Blogging the democratic revolution
Stefania sent me this link to a plea for help from the Iranian student movement. They run a website that publishes information and they have run out of funds for it, so they are seeking donations. Under “more” I’m posting the letter in full, so click that in order to view it.
I am back from Boston. I’ve never actually been to New England, go figure, but I really liked the city. My posting will resume as normal starting Monday afternoon. Daniel and A.M. Mora y Leon have been doing a fantastic job with their posts while I was gone and deserve a big hand for their…
When thousands of Venezuelans came forward last year to exercise their legally guaranteed democratic right to sign a petition to recall their president, precious few realized the kind of use dictator Hugo Chavez could and did make of that signature list afterward. It was published on the Internet – the names, addresses and social-security-number equivalent…
Just when you thought the Venezuelan Revolution was on its last legs, I discover this promising new blog in English called Notiven by Javier Caceres. It’s an occasionally updated blog that’s full of thoughtful analysis and commentary on the news. Javier’s got a new item up about Hugo Chavez’s likely plans to align and control…
Ecuador, arguably the most beautiful country in South America, has probably the stupidest government. Only dollarization has kept the government from making a complete hash of things, and high oil prices and a willingness to drill have enabled the Andean state to post a 5.4% rise in GDP in 2004. But dollarization by itself is…
Venezuela’s opposition is melting away. Agencia EFE gives a good description of how 200,000 opponents of the Chavez regime have largely drifted over into Miami, where they are both invisible and increasingly irrelevant to the revolution. Coming to the U.S. is, in a sense, a revolution of its own, because it’s a transformative experience, that…
Venezuela does not have a conventional revolutionary set-up. It’s a revolution within a revolution, where, six years ago, “reformer” Hugo Chavez was elected to power as an outsider who would make a difference, and who instead ran his country’s affairs like an old-line caudillo party boss, his cronies lining their pockets, but with the added…
At Bloggledygook I have a post on an accusation by a deputy of the Ukrainian opposition that Viktor Yushchenko had a hand in the sales of X-55 missiles to China and Iran.
Here’s a news editorial pointing out that the roots of Mexico’s revolution right now is not in the existence of the Marxist PRD but in the lack of leadership of President Vicente Fox’s PAN party. That’s what fuelling Mexico’s growing protests. Maybe Vicente Fox should wise up before the next Hugo Chavez mini-me steps in…
Spain’s Foreign Secretary Miguel Angel Moratinos expressed from Washington “the military ships and planes sold to Venezuela ought to be considered as humanitarian aid”. Whilst in Capitol Hill he was scolded by both Republicans and Democrats with respect to the shady relationship that Spain maintains of late with the Cuban dictator and his Venezuelan toyboy….
Pro-Syrian businessman Najib Mikati was appointed prime minister after the resignation (how many is that?) of Omar Karami. At Spirit of America, Mike Totten has a short but pointed interview with student opposition leader Nabil Abou-Charraf. Charraf contends that the latest Karami resignation is a ploy by the government to scuttle the upcoming elections. He…
Asif Ali Zardari was taken to his home by police immediately upon landing in Pakistan. Reposrts are alternatively saying that he has been detained or merely deposited at his home: Hundreds of PPP activists clashed with security forces at the Lahore airport in an attempt to meet their leader. The airport was sealed off after…
I’ve been reading a lot about the maneuvering in Asia between China, India, Australia, and India. Of course, in the midst of all this, it doesn’t help U.S. policy that China has been portrayed as a capitalist boomland with the slight burden of a communist regime. Up until now, most people and even legislators have…
Gateway Pundit has a report on the arrest of 20,000 members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) who were anticipating the return to the country of PPP leader (and husband of former PM Benazir Bhutto) Asif Ali Zardari: Police continued cracking down on Pakistan People????????s Party (PPP) activists on Thursday and arrested thousands of them…
This just in from Mexico: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist populist mayor of Mexico City, unequivocally denies he is another Hugo Chavez. I don’t think he’s telling the truth, he is running for president after all, but how interesting it is, in his quest for votes, that he feels a need to deny any…
He just doesn’t get it, does he? Just picture what the people in that room were thinking. Just when you thought the revolution had gone dead in Venezuela, this thug reminds you there is still reason for one out there. He never lets you down. Miguel has a photo of Hugo Chavez pontificating away at…
The Tajik government informed foreign embassies and organizations that they must give notification in advance of contacts with political parties, journalists and NGOs. Foreign ministry spokesman Igor Satarov said the change was designed to guard against “the spread of propaganda”. Observers say the government of this impoverished mountainous state is on the alert after popular…
Hey everyone, I will be in Boston from now until Sunday evening. In the meantime, you’ll have the other three holding a beach party. Feel free to drink, be merry, and discuss international politics!
I’ve almost lost count of how many times this guy has quit, threatened to quit, and cried in a corner simply because he was on the wrong side of history. Look like this is the last time. Premier-Designate Omar Karami has resigned the task of forming Lebanon’s new government Wednesday. He made the announcement at…
The latest drama out of Kiev is that Boris Kolesnikov, a prominent supporter of Yanukovich has been arrested. KIEV, Ukraine — The arrest of a top politician and businessman closely linked to Ukraine’s richest man has sharpened the conflict between President Viktor Yushchenko and the embattled power brokers of Leonid Kuchma, his predecessor. Boris Kolesnikov,…
I fell asleep and crashed hard last night before I could make a post on this, but 4000 students protested in Moscow. In the crowd were students from various Moscow universities and several groups from Lipetsk, Voronezh and the Moscow region. Some students came to the rally with their professors. Another rally of 2,700 students…
The press is reporting that Paraguay’s ambassador to Venezuela was physically attacked in Caracas Friday. This comes on the heels of the kidnap/murder of Paraguay’s former first daughter by FARC guerrillas directing the operation by email from downtown Caracas. Paraguay has done literally nothing to Venezuela to attract this kind of thuggery. It does however…
It’s started. Cubans in Cuba are publicly meeting to begin their post-Castro revolution. Babalu has it. Don’t miss it. Read it here.
Thomas Lifson at American Thinker has an important item out about growing unrest in China. Huge riots are occurring, not just in the remote, impoverished west, but now in the wealthier coastal cities. At issue is corruption and impunity. And with the rise of mass communications and Internet connectivity, Chinese expectations about governance are rising….
Alek Boyd emailed one of Prime Minister Zapatero’s minions about the purpose of selling chemical agents to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. He writes that in the reply he got from Spain, the Zapatero official said the exported chemical agents were used in tear gas. I guess we know what Hugo Chavez is planning now, given…