Blogging the democratic revolution
July 4 is here, my favorite holiday! I was thinking all day what I would write here about our great country and the struggle for freedom all over the world. I couldn’t. There are too many words and too many ways to say them. So instead, I will implore you all to take the day off and spend the time with your friends and family. Celebrate and, most of all, appreciate the freedom that we as a nation are always fighting for. At the end of the day, remember that there are still many people facing the struggles that our…
I think most of the headlines calling this a “key test” are pretty correct in that description. Albania is another transition democracy in the volatile Balkans, and transition means baby steps. This means that it will be years before investment bears fruit and real liberalism takes solid root. TIRANA (AFX) – Albanians began voting on Sunday in legislative elections seen as crucial to their country’s ambition to join the EU. A free and fair vote is crucial for Albania as it hopes to sign a stabilization and association accord with the EU this year and join the European bloc in…
Our good friend Stefania of the estimable Free Thoughts blog is not only more serious in thinking about what the G8 should be doing than Bob Geldof, she’s also more serious than the G8 itself. Her suggestions about what the G8 should really be thinking about and discussing are here. Don’t miss.
My analysis of what is really going on at Venezuela’s universities, the backstory and implications, is here.
Debunked as it well deserves. I’ve seen this movie before – back in the 1980s. Simon Jenkins obviously saw the same thing in the 1960s. There’s no better debunking of this phony Live 8 revolution than here. How is a sensible person to react to last night????????s Live 8/G8 extravaganza? It defies hyperbole. It steamrollers scepticism. The money swilling, the masses migrating, the greenhouse gases combusting, the publicity bingeing, are beyond all reason. Live 8 claims political status, but the politics is totalitarian, using celebrity to mobilise a crowd. The crowd has a noble place in politics, but it is…
It looks like some people in Lebanon are suffering post-electoral loss syndrome. That is, the pro-Syria crowd outside of Hizb’allah is going nuts out of office. Perhaps they don’t know what to do with themselves now that they can’t terrorize people’s lives with the government. With this dire impropriety in their lives, it must be hard for them to keep still and play cricket like the rest of the blue hairs, so they’ve had to resort to shooting rival politicians. Lebanon worried Sunday over the outbreak of post-elections violence that left one man dead and seven others hospitalized as Premier-Designate…
Daniel has located the Babes of Caracas who were out in abundance today in Venezuela. And every single one of them despises Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez to an extent we can only dream about. What is the purpose of posting such photos? To prove that the revolution is real. The winds of change blows where the young women go, the old have the cares of the world to take care of first. The young think about things like governance and other abstractions. After all, they are going to be the ones who must live with whatever result there is the…
This brilliant analysis in The Australian about the political horror show going on right now in Philippines will make your blood go absolutely cold. Best thing written on what’s at stake. Today’s must-read is here. Hat tip: Real Clear Politics
According to the New York Times (registration required), Syrian Kurds, many of them denied not only equal protection of the law but also citizenship, are increasing pressure on Damascus for change. With democratic revolutions under way to the west in Lebanon and to the east in Iraq, the former being explicitly anti-Syrian and the latter being anti-Baathist, the Baathist regime of Bashar Assad in Damascus is feeling the heat. This is an excerpt from the NYT report (“Kurds, Emboldened by Lebanon, Rise Up in Tense Syria”): …But as Syria endures heavy international and domestic pressure to change, storm clouds are…
Three students were shot dead in cold blood this week by Venezuelan police who claim they mixed the students up with some criminals they were hunting. Just like that, three lived snuffed out on a sunny street in Caracas. It was all just … another … mistake. That’s brought thousands of people into the streets this morning in Caracas. It’s one of the first big demonstrations since the demoralization of the Venezuelan opposition in the wake of the widely-believed fraudulent recall referendum on Hugo Chavez last August. The shootings of course represent the projection of Hugo Chavez’s power. So it…
I hate to say “I told you so,” but I recall a few people not believing me or the pictures that I posted, so consider this a kick in the butt. Even moreso when you consider that the “average” numbers are inflated as well. Election date has been made available on the Interior Ministry’s website. The Guardians Council, the body tasked with supervising Iranian elections, announced on 29 June its endorsement of the second round of the Iranian presidential election five days earlier, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported. Yet analysis of election data — available at the Interior…
Supposed to be pretty big, and they’ll be heading to the CNN building. I wonder if they’ll be able to ignore it since it’ll be right there in front of them. ATLANTA – A huge rally and mass demonstration will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 7 & 8, 2005 as part of a planned Ethiopia global protest rally. The rally is due to take place on Thursday July 7, 2005 at Carter Center, whereas the next day, Friday July 8, Ethiopians will converge at Martin Luther King Jr. Center to march towards CNN Headquarters. The recent political upheaval…
President Hu of China is in Russia for a four-day visit with Putin where the two will agree on an array of political and economic ties for their roles in the region and in the world. Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday called for greater efforts to strengthen the strategic partnership and economic and trade ties between China and Russia. Hu Jintao met Russia????????s top lawmakers, Boris Gryzlov, and Sergei Mironov. Later he and Putin signed a joint declaration on the new world order in the 21st century. In a meeting with Boris Gryzlov, chairman of Russia????????s State Duma, Hu said…
Bush has come out and chided countries in Africa for turning a blind eye to the regimen genocide ongoing in Zimbabwe. I would assume that this is timed to coincide with the G8 summit and the huge plan to aid, trade, and liberalize the continent. WASHINGTON – US President George W Bush yesterday accused Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe of “destroying” his country and urged countries in the region, especially South Africa, to pressure him to change. “Next door to you is a person who is destroying a country because of bad policy, and it’s not right. And the nations in…
The Central American Free Trade Agreement, the treaty to bring our good and faithful friends from Central America into free trade with the U.S. has won – won! – a bruising battle in the Senate. We were terrified all was lost and it was not! This is the greatest victory of the year! Victory! The last step is to get CAFTA passed in the House. If it passes in the House, it will be a strike for freedom and a deadly blow to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Communism won’t be the way out, but standing on one own two feet…
Interesting choice, too. It was a foregone conclusion that Saad Hariri probably wouldn’t try for it, as he and Lahoud would constantly clash — and that’s not good for a newcomer into politics (Lebanese politics, no less). But I thought that they may have stuck with Mikati, who replaced Karami. Here’s the article. By Lucy Fielder BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Lebanese parliament on Thursday chose Fouad Siniora, the anti-Syrian former finance minister, to head the first government in three decades to take office without Syrian troops in the country. President Emile Lahoud, a long-time Syrian ally, is obliged to respect…
Will Franklin has this week’s carnival of revolutions up at his blog, which takes on all of this week’s democratic developments. By the way, I’ve been in Boston this whole week and have been totally cut off from the internet during that time (my posts were pre-timed to publish, how cool is that?). I’ll be back in Arizona by this afternoon. Huge thanks to Daniel, Kirk, and A.M. Mora y Leon for their work to keep everything going so well!
Those interested in development issues in the Arab world might find it worth while to read a back and forth discussion of the future of the Arab world taking place between my blog and that of an Egyptian architect-turned-political activist, Karim Elsahy (pronounced es-sahhi, with a hard “h”). Elsahy’s blog, One Arab World, contains a few posts explaining his political project followed by a series of comments by various (mostly) Arab bloggers (but in English). My post deals with two different things: the first part is a response to a request for comment by Elsahy regarding a statement in President…
Yesterday, I posted “More squawking of a Russia-Belarus union,” though significantly most of that squawking comes from Belarus’ side. Here’s a piece in RFE/RL that adds further to yesterday’s post. KREMLIN ADVISERS SCOLD BELARUS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD… In an open letter to Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka published on 23 June at sovetpanfilova.ru, the Council for Promoting Civil Society and Human Rights (SSRIGOPCh) under Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed its concern about “the unfavorable situation with civic rights and freedoms” in Belarus. The council, which is an advisory body whose head is appointed by Putin, said that Belarus has virtually…
Remember back several months ago when Putin declared that regional governors would be appointed rather than elected. It didn’t really matter in the first place, because those elected were already vetted for approval by Moscow. The reason Putin gave is that he would be able to install more popular and competent leaders should they be needed. But elections hold both a practical and symbolic importance, especially when the corrupt and incompetent leadership is not being replaced. Russia????????s abolition of regional elections ????????- a reflex reaction to the Beslan tragedy ????????- has backfired. Instead of bringing order to the North Caucasus,…
Viktor Yushchenko seems at time to be more interested in completing assession to NATO than to tackling the problems of his fragile presidency. This is interesting seeing that NATO officials and member heads of state have not exactly thrown their arms around the Ukrainian president as he moves from constituent to constituent trying to rustle up an invitation. One can see that Yuschenko’s tactic of assuming membership and imploring the alliance to hurry up already with the papers is starting to grate on the (admittedly) thin patience of the slow-witted NATO administration. Curious, then, that headlines trumpet a breakthrough in…
One of the two key problems facing the new Lebanese government is what to do about pro-Syrian President Lahoud and who to elect to the position of Parliament Speaker. The new parliament, which has not yet convened, has called on Lahoud to resign, a call he is obviously ignoring. WASHINGTON (AFX) – Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who most of his parliament wants to resign, said he will remain in his post despite accusations he covered up assassinations. ‘I’m not resigning,’ he told CNN. ‘I’m staying until the end of my term.’ On Thursday, Lebanon’s new parliamentary majority called for Lahoud…
There has been some talk about this for awhile now, though it usually amounts to nothing. Lukashenko is basically looking for a way to preserve his power and status through oppression. With so much pressure from the west, he must be counting down the days until the end of his reign. Because of that, he has to look eastward; specifically, Russia (though greater ties with countries such as Zimbabwe are revealing as well). This has largely resulted in military cooperation and aid, though talks over a joint currency and even possible union are being talked about, albeit haltingly without much…
Pro-Syria, pro-Hizbollah Speaker Nabih Berri has been re-elected by the anti-Syrian parliament: The 128-seat assembly, dominated by opponents of Syria for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war, voted by an overwhelming majority of 90 for Berri, despite international and local reservations over retaining one of the main enforcers of Syria’s grip over its tiny neighbor. Though the May 29-June 19 elections were won by groups that opposed Syria’s role, they had little choice but to back Berri for a fourth straight term after his alliance with the Hizbollah guerrilla group won over 80 percent of the Shi’ite Muslim…
Christopher Hitchens has another must-read article in this month’s Vanity Fair. This time, Hitch visits Iran (now becoming possibly the only “scribbler” to have visited all three Axis of Evil members since 2000). I have a post and link on the article here. Hitchens once again reveals what is at the base of another rancid government that keeps an ancient and great civilization under its heal. The value here is that the author has no agenda to push from either the right or left. He’s perfectly willing to credit the Bush Administration when credit is due and continues to refuse…