Blogging the democratic revolution
IEDs (full disclosure: I write for this site) has stories here, here and here.
I outline NYT reporter Juan Forero’s propaganda that gives Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez a boost, now that he’s off to Porto Alegre to defend Zimbabwe-style land expropriations. Juan’s timing for Chavez is just ‘coincidentally’ perfect, and his arguments are party-line. As news, it’s weeks late, but it’s just perfect to re-frame the debate for Chavez’s soapbox. This is bad stuff.
Alek Boyd has found the news clip showing that Fox News has picked up Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’s filthy talk directed at distinguished United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Go there and view the film clip.
There is a lot of coverage of the elections on C-Span today. Friends of Democracy will be on from 2:00 to 4:00 pm and it will also be liveblogged. Make sure to check it out. For now, I’m going to bed. Blogging is tough work you know. I’ll begin updating again when I wake up.
Chrenkoff has thrown his hat in and is now liveblogging the election.
Via Bloggledygook, are photographers and journalists being tipped off by terrorists? And are they falsifying stories? The analysis is very interesting. Kind of reminds me why the U.S. suspended Al Jazeera in Iraq — those guys were definitely embedded with the militants.
Mark Glaser back in September did an online review of milibloggers and Iraqi bloggers, complete with history, background information, and interview questions for many of the big names out there. It’s pretty cool.
The BBC has a feed of reporters’ logs from their guys all over Iraq. It’s not exactly inspiring, but if you’re interested in a particular region’s situation, check it out. And contrary to John Cole’s “Daming But” Roundup, I think I found a “but” that’s positive: But now that polling’s been underway for two or three hours, there are very big crowds starting to form at the polling station in the centre of Arbil. There’s certainly hundreds of people outside having to line up for quite a long time before they can get in.
I have been going around all the Iraq blogs and big bloggers and I’ve noticed something… the United Nations Foundation has bought a lot of ads promoting itself in Iraq. Check out, for instance, Tim Blair or Instapundit and they have these UN ads that say “Ensuring Credible and Fair Elections,” followed by a graphic, and then a quote from Kofi Annan that states: “The United Nations is committed to the birth of a new Iraq. I have long made clear that the international community must put the deep divisions over the war behind us. We must unite to build…
John posts his comments on a fantastic article by Arab news discussing the issues that concern Iraqis. Are the insurgents and their terrorist allies in the Sunni Triangle doing Iraq a favor without knowing it? The question is not fanciful. The violence unleashed by the insurgency has concentrated most minds on a single issue: Security. It has brought together communities and political parties that would otherwise be fighting one another over faith, ideology, and economic interest. In the current election campaign Communists, monarchists, and Islamists often find themselves on the same side when it comes to defeating the insurgents and…
For official information about the electoral process, you can go to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq website, and official information for out-of-country voting can be found here. Here’s the voter education page, which goes over the procedure. Also, here is an FAQ with valuable information.
Hammorabi has some words for the totalitarians of old and new: No more 99.99 % in Iraq! This is the figure of the Arabs’ dictators except Saddam! He used to get 100%! Surprisingly those who voted for the master of the mass graves are abstaining now! Our voting is: No to the terrorists! No to the dictatorships! No to hate and racism! No to the fascists! No to the Nazis! No to the mentally retarded tyrants! No to the ossified, narrow-minded and intolerants! I couldn’t have said it in broken English better myself. Though there is definitely something to be…
Ali from Free Iraqi had some thoughts before he went to vote: … I fear only one thing and that is that only small percentage of Iraqis vote. I hope and expect the opposite but as I said before everyone has been speaking on behalf of Iraqis for a long time and therfore it’s very difficult to tell what they are going to do. I trust that my people want freedom and democracy but I fear that it’s the difficult security that may keep them inside their houses. This is all my concerns now about the elections and I hope…
As I’m posting this, Fox News just said that no car bombs have gone off as of yet. Here’s holding on to hope. UPDATE: Nor any violance yet in Sadr City. While there have been mortar attacks, suiciders, gunners, etc… and dozens have died thusfar; as the guy on Fox News just said, “That is the secondary headline.”
Radio Blogger has got a lot of pictures of Iraqis voting in California. And from the BBC: Election views in pictures.
Chrenkoff gives his impressions of the election so far, and his thoughts on the defeatist Left. But what made me strike a thinking pose the most was the following: Every revolution has its symbol or gesture – the democratic revolution in Iraq, and hopefully throughout the broader Middle East, will have its own, too: a finger stained with ink. This event will leave more than a stain on their fingers though. Husayn Uthman at Democracy For Iraq says: It will be a day forever remembered. My voting was only a simple act, I went, I identified myself, got my finger…
BLOG ROUNDUPS: -Jeff Jarvis has a huge roundup. Even cooler, he found an RSS feed that automatically shows the updates from all the links he posted. Also, Iraqi blogger reactions gethered up. More reactions from military bloggers –More from the Foundation For The Defense Of Democracies. LIVEBLOGGERS: -Roger Simon is liveblogging the TV news coverage. -Manchester is also
I’m about to begin doing my series of Iraq roundups, but I thought I would start off with some satire. You heard me right. Dear Diary, Today started out as a amazing day! I was going to be a part of history and nothing was going to stop me! To my amazement, luck was on my side… there was a polling center right near me! When I got there, I was happy to see lots of other people ready to do their civic duty as Americans! I was a little bit confused by the apparent lack of ethnic diversity, but…
If you’re watching that Venezuela/Colombia impasse, they say they’ve got it all solved. Laughable. But I think they need things from each other so this will do for as long as it lasts. Unfortunately, it’s going to be hard. Colombia absolutely must win its narcotrafficante war – its population is radicalized to do it – meaning, nothing matters to them more than this. These are people who braved terrorist bullets like Iraqis to put their president in power. And how they love him! He’s got a 77% and climbing popularity rating. Yes they’re radicalized and they full well will not…
This essay, ‘A Political Earthquake In Venezuela,’ by Michael Rowan, is tremendous.
Miguel puts the chavista raid on fearless journalist Patricia Poleo in context, outlining all the angles and showing what is at stake. I did some research on Poleo, and realized I’d read about her before – and I was extremely impressed – she’s the one who got proof of secret Cuban troops in her country, going to the airport against dictator Chavez’s diktat, and bringing back conclusive proof to Venezuela’s citizens that hardened Cuban communist agents were invading their country. You can see why the Thug of Miraflores considers her an enemy. She’s brave as hell. Here’s a photo of…
The elections in Iraq are due to be held on Sunday — or late night Saturday if you’re State side. This is looking to be the event of the century, even though it has just barely started. I have neglected to post much about Iraq in the past week, on the run up, because I myself have been reading extensively about the situation. However, during Saturday, I will dedicate all of my blogging time to Iraq. I’m going to do news and blog roundups, post commentary, the whole nine yards. This is a huge deal, and I cannot stress that…
This article from AZ Central details, albeit at times somewhat wrongly or speculatively, that no matter the results of the election, they are scared of the consequences. Apparently, the Shiite majority that is going to arise in Iraq will create problems for just about everybody, despite some benefits. Here is the introduction: DAMASCUS, Syria – With suspicion, uncertainty and dread, governments across the Middle East are waiting for Sunday’s landmark parliamentary election in Iraq. To many, the vote is a deeply worrisome exercise that could produce one of a handful of bad options. Shiite Muslim alliances from Iraq’s majority sect…
I just found this great blog called Stop Censoring Us, only to find out it is done by Hossein Derakhshan, creator of Editor: Myself and Blogs by Iranians. He definitely keep himself busy, so make sure to check out his blogs and support him.