Blogging the democratic revolution
Damn Nathan for hitting me with this chain letter! I’ll get him back for it! But who can refuse a chain letter? Plus, it’s about books, so instead of me writing about secret crushes and first kisses, I’ll be pointing you in the direction of good bathroom material. He did forward this to me to see my response, so here we go.
I was taking a look at this article about recent demonstrations around Russia — you know, Kyrgyzstan and a little bit about Belarus. One part in particular caught my eye, though. Two Russian ethnic republics, Ingushetia and Bashkortostan, have seen mass street demonstrations this week directed against Kremlin-installed leaders. Even in remote Mongolia, the former USSR’s Asian satellite, hundreds of protesters gathered last week to “congratulate our Kyrgyz brothers” and demand a rerun of last June’s disputed parliamentary polls. Amazing how these things almost fly under the radar (just like how Bahrain totally missed the MSM’s map). Partner in revolutionary…
So much is going on in the world that a large roundup of Lebanon has been hard to do, but there’s been quite a bit of news lately so it’s certainly a good time to do one. News: Over the past week and a half three bombs exploded near Beirut in mainly Christian suburbs. Christians have been one of the major backings in Lebanon (as well as Ukraine) in the opposition protests. But this is not the Lebanon of 25 years ago. This is a Lebanon that is united for their own sovereignty above what Syria will do to them,…
Hat tip to Andy for this article. The King of Bhutan, a small country located near undemocratic Nepal and India, has drafted a constitution to allow for multi-party democracy. The king of the Himalayan state of Bhutan announced the end of a century of absolute royal rule yesterday with the publication of a draft constitution to establish a multiparty democracy. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck said that by the end of the year his 700,000 subjects would be given the right to elect two houses of parliament, whose members would be empowered to impeach the monarch by a two-thirds vote. Bhutan,…
Norm Geras has it, and he has been following this one for awhile now. Check it out!
Back at Columbia, my roomate was a Cuban-American lawyer. She insisted that if you are a lawyer, it is an absolute that you can write. All lawyers know how to write, she added. If law school can teach you one thing, it is the capacity to write well. But now an apologist for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez named Eva Golinger, who says she’s a lawyer, has taken to writing malevolent – and sub-literate – gibberings full of raging personal attacks against noted investigative researcher Alek Boyd. Her suspect activities have been exposed by Boyd, and she’s reacted like a cornered…
That is what I wondered when a question was posted to me about him. Hello,because my experiences I hate the term revolution,I prefer movement,the only revolution I love is American in 1776,every other is similar to French. But I love to see criminals overthrowed. What is your opinion on Justin Raimondo -and similar libertarians-,his opinions on Kirgyz,Iran,Lebanon,etc. he is a lazy idiot or even worse? Well, I didn’t really know who the commenter was referring to so I had to Google the name. It’s also ironic that today, just after hearing about him, he sent me some traffic by linking…
Just after many major opposition leaders were released from prison, they’ve decided to make Aliyev regret it. In the beginning of April, the three main Azeri opposition parties will unite and stage a protest against the government. BAKU. March 28 (Interfax-Azerbaijan) – Three Azerbaijani opposition groups – the Popular Front, the Democratic Party and Musavat – have decided to join forces in a protest action early next month, Popular Front leader Ali Kerimli said on Monday. Kerimli said at a meeting of the Popular Front leadership the date for the start of the action would be agreed upon within days.…
My post yesterday questioning whether opening elections to the Muslim Brotherhood might bring about disaster got more responses than any other post I have done on Publius Pundit. I felt that some of the issues raised by the comments had sufficient significance for democratic development theory to justify a full post response. (To read my initial post and the comments, see Egypt: Democracy Enthusiasts’ Toughest Test?) There were some responses with which I agree or at least find reasonable: (1) It is almost certainly true that were the Muslim Brotherhood to come to power in Egypt, this would lead to…
Gary has been reporting on the huge democracy protests that have been going on in Iran and the mainstream media has failed to report them. Here’s the latest: Iran Press News claims hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured into the streets of cities all across Iran last Friday night. Iran’s TV media blamed anti-regime Iranian media abroad for inciting the revolts. The demonstrators were quoted as chanting: “People join us and condemn the executioners and oppressors…death to dictators…get lost hired killer mercenaries… and Bush, Bush, support, protection…” SMCCDI reports that as a result of the failure of the regime to…
The monarchy’s coup in Nepal continues, with demonstrators being arrested. Police in Nepal have arrested at least 120 anti-government activists across the country who defied a ban on protests to show their anger at King Gyanendra’s seizure of absolute power last month. In the capital, Kathmandu, police detained more than 40 protesters who gathered near the Central Secretariat building, shouting slogans such as “Down with autocracy, we want democracy.” The rest of the people were detained in similar demonstrations in nine other cities across the Himalayan kingdom. Monday’s protest in the capital was the largest since February first, when the…
Before I start, I want to say what a hell Zimbabwe is, and it is all Mugabe’s fault. I have quite a few friends from South Africa, one of which was born and raised in Zimbabwe. There’s a reason he doesn’t live there anymore. And it seems like the people still there are sick of it. There are several stories about this, but I liked this article the best as it highlights in particular the massive electoral fraud. CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) — Zimbabweans will be “dancing in the streets” when President Robert Mugabe is gone, a Zimbabwean archbishop…
Those in the United States and elsewhere who are pushing hard for the spread of democracy around the globe (including Publius Pundit) may soon get their toughest test yet. Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak recently made a much publicized announcement that the constitution was to be amended to allow for genuinely competitive presidential elections. Today the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in Egypt but is nevertheless highly organized and motivated, held protests demanding that they be given a chance to run in an open election. Dozens were arrested, and judging from what I saw on Al-Jazeera today the demonstrations were pretty…
I’m still not finished with my residence move, and still have books all over the floor, but I felt the need to start blogging again after a six-day hiatus. So, since I recently posted an entry pouring water on the Palestinians’ united front, as it included a release of terrorists by Israel in exchange for just ten months of peace, I felt it appropriate to note that the Arab League made a more realistic offer at its yearly conference this week (see my last post on this issue, Oslo II? The Palestinians’ United Front, and the Fading Hopes for Peace).…
It’s a little known but important topic – the systematic war on science that is fuelling the coming Venezuelan revolution. It might come as a surprise to many but Venezuela produces some of the finest scientists in the world and they have low tolerance for the political hackery of Chavistadom. They stand up for their findings even when Chavista hacks try to make them back down to enable the regime to ‘look good.’ The sad part is, childrens’ lives are affected by the gagging and attempted gagging of the findings. For political purposes! Blogger Miguel Octavio keeps watch on Chavez’s…
Alek Boyd is doing an extraordinary job exposing the Venezuelan communist networks that are infiltrating the U.S. through Venezuela’s oil cash. He’s uncovered another $180,000 that’s been spread around like butter today. I am in awe of his extraordinary work, miles ahead of the news and performing a valuable service to any American interested in learning how a dictator is influencing thought about him in the U.S. Compelling reading, read the latest installment here.
How do democracy struggles, broadly interpreted, and environmental struggles, also in the greater scheme of things, specifically apply to Venezuela? Find out in Gustavo Coronel’s excellent, thoughtful, elegantly written essay here.
Class resentment is a toxic force in Venezuela and Blogger Daniel in Yaracuy has written an excellent descriptive essay of the phenomenon that gives the chavista movement its steam. It’s bitter stuff and keeps many people actively chavista for a long time. It pains me to say it but he incorrectly compares this bitter chavista group to the religious right in the U.S., using crude 1980s stereotypes that are false. E.g., I wouldn’t call this polished product the result of resentful Neanderthals covering up their own failures. But skip that graf – the rest of the essay is far more…
Bill has a post up about some protests today in Egypt, and Gateway Pundit has one up on protests in Mongolia (Nathan following up on if Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan are comparable).
For everyone visiting — relax. Well, after you’ve read what we’ve put up today. Have a beer, spend some time with the family. The world can wait one day for something like that. So on behalf of all the great people here at Publius Pundit, Happy Easter!
President Aliyev of Azerbaijan recently stated how much he wishes there was a viable opposition at the polls to give him some competition. Of course, that might actually happen if the government didn’t suppress it. BAKU, March 27 (AFP) – Azerbaijan’s ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan late Saturday elected the country’s President Ilham Aliyev as its leader. Aliyev, who thus succeeded his father Heidar in the post, called on his party to prepare for the November elections even while deploring the lack of opposition capable of giving a good fight at the polls. “The opposition’s position now is pathetic, its presence…
It’s been awhile since there’s been anything on Tajikistan, and even during the elections there wasn’t much media coverage. As is typical, the CIS election observers said the election was fair while the OSCE said it was not. Well, they still aren’t getting much attention. Thinking-East.net has it’s newest addition up, with a lot of reporting on opposition protests in Tajikistan, something that is getting absolutely no attention in the media. According to the Central Elections Committee, more than 80% of the population of Tajikistan participated in the recent parliamentary elections. The dominating president’s People’s Democratic Party received the majority…
Every revolution is the same quest for the freedom and democracy engraved on every human heart. But each one is unique, too, with different resistance tactics tailored to existing conditions with local ingenuity. In Zimbabwe, people are up against an unusually vile tyrant, one who uses food as a weapon, Robert Mugabe. Since this thug shoots demonstrators, Zimbabweans are actively, if furtively conducting wallpaper-pasted flyer raids around public places, and dumping piles of freebie condoms with the struggle’s name on it. It’s hit-and-run guerrilla stuff to get the word out – in vast quantity. In addition, there is an “election”…
Laurence over at Registan notes that both the new and old legislatures are claiming legitimacy. In the parliament building, members of the newly restored legislature – lawmakers who served before disputed February and March elections that led to the protests that brought down the government – met in one room, while politicians elected in the recent voting gathered in another. The Supreme Court has invalidated the recent elections, which the opposition said was marred by fraud. But the winners challenged the authority of the restored parliament. ééOur opinion is that we should be the legitimate lawmakers, because the people have…
Venezuelans are barraged daily with exhortations about the wonderful state of Cuba’s progress. One blogger, Daniel in Yaracuy, notes the Tortugas refugees, and thinks there must be another story. What a sad thing to have to contemplate that from Venezuela, which is rapidly heading down that Cuban path.