Blogging the democratic revolution
Zed over at INBB has posted several recently published reports about companies that do business with Burma’s military dictatorship. There are a lot of travel agencies on there. I can just see the slogan: “Come one, come all! Tour the abject poverty and learn how they keep it that way!”
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has shown himself for the coarse, uncouth thug that he is, with his trash-talking horny, racist television ravings about Dr. Condoleezza Rice last Sunday. And how has the US media responded to this ratings-grabbing story? Why by ignoring it! The whole story has been ignored by the US media, except for one anodyne little notation in one news item. Blogger Miguel Octavio finds this just a little bizarre.
Aussiegirl has posted a very moving post talking about her family’s trials with totalitarianism in Russie and Germany, and her feelings with the Orange Revolution. It’s a really good read. So when I heard and watched these events unfold in Ukraine, and I realized that Ukrainians had finally gotten up off their knees and reclaimed their rightful heritage as a free and democratic and cultural people, I wept with joy — because it felt like a liberation to me as well, that my own Ukrainian song which had been planted in me by my parents, and which I had cherished…
I find myself agreeing with all of this. Hat tip: Pejmanesque.
Veneconomy????????s editorial notes a scary new law that passed under the radar this week in Chavez????????s Venezuela. El Supremo has given Fidel Castro an open field for his agents to arrest anyone in Venezuela with no legal due process.
Gustavo Coronel, a retired Venezuelan oil executive weighs in with a superb essay on Dutch Disease, the impact of oil on an economy and how it is fueling Venezuela????????s dangerous swing into backward communism.
Andy from Siberian Light is discussing the recent legal proposals in Russia to outlaw Jewish groups as “extremist.”
Nathan from The Argus has got some great commentary regarding the Bush inauguration speech. I don????????t know how to say it other than to once again say that democratization isn????????t new. Talking about it is. Doing it is bipartisan. Publicly supporting it seems to be something the right is much more concerned about. And why do I don the ideologue????????s gloves, something I rarely do here? Because praktike points to this Senate plan as an alternative to Bush????????s foreign policy vision. All I can really say in praise is that it is gloriously imprecise, tells a wonderful fairy-tale in the…
Mora has a great article over at Babalu Blog. It’s about how while most all countries have the internet, that luxury does not exist in Cuba, so it’s almost impossible to communicate to the inside. Also, very interestingly, she has found a publishing house that produces the works of Cuban writers who would otherwise not be able to get their work out. Take a look.
I think this has literally been the most mind-blowing article I’ve read today. Not because it is anything I didn’t know already, but because it’s being reported as the front story on CNN’s website. Although most say they don’t know who the candidates are or where to go to vote, they say they will vote come January 30. That doesn’t sound so much different from the U.S. Except that they’ll actually be voting. What a cool step forward for this country.
Miguel Octavio notes some interesting graffiti in Caracas today. A Chavez no le gusto el Rice de Condoleezza (Chavez didn????????t like Condoleezza????????s Rice) . I laughed, so I had to post it. But for something more worthwhile to read, check out this post on how ths Venezuelan Supreme Court is smashing democracy there.
Check this out. It’s an interview with ZUBR, and can give you a basic overview of what it’s all sbout.
I like to get the updates from the blogs in Ukraine so that we can see their commentary. But with the inauguration, there has been so much that I simply can’t keep up. So I’ll be putting it all here. Discoshama has a lot: –01/26 update along with 01/25 update. –More nonsense from the Euro Left on Ukraine. –Note to Western Journos – — Ukraine is not a Russian Province. –Another reason to love Yushchenko. Meanwhile, Neeka blogs like a madwoman as well: –PIces of conversation between Yushchenko and Putin. –Another criticism of an NYT article on Ukraine and a…
The new NGO “Friends of Democracy” website has been setup, and they collect news from locals in Iraq. Very cool stuff. But what I like even more is that they have photos!
Chrenkoff did some statistics analysis of negative media coverage in Iraq. And just like he thought, the bad is oft more told than the good.
Scott Clark has several articles up at the moment about how Russia’s hostile business environment is further crippling the country. Judging from the articles, I don’t think Putin cares. He just wants to hit the big companies for as much as he can in taxes. The government taking and redistributing a la communism, however, is simply not economically sustainable. He is finding himself in a bigger mess the more he attacks business and the more allies he loses to the west of him. And what is the answer? Free markets and civil liberties? No, couldn’t be!
Hossein Derakhshan is reporting that Orkut and Yahoo! Messenger will possibly be banned in Iran. This, coupled with all of the other internet shutdowns, shows a real fear among the regime there of the communicative power of the web. They can close their borders, but ideas like liberty transcend any kind of oppression; it’s practically born in us. The internet just helps connect these people, and this ability to organize is something the mullahs feel they need to scratch out. He also has some good comments about lifting the embargo on Iran. I agree. Killing trade actually helps oppressive regimes…
The blogger from Democracy In Iraq (Is Coming) has posted his thoughts on the recent Zarqawi “declaration of war.” He says that democracy is evil, and that it goes against Islam. Of course, in his version of Islam everyone you disagree with must be killed, he doesn’t really follow Islam, but facism, the problem is that he is too stupid to distinguish the two. … I would like nothing more than to hear tommorow that he has been captured and decapitated just like so many of his victims. Even if he continues to live he will never win. He should…
John at Crossroads Arabia strongly recommends an article that relates many facts about the temporary city of two million, Haj. I haven’t been able to read it yet, but anything he recommends tends to be good stuff.
Blog de Connard has a rather… strange picture of some Russian pension protesters dancing in the metrograd.
Abdymok has some great photos from Yushchenko’s inauguration. And comparatively, there are quite a few of Yulia Tymoshenko. Hey ladies! (Who is that on the left? Anyone?) Beautiful. That’s just a sampling. Check it out.
Dan McMinn over at Orange Ukraine has got his inauguration photos up in two different galleries. The first gallery, obviously, are the inauguration photos! But with this an era does come to an end. Even though the work of the Orange Revolution will go on, here are pictures of the tent city before it eventually comes down. On another note, he does have a write-up of the recent announcement of Tymoshenko as PM and Yushchenko’s trip to Russia. And a history of the two in the Kuchma government, with many sources to back it up. Best of luck to all…
Miguel Octavio has a terrific translation of Venezuela????????s leading dissident editor Teodoro Petkoff today, regarding President Hugo Chavez????????s filthy, sexist, racist comments delivered on national television about Condoleezza Rice.
Before a nationally televised audience Sunday, President Chavez of Venezuela made a full pig of himself, hurling racist, sexist insults at the sort of person he’s never quite gotten used to: an intelligent, beautiful woman who happens to be very powerful, Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Babalu Blog is talking about it here. Chavez has apparently just signed into law a land reform decree that would reallocate farmland. Not good. And Gustavo Coronel has a new essay up regarding Chavez’s oil policy, which is illogical and in conjunction with Chavez’s inane and random behavior.