Blogging the democratic revolution
Egypt held it’s parliamentary elections earlier today. Here’s a great overview of what it’s all about and what’s at stake. Here is another list of resources. They marked a huge improvement over the last parliamentary elections, with almost no instances of violence. It’s a step, but still a leap away from real elections. Here’s a Christian Science Monitor article relating the event. CAIRO, EGYPT ???????? Egypt, with its restrictions on free speech and organization, remains a long way from being a democracy. But the government made good on its promises Wednesday to open up its political system. Unlike Egypt’s last…
The Mehlis Report, otherwise known as the Report of the International Independent Investigation Commission charged with investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on Feb. 14 of this year, indicated that high-level Syrian officials and their agents in Lebanon were behind the assassination. I posted a brief entry on it when it was published; this post is the more in-depth analysis I promised. Following the report, the United Nations renewed Detlev Mehlis’ mandate, and the investigation continues. Today Al-Sharq al-Awsat had two articles indicating that the pressure on Syria continues to accumulate. One, “Lebanon: Two of the…
I have now posted my Middle East Week in Review news bulletin, albeit two days late. In re to democracy issues, make a point to check out the link to the new national intelligence strategy, which focuses on this point.
The United Nations Security Council, at the behest of the United Station, France, and Britain, adopted a resolution by unanimous consent against Syria in order to compel the rogue government to cooperate with the Mehlis investigation and turn over an officials involved. The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution demanding Syria’s full cooperation with a United Nations investigation into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. The measure threatens “further action” against Syria in the event of noncompliance, which is weaker than initial language warning of sanctions. But sponsors of the measure say it shows Syria’s…
Following the approval of the new Iraqi constitution despite opposition by the majority of Sunnis, Sunni Iraqi leaders are getting serious about the political process and their own stakes in the new Iraq. This past week a new Sunni coalition party was formed from three parties – the Iraqi People’s Conference, the Iraqi Islamic Party, and the National Dialogue Council. According to the Iraqi newspaper Al-Bawaba, which emphasized not once, but twice, that these were the Sunnis who benefited from Saddam Hussein’s rule, the new party would be called “The Iraqi Consensus Party.” It program is to encourage Sunnis to…
Speaking at the “World Without Zionism” conference, the president of Iran said that he wanted Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Here is a picture of him at the conference: But that’s not the whole thing. Gary Metz over at Regime Change Iran has the exclusive picture that the media isn’t showing you. That’s the United States broken at the bottom of the glass, just before Israel falls down as well. Make sure to read the rest of Gary’s post, as he outlines the Islamic Republic’s war plans from its own mouth.
It is true that the investigation just about completed by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald is not related to the Iraq war, but the incident giving rise to the investigation does relate to one of the reasons why the liberation of that country was necessary. For background you probably aren’t getting from the MSM, see my post, Background to the Plame Investigation: Iraq was Seeking Uranium from Niger for its Nuclear Ambitions. In the unlikely case that you missed the details of the investigation and the indictment of Scooter Libby and need to catch up, check out my post Mr.…
The United Nations has issued another report regarding the situation between Lebanon and Syria, which takes notice of Syrian actions above and beyond that of the assassination of ex-PM Hariri as laid out in the Mehlis Report. The Larsen report, prepared by UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen for the purpose of measuring the success of implementing resolution 1559, warns about an increase of arms flow from Syria to Palestinian camps, as well as the continued presence of Syria-backed Hizb’allah and the economic pressures that Syria is trying to exert on Lebanon. The full text is here, and here are the relevant…
With the media headlining the anti-war camp’s bullet points and trumpeting the fact that 2,000 U.S. troops have now died in Iraq, it is time for some perspective. While we always hope to keep our own casualties to a minimum, war is part of the routine of life, and the reality of war is that casualties are inevitable. The idea that 2,000 fatalities is a high number for a war of any significance is not defensible. Below I have listed the total number of American military fatalities for the two world wars, the Korean war and the Vietnamese war (non-combat…
Iraq now has a constitution: pick your poison. (This is just a news update, any analysis will follow.)
I have just posted my Middle East Week in Review news bulletin.
For those of you who have been here with Publius since the beginning, you may remember that I used to do daily roundups of the news in Lebanon during the Cedar Revolution. It’s been quite a while since then, but with the dissemination of the Mehlis investigation report (read my post on that here), a spark has been set anew in the country. The Lebanese blogosphere is quite active right now, so it’s important to highlight the awesome work and insight that’s being put out there. I’ve been watching From Beirut to the Beltway quite a bit, as it has…
The Mehlis report was released today, and it was the historic bombshell that everyone knew it would be. It implicated Syrian and Lebanese intelligence chiefs and military generals, all the way up to members of Assad’s family. The commission was also extended up until December in order to allow for further investigations into more recent developments and leads. And, speaking of those leads, Mehlis deleted the names of some of those suspected of conspiring in Hariri’s murder for reasons not yet known, though I can imagine it has to due with following up with evidence by December. Here’s what happened:…
Here’s my sad nominee, from Reuters AlertNet: Just down the street a fading “USA Is Good” slogan was daubed on a wall, a reminder of the days just after Saddam’s fall in 2003, before American occupation, insurgents bombings, kidnappings and shootings dashed hopes. (Formatting mine. Credit: Michael Georgy, Reuters.)
There’s been some buzz created with regards to the auditing of votes in Iraq due to ‘unusually high turnout.’ In fact, it was the top story on Google News the other day, though I’m not really sure why, given that the biggest effect it will have is delaying the results only a couple of days. Here’s the basic rundown: Iraqi election officials say it is too early to suspect problems during Saturday’s constitutional referendum, as workers continue to review ballots. Officials say workers are still auditing results for about 12 Shi’ite and Kurdish areas which reported unusually high totals of…
You may have all noticed that I haven’t posted a nice, long entry on Iraq since the referendum. Well, that’s because I’ve been holding my breath. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, so there will be something much much bigger when some more indicative preliminary figures come in. One thing is for sure though. The January election and the October referendum were incredibly different emotional experiences for Americans who supported the war. Back then, we had no idea what would happen. It was one fell swoop of an emotional event, and when we saw Iraqis waving around…
John Hinderaker at Power Line asks whether the information to date demonstrates that large numbers of Sunnis did, in fact, vote for the new Iraqi constitution. RTWT. UPDATE: On the other hand, in the alternate reality-based community, the Sunnis are being subjugated — because, I suppose, the position held by the majority of Sunnis didn’t carry the referendum. Or something like that.
Well, we can already count one victory: the Iraqis, mired in a Vietquagmire and facing constant (real) terrorism, can be trusted to vote on their constitution in 2005 — just a couple of years removed from living under one of the world’s brutal tyrants — which says a lot about Iraq’s present status and how the world views their status. Meanwhile, how’s that going in Europe? Surely we can’t talk about failure in Iraq, when Iraqis are more trusted with their democracy than Europeans are with theirs, and have achieved more actual democratic progress in a far more hostile environment.…
Iraqis voted today on whether to accept the constitution, which Publius has covered extensively. Terrorism was minimal, with only three relatively unsuccessful attacks wounding two police officers and one civilian — which, out of 6,000 polling stations, is a highly ineffective 0.05% success rate. It does indeed look as though the Iraqi and coalition security forces are able to maintain the peace while locking down infrastructure; I expect that as the Iraqi forces continue to ramp up in the coming months, they’ll rapidly outpace the terrorists and develop the capacity to hold the peace without restricting Iraqis’ rights. But, then,…
Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan died yesterday in his office, and the Syrian government says that it was suicide; he shot himself through the mouth. But was it? Kenaan was head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon from 1982 to 2003, and basically ran the country for Syria. He was recently questioned as part of the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri led by Detlev Mehlis (see my post, Another Assassination Attempt in Lebanon: Syria & the Mehlis Investigation, for background). Nine Lebanese security officials with close ties to Syria were detained as part of the…
As the release of the Mehlis report edges closer, Bashar is beginning the process of elimination. That is, of those who would implicate his goverment. Ghazi Kanaan, the Syrian interior minister, has been found dead in his office with a bullet in his mouth. President Assad’s Interior Minister General Ghazi Kanaan, who ruled Lebanon for years as Syria’s military intelligence chief, committed suicide Wednesday a few days ahead of the expected release of a U.N. report into the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. He was 63. Kanaan’s Aide-de-Camp Brigadier Walid Abaza told the Agence France Presse that Kanaan shot himself…
The Iraqis have worked out a very good deal amongst themselves. So good, in fact, that one key Sunni group is dropping its opposition to the constitution. The deal would allow the December parliament to make amendments to the constitution, in which Sunnis and liberal secularists will have a much higher representation and voice than the currently Kurdish and religious Shiite dominated parliament. It also works out some other key issues. BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi leaders reached a breakthrough deal on last minute changes in the constitution Tuesday, and at least one Sunni Arab party said it would reverse its…
I was sitting in a shisha bar with some friends the other night, and soon enough I was talking with my friend from Lebanon about the Mehlis report, the implications for Syria, and what will happen to President Lahoud. He is a Christian and a supporter of General Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and went out on the streets during the Cedar Revolution, so the topic always incites him (which is fine with me, who else am I going to discuss Lebanese politics with?). It was fun because I hadn’t written much about goings on there of late, and in particular,…
Obviously fearing defeat and a loss of power in the upcoming elections, the religious Shiite parties in collaboration with the Kurds made a really dumb move by reinterpreting the electoral law for the October referendum. It has raised a fury with the Sunnis, prompting the UN and U.S. to step up and ask the parties to undo the changes. BAGHDAD — The United Nations has criticized last-minute changes Iraq’s Shiite-led government made to its electoral laws before the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum, and was trying yesterday to persuade legislators to reverse the amendments. UN officials warned the Iraqis that the…
I have just posted my Middle East Week in Review news bulletin to my blog.