive demonstrations 3 weeks ago. As they go, so goes Lebanon’s independence. And so goes a…
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 identifies with Iran). This is according to Geostrategy-Direct (subscription required): ÄApril 5Å Bahrain has prepared for a major crackdown on the Shi’ite opposition aligned with Iran. The crackdown is being closely monitored by the United States, whose naval Fifth Fleet is based in Manama. The…
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 of Arab Christianity in the Arab world, especially those groups – the Uniates and the Maronites – aligned with Rome, and the future of Muslim-Christian relations. Christian Arabs will play a role of course in the democratization of the Arab world, assuming their communities survive…
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 members of the 275-seat National Assemblyvoted overwhelmingly to elect Hajem al-Hassani, the industryminister, as speaker. Hassani, a religious Sunni, is an ally ofinterim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. “We passed the first hurdle,” Hassani told reporters. “TheIraqi people have proven that they can overcome the politicalcrisis…
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 Qatar Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani at the “Fifth Doha Conference for Democracy and Free Trade,” wrote: ‘The search for reform and the search for peace in the region can go together without conflict or contradiction,’ remarking that ‘our Palestinian brothers have proven this by…
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 lightly injured seven people, one of them an American, police said. The explosion in the resort town of Broummana, 10 miles northeast of the Lebanese capital, started a fire and shattered glass in several buildings, blew out store shutters and smashed several cars. Firefighters workers…
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 no longer fit to rule Egypt. Many demonstrators were detained and remanded in custody for 15 days on charges including “membership of a banned organization, participation in illegal demonstrations and incitement to hatred of the regime,” judicial officials said. Pro-Islamic students at universities in Cairo,…
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 have been one of the major backings in Lebanon (as well as Ukraine) in the opposition protests. But this is not the Lebanon of 25 years ago. This is a Lebanon that is united for their own sovereignty above what Syria will do to them,…
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 initial post and the comments, see Egypt: Democracy Enthusiasts’ Toughest Test?) There were some responses with which I agree or at least find reasonable: (1) It is almost certainly true that were the Muslim Brotherhood to come to power in Egypt, this would lead to…
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 media abroad for inciting the revolts. The demonstrators were quoted as chanting: “People join us and condemn the executioners and oppressors…death to dictators…get lost hired killer mercenaries… and Bush, Bush, support, protection…” SMCCDI reports that as a result of the failure of the regime to…
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 Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in Egypt but is nevertheless highly organized and motivated, held protests demanding that they be given a chance to run in an open election. Dozens were arrested, and judging from what I saw on Al-Jazeera today the demonstrations were pretty…
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 just ten months of peace, I felt it appropriate to note that the Arab League made a more realistic offer at its yearly conference this week (see my last post on this issue, Oslo II? The Palestinians’ United Front, and the Fading Hopes for Peace).…