Blogging the democratic revolution
Your country has a problem when inflation is at 1200%, the currency has had to be devalued by 60%, production of important natural resources like gold are down 50% over the past three years, teachers/government employees/soldiers are threatening strikes and revolts, 20% of the population has HIV/AIDS, tens of thousands are fleeing in fear, and all basic necessities of life are no longer available. This is Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Hell on earth. The culmination of radical land redistribution policies and a totalitarian police state. Watch out Venezuela. This could be your future. Zimbabwe’s economic crisis has actually reached a point where…
At the end of May I wrote about Vietnam and the United States bilateral free-trade agreement, paving the way for the United States to approve a bill leading the country’s accession to the WTO later this year. Trade will lead to growth and prosperity; and, eventually, real democracy. Even we fought a war with them so many years ago, Washington and Hanoi are on pretty good terms these days. The latter knows that being friends with the former leads to big benefits in the long run. There are some, however, who don’t want to see that happen. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez,…
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez embraces Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! America, behold the future! Carlos the Jackal’s biggest (and fattest) fan embraces 1979’s Iranian “student” hostage-taker of American diplomats ringleader in an epic spread-the-love embrace. I’m gonna throw up. I can’t blog anymore after looking at this. If you aren’t, Quico at Caracas Chonicles has a whole gallery of photos of all the other dictators Hugo’s embraced down the side of his page here.
Between meaningful embraces with Iran’s leading U.S. hostage-taker and quality time frolicking on The Stalin Line at the Happy-Hitler Meadows, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez still finds time to hawk toothpaste, too. He’s a busy man, a man of the world, but the Pitchman Supremo still manages to get it all in. Last year he was hawking corn flake crunchies, this year it’s bright red communist toothpaste. Oh that Hyuug! What would we all do without him? How would this stuff ever get sold? And there’s nothing more important than getting teeth as pearly white as Chavez’s. Must be read to…
Have a great weekend everyone! I am working on two posts about Switzerland. One will be about the Swiss national holiday on Tuesday in which I will compare it to the American July 4th and patriotism in the two, and the other will be about Swiss social-democracy. I will be leaving for Prague, Kiev, and Minsk in less than a week to gather writing material and take a look around. Again, if you are in any of these places, feel free to drop me a line.
In January, Russia’s state-controlled natural gas company Gazprom shut off the pipelines to Ukraine, causing shortages all throughout Europe. It could have been because Ukraine didn’t want to pay higher rates for its gas, but more likely it was political pressure aimed at dislodging the new pro-Western government of Viktor Yushchenko. And it worked. Now it looks like Russia’s favored candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, may be taking the reins of power soon. But if you thought that was bad, it’s not the half of it. Russia maintains “peacekeeper” troops in places where they aren’t want. One such place is the Transdnistria…
Media reports covering the reactions of certain Congressmen earlier in the year portrayed a rather negative outlook for the US-India nuclear deal, signaling another battle between the White House and Congress for approval. But apparently giving equal time to both sides doesn’t equally represent the full scale of the situation, as the deal passed the House 359-68. I could hear the cheers in India all the way from here. For those who voted against it, I have just a few words. You are retarded. Perhaps the implications of this bill have not been fully realized by some, but without it,…
…and anti-democratic leaders. Maybe it’s a pirate thing? Boli-Nica has some intriguing observations in a neat little photoessay here.
Here’s an amazingly elaborate YouTube satirizing Iran’s loathesome president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even without being able to read or understand the language, you can see exactly what the sentiment is and marvel at how well done and funny the little parody film really is, making the Iranian president look like a clown. All this is a sure sign of a dynamic Iranian democratic opposition. See it here.
Venezuelan and Belarusian dictators strut before lines of troops in Minsk Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! First, take a look at the top of line weaponry Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is buying from Vladimir Putin of Russia, to aim at us, just 1350 miles from our shores. This is but one step removed from another Cuban Missile Crisis. That’s a main reason for this junket to Belarus and Russia. So much for peace and friendship. What’s peace and friendship compared to advanced weaponry! Miguel Octavio at Devil’s Excrement in a brilliant essay, writes of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’s visit with Aleksander…
Today’s El Universal reports an increasingly serious situation with Venezuela’s oil supply, which is sure to have implications for its largest buyer, the U.S. Not only is the country running its oil industry into the ground with fires and accidents, something that’s never occurred until these Chavista years, a result of the firing and blacklisting of all of Venezuela’s talented and dedicated engineers and managers – who have since been replaced by Chavista operatives known for their political loyalty and not their expertise – intransparency has grown. Citgo recently announced that it would end supply to gas stations in 10…
Before the Islamic Courts overran Mogadishu, it was revealed that the CIA was supporting various warlord militias with hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to prevent them from taking over Somalia. The plan failed, however, and the group it advancing on the rest of the country. Life may not be good under the warlords, but the promise of a Taliban-like regime on the horizon doesn’t give much hope to the people of Somalia. However, the United States has a backup plan in Ethiopia, which has now sent troops into Somalia in order to stop the Islamic Courts. The U.S.…
Something that went unnoticed due to the international attention focused on Lebanon was the sentencing of Belarussian opposition candidate Alexander Kozulin to 5 1/2 years in prison on July 13. His crime? Leading protest marches following the obviously fraudulent presidential election last March. You’d think he murdered someone or something. What is interesting, however, is that the candidate of the united democratic forces, Alexander Milinkevich, was never arrested, jailed, or even had any of his rallies broken up at the time. What gives? The Eurasia Daily Monitor gives us a clue: Kazulin has long had close links to state structures,…
Pitched battle on the streets of Kinshasa, ahead of a controversial election Source: AP, via Yahoo! News Ahead of Congo’s first democratic election in 45 years on Sunday, street battles are engulfing the capital of Kinshasa. At issue is electoral fraud. And the indifference of the international community, which, having spent $400 million for supposedly free and fair elections in its most complex election ever, just wants to hold the thing, get it over with, pull up stakes, and get the heck out. Opposition leaders to Congo’s incumbent Laurent Kabila regime say not so fast. Congo’s authorities have overprinted ballots,…
I’m thinking, not much. For decades we have sent nearly $3 trillion dollars in aid around the world that was supposed to be used for development but instead has been funneled into the personal checking accounts of dictators. The GDP per capita of the continent has actually fallen in this time, and the countries that we rank as being the most likely to succeed are actually experiencing negative growth. Every feel-good strategy that has been employed up to this point has failed miserable, causing more pain and suffering than there was before. Nice job, Bono. Now, the one chance at…
The recent crisis in the Middle East has enflamed passions and continued the argument over history on the originations of the conflict. However, I have no desire to take this issue to task or recount different versions of a tortured history, and instead will focus on the reaction by Israel towards Lebanon in the context of democracy and international responsibility. The problem for the West, Israel included, is not the terrorists themselves, but the atmosphere and conditions that create sympathy and participation in extremist behavior. Outside of Israel, there are three democratic states in the Middle East: Lebanon, Palestine, and…
Boz has lots of bad news for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, in new polls from Mexico, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and all the other hot spots around the hemisphere. It’s an edifying read this week in this post here.
I’ve discovered an interesting new blog called Cubanology which has encouraging words for Cubans and Cuban exiles in a new iSi se Puede! – ‘yes, you can’ – campaign. It’s got an interesting colorful layout, and sterling reporting on all the doings in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. See it here.
Alvaro Vargas Llosa is now in Lebanon and writing of the experience from his brilliant political and economic perspective, as well as from his eyes on the ground. Like some of our Publius posters, he warns that Israel risks destroying Lebanon’s vibrant civil society, just as it’s beginning to regain its confidence, even as it must end the terrorism that is destroying it. It’s a very tragic picture. With the destruction of all Lebanon, what is likely to happen is that Hezbollah barbarians will fill that civil-society void, because they are never happier than when they are in a failed…
If there was any question in anyone’s mind that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez might not be a communist, that illusion was put paid to rest by Chavez’s visit today to Belarus, the last remaining dictatorship in Europe. Agencia EFE reported the Venezuelan dictator’s visit to Europe’s most oppressive regime this way: “We must make (Soviet Union founder Vladimir) Lenin’s slogan a reality regarding the unacceptability of the exploitation of man by man,” Chavez told the press. The Venezuelan leader said he had come to Minsk to “seal a unity pact and lay the first stone for future relations between Belarus…
For many decades Israel has been the fundamental “enemy” of the Muslim Arab world, viewed as an abberation imposed on them by Western imperialist forces. Nowadays things are a bit different. Pan-Arabism is dead only to be revived on special occassions, like Friday or when Mubarak’s poll numbers are dropping. No one fights really hard for the Palestinian cause or even sticks to the anti-Israel line anymore. The issue is warming down and Arab dictatorships just don’t care like they used to. Perhaps something is in the air. Whatever it is, it smells like a wet mullah’s beard on a…
I’ve been really busy settling down here in Switzerland for the next couple weeks before moving on to Ukraine and Belarus. Posting should be normal again on Monday like usual. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Ah, NAFTA, and the glories of free trade. The economies of the U.S., Canada and Mexico have all increased threefold since that first shot against tyranny was fired with that alliance on New Year’s Day in 1994. There’s is nothing more impressive than free trade. Or here’s another way of looking at it.
This is too funny! Is this the tragicomic end of the Glenn Greenwald saga? Greenwald is presently denying the claims, but I don’t think it helps his credibility that his own biographical blurb reads almost exactly the same as the alleged sock-puppet posts in question… UPDATE: He seems to have changed the tenor of his bio. I wonder what else he’ll be revising? Why Greenwald is probably doomed I believe Glenn Greenwald is probably doomed to relegation. If the suspicions around his online activity are correct — and judging by his response of frantic denial, personal attacks, revisionism, etc., it…
Just before I got on the plane to Switzerland, I was interviewed the other day on BBC’s Pods and Blogs with Chris Vallance. We talked a bit about Publius, and then about the war between Israel and Hezbollah along the theme of my post, “Restoring the Cedar Revolution.” Take a listen, I’ve uploaded the mp3 here. You’ll have to excuse the lack of grace on my part. This is why I stick to writing. . .