Blogging the democratic revolution
Via Real Clear Politics, Donald Rumsfeld has presented his thinking on the new kinds of challenges the U.S. faces as it fights the long hard war on terror and seeks to win the hearts and minds of the Arab world in spreading the idea of democracy. He lays out all the angles on how this is playing out in democratic revolution – through technology and the power of ideas here. This happens to coincide with what we’ve been seeing on the State Department’s Web site, debunking all the flying-saucer theories put out by leftists and assorted ignoramuses and tinfoil-hat wearers…
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.
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 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…
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)…
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…
Global Crisis Watch/ClandestineRadio.com’s Nick Grace and Rich Lafayette hosted an interview with Aryo B. Pirouznia of the Iranian opposition movement SMCCDI and the newly-founded Iranian National Secular Party and with me. Listen to it here . The interview begins from the minute 8’30.
Islamofascist fanatics have set fire to the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Chilean embassies in Damascus, blaming all four for the Danish cartoons that offended Koranic commands not to make graven images of religious figures in a bid to halt idolatry. Anyone who looks at those cartoons can be pretty sure he wouldn’t be tempted to idolatry, given their derisive content. Well, except maybe an intellectually zeroed-out Islamofascist, who knows? The European Union, according to a Danish correspondent here, has responded wimpily, hanging the Danes, their own member country, out to dry. That’s emboldened the fanatics, who’ve burned the embassies in…
I watched the President’s State of the Union address with a French diplomat friend and my friend remarked that about 2/3 of Bush’s speech was on foreign policy, with a significant amount of it on democracy movements. “As it should be,” he added. I thought there was a nuance to it, though, and it was a little painful. President Bush outlined with great precision the consequences of America’s addiction to imported oil, explaining how high oil prices were fueling dictators and undercutting freedoms abroad, the very freedoms we were fighting for in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he named the wrong…
The Washington Post published an editorial over the weekend entitled, “U.S. Policy Seen as Big Loser in Palestinian Vote” that is well worth a read for anyone who wants to know exactly what it’s like to be completely oblivious to what democracy actually is and the institutions that are needed to sustain it. Staff writer Glenn Kassler attempts to critique Bush administration policy toward the Palestinians, in which there are probably many. But it ultimately turns into a condemnation of America’s policy of trying to spread democracy in the Middle East and becomes a declaration that the Palestinians, Egyptians, Iranians,…
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei’ and his cabinet (most of which are Fatah) announced their resignation following the January 25th elections. With a voter turnout of 77% preliminary results show Hamas with a substantial victory, taking 76 of the 132 seats, and proving that pollsters were clearly off in their predictions which favored a Fatah majority. According to the Israeli online news site Ynet, Hamas leader Mahmoud A-Zahhar continues to say that they will not change their call for the destruction of Israel. He also said, “The issue of weapons is related to the occupation. We will not receive dictations…
OK, so Hamas won the Palestinian election. Probably better to deal with straight-up terrorists than with terrorists who are widely considered to be peace-seeking politicians. Although, I suppose, certain members of the press corps will continue to endorse the AK-toting “activists.” We all know how bad the education system is — my theory is that most journalists just don’t know how to spell “atavists.”
Note: I have been posting articles from my friend Richard Chesnoff on Bloggledygook. His latest is on the Palestinian elections. It is reproduced here in total. Chesnoff is a former correspondent for Newsweek. He currently writes for the New York Daily News and US News & World Report. He lives in New York and France. THE HAMAS GAME by Richard Z. Chesnoff, NY Daily News, 1/25/05 Final results of yesterday????????s Palestinian legislative elections are still trickling in. But one thing is sure: Yasser Arafat????????s chickens have come home to roost. After decades of dictatorial and corrupt control by the late…
Women living in the United Arab Emirates have staged a first-ever protest demanding equal citizenship rights in the country. Dubai: Twenty-three UAE national women protested outside the Labour Ministry building yesterday to demand the re-instatement of their social security payments. A top ministry official said the minister has issued directions to reconsider their cases. The women stood outside the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs yesterday from 9am until 11:30am in a silent protest. It was sparked after their social security payments of Dh1,095 a month were cut off, days before Eid Al Adha, because they are married to working…
Iranian activists responded positively to a call by the United American Committee to join a national march against Islamic fascism, scheduled for February 1st. Most Middle-Easterners and Iranians have been long among the first victims of Islamo-Fachism Ä…Å No one, except a few demagogues located mainly abroad, can claim anymore that the Islamic republic regime has any kind of popularity or legitimacyÄ…Å lobbyist groups and infamous apologists of the clerical regime Ä..Å are looking to legitimize the Islamic regime. It’s in reaction to such an immoral and illegitimate agenda that we must all mobilize Ä…Å We must use any possible…
The first-ever participation of Hamas in the Palestinian elections on Wednesday poses significant policy challenges to the United States, Europe, Israel and the region. Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel and is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the E.U. A Hamas victory could lead to the creation of the first Sunni jihadist state in the modern Middle East, paralleling the Shiite theocracy in Tehran. Hamas is a local offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a regional extremist network that threatens Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. While Hezbollah represents only one sect in Lebanon, Hamas threatens to overwhelm…
While Canadians voted in a new Conservative leader today, the Palestinians are holding their first election since 1996 which many believe is key in the Palestinian push for statehood. Hamas candidates have entered the race and their popularity makes them running a close second to Fatah. While campaigning, Hamas says a truce could be on the table, yet in one ad which was rebroadcast by CNN, Hamas shows footage of militants and states: “We will not rest as long as one inch of our holy land is in the hands of the Jews. Our flags will fly over the minarets…
It looks like Code Pink forgot to tell Common Dreams News Center that their logo is bunk and a forgery. In a recent article written by our all-time favorite mental patient Cindy Sheheen, Common Dreams proudly displays the logo that exploits a brave Iranian woman. You know, the one that Code Pink tried to swiftly remove without any notice. Looks like someone forgot to cover their tracks.
A prominent Iranian feminist activist and freedom fighter passed away yesterday in Tehran. The maverick and combatant woman never abdicated from her principles and humanistic believes, despite all pressures exerted by the Islamic republic regime, and she was always supportive of Iranian students and freedom fighters. Despite her age and physical conditions, she actively participated in the “July 9, 1999 Students’ Uprising”, beside her courageous daughter “Maloos Radnia known also as Mariam Shansy”. “Vajiheh Cheguini” raised the anger of the brutal “Ali Falhahian” (an Islamist Cleric known for his involvement in the killing of dissidents and a former Ministry of…
Hillary Clinton, on her latest rumble and tumble of speeches aimed at the Bush administration, has accused it of downplaying Iran as a threat to national security and has subsequently called for sanctions against the regime. But in the wake of so many lobbying and corruption scandals in Washington, is Hillary playing a game of double standards? According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Clinton has received $5000 in campaign contributions from a PAC called the American Iranian Council, which is known to be against sanctions and in favor of restoring diplomatic and trade relations between America and Iran —…
If you’re already going to rest for the weekend, think again: there’re some op/eds you might want to read and I thought I had to post them here. Michael Ledeen wrote an interesting piece in the National Review urging the Bush administration to do the right thing with respect to Iran. Below are some excerpts : You want to bomb the nuclear facilities? Do you really believe that our intelligence community is capable of identifying them? The same crowd that did all that yeoman work on Saddam’s Iraq? The CIA that once received accurate information on Iranian schemes in Afghanistan,…
After the jailing of opposition leader Ayman Nour, the United States has decided to halt free trade talks with Egypt for the meantime. It is a sign of growing American willingness to make the distinctive link between the economic benefits it can bestow and the nature of the governments we do business with. The decision highlighted a growing rift with an important Middle Eastern ally after it held an election for president last September that the United States described as highly flawed. Egypt had been eager to work out an agreement that would reduce or eliminate tariffs and increase trade…
Unbelievable. Code Pink, an anti-American, anti-Iraqi-freedom, anti-Iranian-democracy full-Sandalista nuisance group, has taken to photoshopping photographs of Iranian freedom babes brave enough to protest against the monstrous mullahs of Iran, and used their beautiful images as recruiting tools for their own odious, anaphrodisiac cause. This cause just happens to be cut-and-run from Iraq, so that mullahs will be free to oppress women in ‘peace.’ That’s Code Pink’s cause! It is so disgusting! They can’t even tell the difference between Iranians and Iraqis, among other things, and just don’t care. But that’s not nearly as bad as changing the message the women…