Blogging the democratic revolution
Tim Russo continues to post his manuscript about his work promoting democracy in Armenia back in the ’90s, and a particularly interesting post for Publius readers would be one of his latest on the “
Well, it’s the weekend, and you know what that means… See you Monday!
On January 25, twenty members of the Pro-Human Rights Party of Cuba, affiliated to the Andrej Sakharov International Foundation, were holding a meeting at a dissident’s house and suddenly a mob made up with plainclothes agents of the state security,the ‘committees for the defense of the revolution” and the “rapid response brigades” gathered in front…
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…
Charles at LGF points out a discrepancy between Google’s .cn and .com versions. At least they’re notifying the poor Chinese what they’re missing! From a Google translation of a google.cn search: According to the local law laws and regulations and the policy, partially searches the result does not demonstrate. I guess Chinese speakers who live…
Traian Basescu, the President of Romania delivered yesterday a speech at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg. He talked about several issues, like the importance of the Black Sea, Romania’s accession to EU, the current status quo and the future of the Moldavian Republic, the national minorities status, Transdniestria, etc. The Romanian Ziua…
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…
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has been openly meddling in Peru’s April election. He’s hurled insults at centrist Lourdes Flores, a leading candidate, and cavorted on camera with Ollanta Humala, in a message implying to Peru’s voters that a vote for Humala was a vote for Chavez’s abundant open checkbook, something Flores would never get. This…
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….
In democratizing countries emerging from tyranny, where tremendous injustice has occurred, there is usually some effort to call the past into account. South Africa is a good example, where truth commissions have forged national reconciliation, and Germany after World War II is another, where Naziism was totally repudiated and renounced, and large compensation payments were…
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…
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…
Boli-Nica has come out from hibernation for this to state, in his richly colorful way, that he is not impressed! It’s a must-read here. More to follow – must get some other stuff done.
Dick Marty has presented his preliminary report on alleged CIA prisons and detainees in Europe, in today’s session of the Parliamentary Assembly in the Council of Europe. High on the list of suspects is Poland and Romania, but also Bulgaria, Ukraine, Macedonia and Kosovo. What we have found out is actually nothing new. So, there…
Val Prieto at Babalu blog reports that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is raising a Great Wall of Havana to encircle the U.S. Mission there. Castro is enraged at a running lighted billboard which plays the UN declaration of human rights across its pixel-stream and the words of Martin Luther King. The former is actually an…
Glenn at Instapundit has an excellent roundup of this growing issue about Google’s problematic relations with Red China’s government and its implications for freedom of press. The link is here. Val at Babalu and Steve at Hog On Ice have additional thoughts – or well, deeds – here and here. UPDATE: This just ran across…
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…
Veneuzela’s vast gold and diamond mines, no small thing in the era of soaring gold prices, have sold concessions to several foreign firms to mine the minerals. But they have witheld the permits, so the firms, which have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure, are unable to mine them. Squatters are jumping in,…
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…
Rather unexpectedly, Schafik Handal, 75, El Salvador’s top communist guerrilla, and the leader of the FMLN has died of a heart attack, just as he got back from Evo Morales’ presidential inauguration in Bolivia. A Palestinian-Salvadoran, same as Conservative President Tony Saca, Handal brought years of war to El Salvador in the 1980s. However, he…
I spent some time at Globovision in Caracas. It is a fearless television station that insists it will defy the newly declared censorship from the Venezuelan government. This is all fully in character. During the coup attempt of 2002, when Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez tried to break into all the television stations with a speech…
Venezuela is literally breaking off in chunks under the Hugo Chavez dictatorship. The Viaducto 1 bridge to the airport is tottering on its last legs, and unusable, leaving anyone flying in from the Maiquetia airport on the coastline the wretched specter of mountain donkey trails to cross in order to get to homes or hotels…
Following last week’s crackdown by royalist security forces preceding planned pro-democracy protests, in which hundreds of pro-democracy politicians and activists were detained and communications were cut across the whole country, the situation in Nepal has deteriorated even further. Protests have been ongoing for the past four days, with standoffs between the demonstrators and police resulting…
In the Bucharest Daily News, a little item pops up: the Hungarians want the Romanians to pass a minority status law. Yawn. What else is new? Oh. Yes. That EU thing. Speaking in Targu-Mures on Saturday during a two-day visit to Transylvania, Szili Katalin also spoke about cooperation between Hungary and Romania in view of…
A few months ago, a 70s-leftist at Columbia Journalism Review, John Dinges, smugly assured us all was well with Venezuela’s press freedom and the only problem in that country was the ‘irresponsibility’ of the private media. For, you know, printing unfounded rumors and stuff. And not liking it (due to their being hopelessly middle class!)…