Blogging the democratic revolution
Of course, that’s rather predictable given that Lukashenko owns the parliament. Due to the spread of “velvet revolutions” in his near vicinity, and the upfront declarations of his neighbors, the EU, and the United States to promote democracy in Belarus, Lukashenko has passed a state security law which will allow the secret police practically absolute…
Glenn posted a link earlier to a report that an EU confidential document says that the elections in Ethiopia were rigged. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s electoral board appears to have lost control of the vote counting for the May 15 legislative polls, European Union election observers said in a report obtained by The…
Stefania Lapenna writes a dazzling essay today on The American Thinker, outlining the meaning of Cuba’s democracy conference held in Havana, including many aspects of it that might not be so obvious. Stefania is a brilliant young thinker whose original work will be read for years to come for its insight. Think I’m exaggerating? You…
If you want to read something that’s a real treat and explains out well the nature of Hugo Chavez in light of his bizarre claims about becoming a nuclear power, you can’t do better than read Alek Boyd’s excellent – and highly entertaining – essay today debunking the dictator’s nuclear pretentions, which also giving a…
The words of Mexican communist novelist Carlos Fuentes. Coming from him, it’s pretty damning. Obviously, he can’t stand the guy, and among other leftists, he’s influential. Hugo Chavez, beware. Not even the communists are sticking up for you now. Read it here.
Counting oil sands, Venezuela has more petroleum reserves than any country on earth. Even Russia. Even Canada. Even Iran. Even … Saudi Arabia. It’s unbelievable what the Texas-and-Oklahoma-sized country only 1350 miles away from us really has. Venezuela could probably supply the entire world with oil if it wanted. That road you are driving on,…
While the French are doing their level best to scuttle the EU constitution, Egyptian voters go to the polls today to vote on a referendum to clear the way to multi party presidential elections: CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – President Hosni Mubarak urged Egyptians to vote in Wednesday’s referendum on constitutional changes that would clear the…
Of all the disgusting prosecutions, this one, against the great Oriana Fallaci, probably the finest journalist alive, is the most despicable. No one can compare to Oriana, no one has written with more powerful, penetrating insight and determination than she has. You don’t even need to agree with her to appreciate her. I tend to…
The Luis Posada Carriles terrorism case has drawn a consensus in the mainstream media about the guy’s guilt and the need to throw him in jail even if it is, or especially if it is, in Castro’s Cuba or Chavez’s Venezuela. Cuban Americans have a different view, though, and a prominent Cuban-American, Humberto Fontova, writes…
Have you ever wanted to read the past six years’ of history in Venezuela? What really happened? What the role of people power is? And why it failed? (Hint: Jimmah Cotta). Have you ever wanted to read it in ace writing form? Then click here, it’s the best summary of Venezuela’s revolution I’ve ever read….
Evo Morales is at it again in Bolivia. Now that the president has been weakened by the fleeing of foreign investors, Morales and his dynamite-hurling coca-growers have grown emboldened. The whole city of La Paz seems to be under seige. ééThe protests have grown today,” Morales said in a phone interview from La Paz. ééWe…
As ‘The World’ —- otherwise known to us as self-centered eurotrash — solemnly intones about the depredations of the U.S. over the Saddam underwear photos and the importance of eradicating the US from the earth — by UN vote of course, or better still, EU bureaucratic fiat from Brussels —- Tim Blair advises us that…
It’s Cuba and it’s loaded with babes. Just as the Cuban revolution is launched, we start seeing the babes all right, and the Cuban girls are dazzling. Val’s got a choice girl from the Cuban nostalgia festival, his window on the world to Cubanismo which blogged away in conjunction with the Cuban democracy struggle in…
The people of the Americas have the right to democracy and the governments have a duty to generate conditions for governance and also to carry out their mandate in a democratic fashion. The guarantee of respect for the fundamental rights of the citizens, the Rule of Law, civil liberties, the respect for minorities and the…
Relations between the United States and Syria are sliding even further of late, though it seems that they may be the only party minding this. All of this revolves around intense pressure on Damascus about the insurgency in Iraq. Many of the terrorists have set up arms and drug smuggling routes along the Syrian border,…
Ordinarily we don’t cover events in the already-democratic world, but with many Canadians questioning to what degree their nation still holds on to that distinction, I direct you to this week’s two-part Red Ensign Standard, via an introduction at The London Fog. A few days ago I posted on the state of democracy in Canada.
Now that I’ve lured you in with a misleading, typical MSM headline, read on. In Iran, motives are never so genuine and kind. TEHRAN, Iran May 23, 2005 ???????? Iran’s supreme leader ordered the hard-line constitutional watchdog council to reconsider its decision to bar senior reformist candidates from running in next month’s presidential elections, state-run…
Georgia experienced the Rose Revolution in 2003, serving as an antecedent for Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (as well as democratic revolutions elsewhere). Georgia has since made nice progress, with U.S. President Bush visiting two weeks ago. Now a commission of the Georgian government, led by President Saakashvili, has prepared a draft document outlining the nation’s national…
Will Franklin is hosting this week’s carnival of revolutions, where you can catch up on the democracy movement over the past week. Next week it will be hosted by your favorite playboy, er, not me, I mean Nathan at Registan.net. I’ll be the week after.
The candidate of the ex-communist MPR has won Mongolia’s presidency, garnering over 50% of the vote and thus avoiding a runoff election. A former Communist prime minister of Mongolia has won Sunday’s presidential election, state media say. Nambaryn Enkhbayar beat three other contenders by polling more than 50% of the vote and thus avoiding the…
Don’t miss Gary Metz’s week in review over at Regime Change Iran, the essential blog on developments you know where.
The New York Times reports: In a stark reversal from earlier this year, when Sunni Arabs boycotted national elections here, a broad gathering of Sunni sheiks, clerics and political leaders formed a political alliance on Saturday, seeking to win back the political ground they had lost to Shiites. The meeting was the first wide-scale effort…
Last night I watched an episode of “Writers,” a program on Al-Jazeera. They were actually in London, speaking to two Arab writers, one an Egyptian novelist who lives in London, Ahdaf Soueif (see this article for an interview with her), and an editor with the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi (whose full name I can’t…
With Lebanon’s elections near, sources at GeoStrategy Direct are saying that the recent flare up in violence, both the bombings in Beruit and the attacks on Israel in the south, have been a deliberate attempt by Iran and Hizbullah to derail the entire process. I have a rather longish post on my own blog focusing…