Blogging the democratic revolution
DOWN is a good way to put it for today’s world festival of anti-Iraq democracy protests. Because as GatewayPundit has noticed, attendence is down at every single one of these. He’s got a liveblogging roundup of these “antiwar” (who the hell isn’t antiwar?) protests around the world, city by city, showing that this ‘movement’ doesn’t quite have the move it used to. Not many people want to go to these stupid irrational things anymore, not after “peace mom” Cindy Sheehan kissed Iran ally Hugo Chavez on the lips. And even more because given the growing victory of democracy and democratic…
Tchahar-Shanbe Soori (Fire Fiest) has been celebrated by millions of Iranians, who defied the regime’s official ban on this “pagan” pre-islamic ritual, symbol of ancient Iranian heritage, and took to the street to celebrate and protest against the regime in its totality. Thousands of potraits of the regime’s leaders were set on fire and the females bravely took out their mandatory veils and set them on fire, too. Reports speak of copies of Koran and the Islamic Republic’s illegitimate constitution also burned. To see the photos, go here and here.
You’d never know this from reading most of the mainstream media, but today in Ecuador, and I don’t mean in just coastal rightwing Guayaquil, but in the heart of the country, in central Quito, the capitol, tens of thousands of Ecuadoreans marched IN FAVOR OF free trade with the U.S. Source: Associated Press That’s right, while much of the mainstream media covered extensively the anti-free trade protests of a few indigenous special interest groups earlier in the week, which are now fizzling due to lack of public support, the real rally was building, the one the vast majority of Ecuador’s…
Here is the press release of a project that I’ve been working on with a bunch of great guys at the Hamsa Project and Harvard University. It’s a concert that we’re hoping will draw a few hundred people, featuring local bands, that we’re also hoping will highlight human rights abuses in Iran. Please check it out if you can, and maybe I’ll see you there if I can get back from Honduras in time! ***** CAMBRIDGE ???????? On Saturday, March 18, Harvard University will host the Iran Freedom Concert, a rally organized by Harvard students to support their counterparts in…
Not since 1968 has France seen so many educational institutions occupied and on strike. Thousands of students and young people have brought Paris to a standstill. Source: Thibautcho They are protesting a new labor law that would permit probationary employment for the first two years of employment for all new workers. That would affect them most of all. France’s young people grow up without the big dreams their American counterparts. But at the same time, they have their consolation. That compensation is that if they can land a job, no matter what kind of job, and no matter what kind…
To give you an idea of just what Chile, a country governed by democratic socialists, thinks of Venezuela’s banana-leftist Hugo Chavez, just click on the link here and get an eyeful. The short story is he cut the pendejo dead. The elderly gentleman featured in the mini-film is President Ricardo Lagos, the honorable outgoing president of Chile, who’s since been succeeded by Michelle Bachelet, the fine new leader of Chile who’s already made her sentiments about the Venezuelan dictator very well known indeed. And for a bit of fun, here’s a shot of President Lagos bidding farewell to Cristina Kirchner,…
Everybody knows he’s died. Yet, with the exception of the true believers, and folks pointing out Russia playing its usual domestic-politics shenanigans vis-a-vis the old “Slavic Brotherhood with Serbia” chestnut, you can almost literally feel the pause before the blogosphere explodes. Everybody’s waiting for the toxicology reports. Was the former Serbian dictator murdered? Did the War Crimes Tribunal err by allowing healthy skepticism to undermine basic healthcare? As this excellent summary by the IHT demonstrates, part of the problem is that, like most international institutions of its sort, the Tribunal doesn’t particularly feel any need to be transparent with the…
An independent board representing Peru’s National Human Rights Coordinator has substantiated claims that Ollanta Humala, the far-left nut who’s a frontrunner in Peru’s April 9 presidential race, did torture peasants in the mountains as an army officer in the 1990s. Peru’s peasants have been making this claim for months and Humala has denied it. Now, his denials show that not only is he a brutal leftist thug, he’s also a liar. The story is here.
It may be the final hours for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand, who has been the target of the biggest protests in Bangkok since 1992. Thaksin is the billionaire prime minister of the country who had amassed huge power and a large mandate, but who disappointed his people by his continuous involvement in his business dealings. The Nation reports that the end is near in its continuous and excellent liveblogging of the event from Bangkok. The link is here. UPDATE: This Newsweek essay, by an investment banker, is very good, here.
Miguel Octavio has a short item on the busy, busy, busy Gonzalez family, all 1,921 of whom were born on the same day 32 years ago in Maracaibo, all 1,921 of whom registered to vote on the same day, and most all 1,921 of whom registered at the same center. My, my, my how long that line was! Check out Miguel’s heartwarming birthday wishes to the busy, busy Gonzalezes here. It’s since been picked up by The San Jose Mercury News and The Miami Herald, via Knight-Ridder. Knight-Ridder reports: Venezuela’s records suggest vote fraud MARACAIBO, Venezuela – It was the…
All four of these journalists pictured in this 2002 photo — Marianella Salazar, Ib????yise Pacheco, Marta Colomina and Patricia Poleo — are now facing trouble from the Chavista regime. Pacheco is in jail, Salazar is headed there, Colomina was subject to a murder attempt and Poleo was charged with murder and apparently sent into hiding. Source: BBC The Venezuelan press is under attack as never before. Contrary to Chavista claims that there is no campaign against the press, today Ibeyise Pacheco, a columnist for El Nacional, a newspaper MY OWN words have appeared in, was ordered imprisoned for slander by…
Belarus goes to the polls on March 19 to elect a president. All indication shows that the incumbent, Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, will win reelection by way of genuine popularity and repression against the population. Lukashenko was first elected in 1994 on a vague populist platform which gave him 80 percent of the vote in a fair election. Beginning in 1996, he used a combination of legislative moves and repression to solidify his power. NGOs, human rights organizations, oppostition parties and civil society groups are all under a stiff arm of real or threatened repression. Belarus is now considered by many…
A Hamas spokesman in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) told AFP, the French news agency, that Hamas rejects the two-state Road Map. Assad Farhat said Hamas considers the Road Map an “American Zionist program”, in response to a Russian Foreign Minister’s statement that Hamas has not turned down the Road Map. Farhat said Hamas would only be willing to negotiate with Israel under the these conditions: – “When Israel announces that it will retreat from the conquered territories of 1967 – releases the Palestinian ÄterroristÅ prisoners – stops its aggression against the Palestinian nation – announces its willingness to solve…
A golf outing gone bad among a bunch of cronies has toppled South Korea’s strongest prime minister in its democratic history. No time to post but it’s an important story about the growing public intolerance of offiicial corruption as democracy emerges in this admirable country. I feel there are echoes of this same phenomenon in Thailand, in Philippines, in Hong Kong, and I am going to go out on a limb here, perhaps soon in Singapore. In the late 1990s, the middle class rage was confined to big messy third-worldy hulks of states like Indonesia. Now, the prim, orderly Asian…
Daniel Duquenal has a fascinating post on Colombia’s new free trade pact with the U.S., and explains why it is causing so much distress among the Chavistas next door in Caracas. Their rage has a basis. It turns out Colombia is eating Venezuela’s lunch already in the economic arena and the free trade pact with the gringos will only raise their appetite. Here’s what’s going on: Chavez has driven most of Venezuela’s industries out of business, declaring them a class enemy. That in turn has provided a massive market opening for Colombian manufacturers who have taken over what had been…
Thousands of Iranians are rushing into the streets of the main Iranian cities in order to celebrate their ancient pre-islamic festivity known by the name of “Tchahar-Shanbe Soori” (Fire Fiest). The event has been banned by the regime and labeled as “pagan”, “haram” and “un-islamic”, but millions are increasingly defying the ban by celebrating what is the symbol of Iranism while rejecting Islamism and the Shiite religion itself. Tchahar Shanbe Soori is an ancient persian festivity that derives from the Zoroastrian religion. The SMCCDI Movement is reporting that : Noise of fire crackers and hand made explosive devises are echoing…
Source: The Nation It’s morning in Thailand, land of the free, and the biggest rally of the year is engulfing the mighty angel city of Bangkok. Hundreds of thousands of protestors are marching in a bid to force the resignation of Thaksin Shinawatra. Things are getting very tense and the King is starting to stir. In one particularly dramatic development over the weekend, the government TV station interrupted its normally scheduled program to run footage of the King’s peacemaking role in the 1992 riots, which was the last time there was major unrest in Thailand. That was taken as a…
This past weekend, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez altered the national flag to add an eighth star, in honor of the Guayana territory, a territory which once included what’s now part of GUYANA, and which is still claimed by Venezuela, based on a 19th-century dispute. Chavez also shifted the national seal, which has a horse on it, to what he says is a leftward direction. Although there were violent protests over the weekend about this change, with many in the Venezuelan opposition protesting it, and Chavista goons shooting from their motorcycles into the crowds (see the pictures here), the reaction from…
The popular Los Angeles-based Iranian satellite network, National Iranian TV (NITV) has been forced to cut off the broadcasts to Iran due to serious financial problems. The SMCCDI Secularist Movement has details: One of the main bridges of communication with Iran, which is the Los Angeles based “National Iranian TV” (NITV), has been forced to cut off its satellite broadcasting due to financial problems. Such a bad timing couldn’t have come at a worst time, as; the well trusted and popular NITV has prepared, since months, the ground for massive demonstrations at the occasion of the banned “Tchahar-Shanbe Soori” (Fire…
Hey everyone, I’m in Honduras for the next week so posting may be a little sparse from me. Luckily I do have access to satellite internet so I’ll be able to pop on occassionally. I will certainly be posting my thoughts on the place tomorrow or Tuesday. Central America is much, much different than South America, in case anyone couldn’t tell.
Tens of Iranian women who were celebrating the International Women’s Day in Laleh Park, Tehran, were savegely beaten up by plainclothes Islamist thugs. The SMCCDI Movement reports that many women were joined by male supporters in shouting anti-regime and pro-equality-between-men-and-women slogans. Several female demonstrators and a well known poet, Simin Behbahani, were injured due to the brutality used by Islamist Militiamen using clubs and chains. Several demonstrators were seen laying on the ground with broken noses, hands or legs while other were screaming and/or shouting slogans against the theocratic regime. Several maverick female protesters took off their mandatory veils in…
Venezuela’s bloggers are now under an explicit threat of prosecution from known Chavista agents. It started with Alek Boyd’s effort to expose the Chavista regime and the post directly below this one provides the background. Miguel, however, adds a post of much further clarity here. The short story is: Venezuela’s dictator has issued his first threat against bloggers. The threat his supporters ran in Ultimas Noticias today identifies them as ‘The Anglo-Venezuelan Connection’, presumably because they write in English. Miguel’s blog has been named in this threat. He says they should probably have a tough time shutting him down, given…
Alek Boyd at VCrisis recently exposed the bizarre structure of one North American Opinion Research organization, a Florida-based group that shares office space with something called ‘Petrotulsa‘ and purports to take polls in Venezuela which repeatedly claim that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is “popular.” It’s nothing but a front for false propaganda extolling Chavez, which can come in quite convenient as a backstop at ballot-box stuffing time, as Venezuelans well know. Alek’s expose has struck a nerve with the chavistas, who realize that their scam is up. Never again will they be able to release a false poll to news…
The province of Transdniester is one of the most screwed up places in Europe. Arms, drugs, and sex trafficking run rampant, and are even used to fund the government. Elections are for show. And the leaders pay their respects not to the people, but to Russia, whose military is propping up the government. It broke away from Moldova over a decade ago and established an authoritarian separatist government that, without Russia, would be completely unfeasible. Negotiations have been under way for years, especially in recent months, trying to bring the province back into Moldova while retaining some of its own…
A bomb went off in central Bangkok near the home of Prem Tinsulanonda, an adviser to Thailand’s King Bhumibol and a former prime minister. Three cars were trashed and a British tourist was slightly injured. The bomb had been positioned under a bench near a security guard booth but by ‘coincidence’ all three security guards were inside the house. Some are blaming ‘terrorists,’ and unpopular Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is blaming his opposition for the attack. As the first reports come out, it’s extremely hard to say, it could be any of this, or other things. It does have the…