Blogging the democratic revolution
Aussie Girl, the lovely writer of Ukraine affairs at Ultima Thule, including her wonderful coverage of the Orange Revolution, has died this weekend of cancer. She was only 59. She was one of the sunniest and most insightful presences on the Internet. She was also one of the best bloggers – sharp, to the point and on target. She always was interested in my Russia coverage, which I blogged occasionally on due to my interest in the origins of communism. She always was on target on her observations and she occasionally sent me just the nicest notes. Losing her is…
The nominees for the 2006 Web log awards are out! These are great fun to vote for, and they introduce us all to great new blogs we have not heard of. Check out the new candidates at this site here – and when you can, make your vote. Here are my own personal endorsements below – what are yours? Best Blog Instapundit Best New Blog Blue Crab Boulevard Jules Crittenden Best Individual Blog Dr. Sanity Riehl World View Best Humor Blog ScrappleFace Best Comic Strip (no opinion) Best Online Community Free Republic Best Liberal Blog (no opinion) Best Conservative Blog…
Just before I got on the plane to Switzerland, I was interviewed the other day on BBC’s Pods and Blogs with Chris Vallance. We talked a bit about Publius, and then about the war between Israel and Hezbollah along the theme of my post, “Restoring the Cedar Revolution.” Take a listen, I’ve uploaded the mp3 here. You’ll have to excuse the lack of grace on my part. This is why I stick to writing. . .
I will be traveling soon. Do we have any readers in Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Belarus who would like to meet up? -Robert Mayer
I am sitting here in the crosshairs of a madman out of North Korea. Incredibly, he’s fuelling up a Taepodong missile and getting ready to launch it in my direction. It can reach 9000 miles. And I am on the receiving end. The mighty U.S. military industrial complex has activated its missile defense system a few miles away, up in Vandenberg Air Force base. In the 1980s, nuclear war used to be talked about all the time. Duran Duran used to sing about it. But ultimately, the idea of nuclear menace was an abstraction. Vandenberg was an abstraction, it was…
Sorry for the lack of posts today everyone — we’re packing up the house and moving to Spain. Today is the last day that the packers are here, so posting will resume tomorrow!
A few days ago, I was blogging about the tombs of Imogiri, near Yogyakarta, in central Java, discussing them as the place I was at onset of Indonesia’s democratic revolution in 1998. Today, those tombs are at the epicenter of the deadly earthquake in Indonesia, centered in Bantul. Hospitals are overflowing and more than 3000 are known dead in the first 12 hours, it will soar much higher. I noted earlier that Indonesia has a lot of eerie coincidences. I just wish this wasn’t one of them. There are people I know there, and I am quite worried. I will…
I guess many of you knew Nickie Goomba. He was an Italian-American blogger who had helped create the logos of my blog as well as the blog of other well-known bloggers, such as Big Pharaoh and Sandmonkey. I was shocked today for learning that he has passed away just 3 days ago. It seems he was suffering from cancer. He suffered so much. Now he lives with God and is watching us from a much better place than this world he loved anyway. Please, send your condolances to Nickie’s wife Maria here. I have no words. Nickie wanted to live,…
I chatted with Rob last night, he’s got one big thing he’s got to get out of the way, but he’ll be posting soon, probably later today or by tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Sorry everyone, but the large traffic influx due to the post about Code Pink has led my web host to temporarily block access to the site for several hours because it literally crashed the entire server. Sorry for the inconvenience everyone! I think they may be communist sympathizers. The downtime is unacceptable when it comes to issues of the blogosphere, where news moves quickly, so I’m in the process of moving the site to a new host. Hopefully this can happen over the weekend and we won’t ever have any downtime again.
It’s the weekend everyone — and you know what that means. No more blogging until Monday. Consider this an open comment thread. UPDATE: Hey, it looks like my prediction that the Ukraine-Russia gas crisis would fuel Ukrainian nationalism and drive it further toward the West turned out to be true. “KIEV, Ukraine Jan 7, 2006 ???????? At the height of a gas dispute this week, anonymous text messages zipped across Ukrainians’ cell phones calling for a boycott of all things Russian. ‘Remember the Great Famine, Stalin terror ??????? If you are a Ukrainian, forward this to friends,’ one message read.”
Is it me, or did Publius‘ first birthday just pass yesterday?
So, as you read earlier, I’ll be in New York City all day today for the Pajamas Media shindig at the Rainbow Room. Publius will therefore look more like a LiveJournal today, with me liveblogging and adding to this post all day long. As I write this, it’s 6:30 in the morning. I arrived about an hour ago having took the 2 a.m. bus over, and now I’m hanging out in McDonald’s (albeit, by myself) and using the wifi. I’ve got three hours to burn, what should I do in the meantime? 10:00am: We’re setting up here at the Rainbow…
Alright guys, I had some sporadic internet access that allowed me to do a few posts, but the past two days it has been down completely. I’m in Boston, unpacked, got my new laptop, and best of all the internet is up and running at amazing speed. Posting regularly returns tomorrow!!
Hey all, Here’s an update. I’m moving to Boston right now, heading off to the airport at this moment. I won’t have access to a computer for a few days, probably into Thursday or maybe even Friday. But don’t worry — this place will be kept going smooth, smart, and sexy in the meantime because of Publius’ other contributors that you know and love. So stick around. On the plane I’ll be reading Kremlin Rising which is about Putin’s consolidation of power and the backtracking of democracy in Russia from his election to the Beslan massacre. It looks very good…
I just wrote an article about trade as the needed force for democratization in Africa. I think it’s really good and would like to try to get it published. Not to mention I have tuition to pay, so getting a little bit of cash would be cool too. Can anyone here get me in touch with someone who might consider my article? It’s just over 800 words, a reasonable length. Any help would be great!
I’m thinking of redesigning the site. You know, making it sleeker, more organized, sexier in general. So I need you all to leave suggestions. General design? Colors? What cool features should it have? Leave your comments!
The world could be coming to an end as we know it, but I’m enjoying a family BBQ. More blogging tomorrow, and I’m putting together a bunch of posts so that I’ll have something on the site while I’m in Boston on Monday. Meanwhile, definitely keep tabs on Regime Change Iran.
Flying to Sacremento in the morning. Updates will be around lunch time! UPDATE: Missed my first flight so I had to go through Vegas. But they have wi-fi in the airport. I’m lovin’ this. I have to board for Sacremento in a minute, so it’s relatively impossible to scramble my thoughts together into a coherent post on a worthy subject. Meanwhile, here are some quick links to some reading you can do until I get back on the ground. While on the plane, I’m rereading The Future of Freedom. The last time I read it was three years ago and…
Kick back, relax, and take a moment to say a few prayers for the troops who are fighting abroad for freedom. Winds of Change has a Memorial Day roundup and Glenn Reynolds links to lots of photoblogging. As for me, I’m taking the day off, basking in the glow of Lebanon’s first round of elections. Nothing better to bask in than that. Anyhow, catch you all tomorrow and take it easy!
You all may have noticed that it has been a slow couple of weeks for my posting in particular. Look forward to that coming to an end. I’m graduating tonight and I’ll be moving to Boston at the end of August. I’ll post by tomorrow afternoon, when I’ve, er, recovered.
Everyone — I’ll be appearing on CNBC’s Kudlow and Company on Thursday between 5-6pm eastern time. I’ll be talking politics in South America. I’ve asked some people to record it and host the video for download, so hopefully that can be made available if some of you can’t catch it. For now, I am going to get some rest and brush up a tad on some specifics. Here’s the guest list. I just noticed that Natan Sharansky is going to be on as well, which is, seriously, a huge honor to share air time with someone like him. UPDATE: Alright…
I’ve just returned from the evening’s activities. A very good reason not to blog. Happy Mothers’ Day everyone!
I just finished my last final exam — happy to be back on the internet everybody. Big thanks, of course, to A.M Mora y Leon, Daniel, and Kirk for keeping this place going full throttle for the past week! On that note, I’m going to go take a huge nap. I will resume my posting later this afternoon or tonight since I’m going to have a lot of free time on my hands.
Finals week is upon me, so today I am not sure how much I will be blogging. However, I realize that I don’t pimp my advertisers quite as much as I should, so every Sunday I think there should be a post thanking them for their free market exchange. So what I ask of you is to support Publius Pundit by clicking on our advertisers to show them that you appreciate them as well! Jim Rose How Capitol Hill Works If you haven’t done so already, purchase The Case For Democracy in order to catch up on today’s main foreign…