Blogging the democratic revolution
The death of great Italian journalist continues to reverberate, oddly intersecting the entry of the pope into the struggle against Islamofascism, and some great essays have been written about her and her legacy. I’ve been really moved by them and present a small roundup of the best of this writing: Victor Davis Hanson has a…
Major mainstream television networks in France and Brazil have both taken aim at the odious regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba. And I don’t mean something small. They’ve put out huge high-advertising long programs out, firing a unusual cannonade at the dictatorship. This has never happened before. These TV programs document Cuba’s long lines, miserable…
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’s foreign advisory team, based at the Miraflores presidential palace, are deep into the task of getting him reelected for the third time, something they may succeed at, given Chavez’s manipulation of the electoral system. Yes, you heard right, foreign as in foreigner. Which sounds pretty disgusting. Shouldn’t one be a citizen…
Venezuelan exile Alek Boyd went back to Caracas for a visit after several years living in England, and has asked us to flag his chronicles of his tour there, where he will be covering the campaign of Manuel Rosales. Sounds interesting enough. In his first dispatch, he writes a fair and accurate account of arriving…
Oriana Fallaci, freedom fighter Source: Mlle Glass’ photos The great Oriana Fallaci, a clear-eyed journalist and universal freedom fighter for democracy, has died. We all knew she had cancer but this is very sad and affecting news. Her impact on world events cannot be underestimated. The Italian journalist went places no one else would go…
While overall the testimony provided by witnesses of Saddam Hussein’s massacres has been damning, the overall “court experience” has been nothing less than a circus. I am not talking about the accusations by human rights groups like Amnesty International which accuse that the trial is well below international standards due to the inherent and legal…
As Mugabe’s Zimbabwe spirals further into turmoil — inflation over 1000% and 80% of the population underfed, underemployed, and living in poverty — you might think that such conditions would spur action in people to act against the government. They have tried, and they have tried again, but every single time they fail. This time…
A recent seemingly trivial news item has demonstrated how many people misunderstand racism and how explosive the topic is in our politically correct world. For the first portion of the 13th edition of CBS’ hit series “Survivor,” the contestants competing for the $1 million prize while stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific…
In my view the strongest force of all . . . was that unmistakable sense of unanimity among the peoples of the world that war must somehow be averted. The peoples of the British Empire were at one with those of Germany, of France and of Italy, and their anxiety, their intense desire for peace,…
While the United States pays tribute and mourns the September 11 terrorist attacks on its homeland, it must be remembered that there are people in this world who are even now actively plotting acts more deadly and terrible than anything before. They want to see America brought to its knees and are doing everything they…
The mainstream media decided to ignore the big anti-Khatami rally that took place in front of the Washington National Cathedral while Khatami was delivering his taqiyya on September 7. Worst, the few media that reported it, have falsified the truth by telling that the protestors were only “50”, while in reality they were about 1,000,…
When I heard about the protests planned against Khatami’s speech at Harvard, I knew just the guy to contact. I emailed Jesse Sage over at HAMSA and he filled me in on all the information. Khatami was to speak at 4:00 p.m. so the protests would start around three. We arrived in Harvard Square outside…
Source: AFP, via Getty Images Bolivia is on fire. The fiery democratic revolutionary babes of Santa Cruz are no more. Anti-communist protest turns violent in eastern Bolivia Friday Source: AFP, via Getty Images Now, it’s angry citizens of The Media Luna – four provinces, led by Santa Cruz, fighting to the last man against the…
Things appear to be going from the frying pan to the fire in Russia. As if the recent news of Russia????????s internal human rights strife was not bad enough, now horrifying anti-democratic events appear to be unfolding in the former Soviet slave state of Georgia. The Moscow News reports that Georgian police uncovered an attempt…
Just last year dictator-in-chief Robert Mugave ordered Operation: Take Out The Trash, bulldozing tens of thousands of makeshift homes that Zimbabwe’s people were forced to live in due to his policies. The operation displaced over 700,000 people, leaving them without a place to live. He promised the international community that reparations would be made and…
Pajamas Media has an especially hilarious post by The Manolo discussing the styles and fashions of different dictators. He finds that Ahmadinejad may be lacking: Briefly and remarkably, the President of the Iran wears the same khaki windbreaker, wrinkled trousers, cheap oxford shirts, scruffy beard and wild eyes favored by the aging high school chemistry…
In a moment where the forces of dictatorship and tyranny seem to be pushing back against democracy, the common thread that has successfully aligned nations such as Iran, Russia, Venezuela, China, and Sudan have been the supply and demand of energy. While it is encouraging that the relationships forged seem to be more based on…
(To hear the interview in .mp3 format or download it to your iPod, click here or right-click and choose “save target as”.) Since Alexander Lukashenka became president of Belarus in 1994, he has used every avenue possible to repress political opposition to his rule. He has jailed politicians and activists, shut down NGOs both major…
Hugo Chavez is so detested by average Venezuelans that he’s reduced to passing out great big bottles of rum at his campaign rallies. Voters quaff these booze bottles full of liquor, pirate-style while they think it over. Evidently Chavez thinks this raises the odds of voters checking off his name on Venezuelan election day, Dec….
On September 3rd a disturbing number of negative developments in the area of human rights and democracy have were reported in Russia. First, Human Rights Watch issued a report detailing how Russian prosecutors railroaded two former detainees at Guantanamo Bay that the U.S. foolishly released to Russia’s clutches when Russia claimed they were terrorists. The…
Deep sea oil rig, Gulf of Mexico Source: National Aeronautics & Space Administration Today, a quiet revolutionary time bomb was presented to Hugo Chavez. He has no idea what it is or what it means. But this gift means it’s all over for the brutal Venezuelan tyrant in the next few years. He won’t be…
Remember that the background on this subject was given on Part One. In this part we consider rulers who should be taken out of power, but whose crimes are less in the area of international terrorism and more in terms of the damage they have done to their own people. If we take seriously the…
A new UN report about the cultivation of drugs in Afghanistan finds a “staggering” increase of 60% compared to last year. The overall volume of production has risen from 4100 tons to 6100 tons, according to the report. The UN anti-drug chief rightly urged the Karzai government to crack down against the warlords and corrupt…
The shocking news was reported by RIA Novosti on August 30th that Russia????????s most prominent and well-respected newspaper, Kommersant (???????the Merchant???????), had been sold to Alisher Usmanov (pictured below), the owner of the Metalloinvest and Gazprominvestholding holding companies, the latter a subsidiary of Kremlin-controlled Gazprom. Usmanov is an Uzbek-born oligarch who has served six years…
Another domino falls. Another symbol, if not the representative of Russian independent media, has been scooped up by a Kremlin ally. The business daily, Kommsersant was sold this week for $300 million to Alisher Usmanov. Usmanov is the owner of Owner of Oskol Steel Mill, the Ural Steel industrial complex, the Lebedinsky Iron Ore Mining…