Blogging the democratic revolution
ANSWER Coalition anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan Source: Susan Forrest, Indymedia Los Angeles Today I went to the antiwar protests, over in Hollywood, to check out the scene. Compared to other antiwar rallies, this was small. It might have been put together hastily – I did not learn about it until yesterday. Still, ANSWER tends to attract many more people than this and they did have Cindy Sheehan as their headliner. Without prejudice, I estimated there were only about 650 people at this one – I’ve been to the last three and this was the smallest of all. The ANSWER procession…
The mystery country in the United Nations voter lineup for Security Council seats, Chile, led by a socialist with roots in the Allende era, is apparently fed up to the quick with the government of Hugo Chavez. Chavez’s anti-American diatribes disgusted most nations that had planned to support Venezuela over Guatemala for the Security Council seat, but didn’t bother Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet all that much. More recent Chavista attacks over the weekend, charging her with being rightwing – on the weekend she laid a wreath at the spot where Allende’s foreign minister, Orlando Letelier, was assassinated, was an entirely…
Hugo Chavez addresses the United Nations General Assembly Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! News If Hugo Chavez had wanted to repel the American public, he could not have done a better job than this morning, speaking before the United Nations. Waving a Noam Chomsky book like a late-night K-Tel salesman, he found time to hawk Chomsky tomes, which I am sure was effective – given that people will want to know exactly what he filled his head with after a rant like that. Next, the oily encyclopedia salesman began raving that George Bush was the devil. He yelled about the smell…
As Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz es-Saud meets with Turkish leaders this week, the Sunni Arab world’s desperation should be kept in mind. Though economic concerns have been paramount in Turko-Arab relations for many years, and have grown since the election of the Turkish PM Erdogan, the Saudi King made a few remarks indicative of the Sunni Arab world’s fearful position. At a meeting with the Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer, Abdullah called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, obviously aimed bolstering Turkish support for the Arab position on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He then stated that ???????Like you…
ÄNote: The Algerian independence day is July 5Å Algeria????????s independence came on July 5, 1962, after a long and bloody war against France. The Revolution that took place from 1954 to 1962 would soon be abducted by the egos of many powerful men, with names like Ben Bella, Boumediene, and Khider. But, the ideals of the Revolution they stole would not die. The Algerian Revolution was a revolt against exclusion, under-representation, racialism, displacement, colonialism, ignorance and all the other pretty words that come with battles in the name of rights. Algerians today, hold all of these notions close to their…
Hungarian freedom fighters atop the jackboot remains of the Stalin statue Source: 1956 Hungary President George W. Bush, in Europe today, remembered some of the bravest democratic revolutionaries in all history, Hungary’s Freedom Fighters, who stood up to Soviet tanks in the name of democracy. It’s the fiftiest anniversary of that stunning struggle in the name of freedom. Source: The Menzies Era In the aftermath of World War II, half of Europe was enslaved by the Soviet Union. The communism it imposed was a truly terrible kind, disallowing all free thought as the Stalinist colonializers stamped their deadening blotting-paper-gray imprint…
President Bouteflika’s recent comments regarding the French colonization of Algeria have caused quite a stir. His fuss holds the potential to accomplish a great deed; placing such a burden on the world community’s conscience that they feel moved to take meaningful action in Darfur, or at least to make them seriously contemplate it. But it does not seem to be the case that Mr. Bouteflika, or any one else, is going to use this tremendous opportunity to do good. His comments have been a source of reflection for me over the past week or so. Firstly, I am inclined to…
…reality to Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez. “If you do not have clear rules for the game, capital is not going to come. If there is no capital, there is no growth. If there is no growth, there is no employment. If there is no employment, there is no income. If there is no income, there is nothing to invest more in nutrition, health and education, which are the most powerful weapons for reducing poverty,” the Peruvian president said. What a beautiful grasp on how the world works! Why don’t honorable, intelligent, and yes, indigenous, Latin American leaders get more…
Iran’s leader, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, Monday sent a letter to President Bush in some sort of effort to communicate with him, and to halt potential action over Iran’s nuclear program. It has a weird bloggerly quality to it, mulling over events, ranting and raving here, whining about always being a victim there, and it’s sort of interesting to read. But the most interesting part (to me) is Ahmadinejad’s clear reference to Venezuela’s dictator, Hugo Chavez. It’s obvious he watches the Chavista soap opera going on in the Western hemisphere, and clearly has discussed the paranoias of Chavez. They fill his thoughts.…
You thought commissars were a thing of the past? Not at UCLA. Here in the states, a fierce debate is going on as to whether illegal immigrants should all walk out on their jobs on May 1 to make a political point, one that says the U.S. economy cannot function without illegal immigrants. It’s a takeoff on a clever movie that came out recently called ‘A Day Without A Mexican.’ The problem is, if the immigrants do this, they’ll probably be fired from their jobs, negating the point of being an illegal immigrant altogether. And being fired could leave such…
Can a civilized nation tolerate a crowd of people who let themselves be led by the nose by sheikhs, dervishes and the like . . . and who entrust their faith and their lives to fortunetellers, magicians, witch-doctors, and writers of amulets? *** Countries may vary, but civilization is one and for a nation to progress, it must take part in this one civilization. The decline of the Ottomans began when, proud of their triumphs over the West, they cut their ties with the European nations. This was a mistake which we will not repeat. I have previously provided to…
Via Real Clear Politics, Donald Rumsfeld has presented his thinking on the new kinds of challenges the U.S. faces as it fights the long hard war on terror and seeks to win the hearts and minds of the Arab world in spreading the idea of democracy. He lays out all the angles on how this is playing out in democratic revolution – through technology and the power of ideas here. This happens to coincide with what we’ve been seeing on the State Department’s Web site, debunking all the flying-saucer theories put out by leftists and assorted ignoramuses and tinfoil-hat wearers…
As part of my previous explication of the Hungarian political parties, and in order to convey how the parties involved are pretty counter-intuitive to American standards, I????????m presenting excerpted transcriptions of speeches regarding the upcoming elections. The first is by Viktor Orb????n, head of FIDESZ, who is presenting his eighth ???????state of the country??????? address ???????? looks and sounds a little like a more-populist, slightly sexier Al Gore. The second is a reply to Orb????n the following day by Ferenc Gyurcs????ny of the MSZP ???????? imagine a sort an even-more-bloodless Bill Gates figure, prone to seriously stick his foot in…
I watched the President’s State of the Union address with a French diplomat friend and my friend remarked that about 2/3 of Bush’s speech was on foreign policy, with a significant amount of it on democracy movements. “As it should be,” he added. I thought there was a nuance to it, though, and it was a little painful. President Bush outlined with great precision the consequences of America’s addiction to imported oil, explaining how high oil prices were fueling dictators and undercutting freedoms abroad, the very freedoms we were fighting for in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he named the wrong…
I Believe Only In The Power Of The People by Evo Morales December 24, 2005 Thank you for the invitation to this great meeting of intellectuals “In Defense of Humanity.” Thank you for your applause for the Bolivian people, who have mobilized in these recent days of struggle, drawing on our consciousness and our regarding how to reclaim our natural resources. What happened these past days in Bolivia was a great revolt by those who have been oppressed for more than 500 years. The will of the people was imposed this September and October, and has begun to overcome the…
Investor’s Business Daily has an excellent editorial up about President Bush’s visit to Argentina for discussion about the FTAA. It lashes at the negative media portrayal here in the United States, despite the fact that the vast majority of countries are on board with it. Make sure to check it out.
Miguel Octavio has some utterly repulsive photos of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe in the throes of love. Look at those two embrace! What’s hard to believe is that Mugabe, one of the world’s foremost creators of famine and hunger today, was so much as allowed in at this United Nations conference in Rome. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had assured earlier that these kinds of obscenities at the UN – which do hurt its credibility – will stop. Well, they are not stopping. They are going on at full blast. Investor’s Business Daily has an excellent news…
UPDATED: While President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia was ringing the opening bell of the New York stock exchange today, his ministers back home were announcing that interest rates would be slashed 50 basis points and nearly a billion more dollars in debt was being repaid. Meanwhile, Colombia’s trade surplus was expanding, tourism was up 19.5%, foreign investment was soaring, banks were lending and remittances were up. Goldman Sachs noted admiringly that Colombia retained a tight fiscal policy despite an election year ahead. The only worry Colombia seemed to have on that day – probably unique in Latin America – was…
From Reuters: Unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among the first to vote, told Iranians they would be endorsing not just their chosen candidate, but their country’s Islamic system. “Whoever you vote for among those seven candidates, it’s a vote for him, the Islamic republic and the constitution,” he said after using a special ballot box at his official residence. That is exactly why such a drove of people are planning on avoiding the ballot box today.
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.
Looks like ol’ Shirin’s figured out how the world works much better than the rest of us. American Revolution? Orange Revolution? Tulip Revolution? That’s just wrong! The best means to help create democracies in societies ruled by tyrannies is through negotiations, and if that fails, by resorting to the United Nations,” she pontificated. “This is the only way, this is the only means. Hear that, Babes of Beirut? You’re doing it wrong! Kindly send a copy of her memo in triplicate to Cuba’s civil society democrats, Venezuela’s angry oil workers, Ecuador’s furious street demonstrators, Bolivia’s pro-trade Santa Crucenos and Venezuela’s…
It was the winter of 1982. It was the freezing nadir of the Cold War. Soldiarity’s Revolution in Poland had been bitterly crushed. I was a student in England, passionate about Soviet studies and in the center of great scholarship. As Greenham Common leftists camped out to protest cruise missiles, Ronald Reagan and the U.S. troops there to defend Europe, not far from my university. As Lady Thatcher and Ronald Reagan stood firm. As the Soviet Union under the fearful, edgy, oppressive gray heirs to Stalin of the Kremlin prepared to hit the nuclear button. Never did the world come…
The Community of Democracies are meeting right now in my favorite city, Santiago de Chile, which I think is a fine country to hold such an event in. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is leading the U.S. delegation through this three day event from April 28-30. In the company of the democratic friends, she spoke of no less than the end of political tyranny worldwide. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday it is the historic duty of the world’s democracies to eliminate political tyranny. She addressed officials from more than 100 countries at the Community of Democracies meeting…
Talk about good timing. The ten minute interview was done in the White House and broadcast directly to Lebanon. President Bush has insisted anew that Syria should “get out completely” from Lebanon and let the Lebanese people decide their own future in internationally monitored elections on schedule and free from external influence or intimidation. Bush pledged, then, to drum up global monetary assistance to help “this country back on its feet.” In a rare direct address to the Arab world, Bush also said in an interview broadcast by Beirut’s LBCI television network from the White House he wanted the Assad…
Reading over the actual transcript of the press conference has been a lot more interesting than just reading the news articles about that. I guess those in the press just haven’t caught on to my tastes yet, but I can forgive them for now. At the beginning of the press conference, both President Bush and Putin give their littles speeches. The action didn’t start until the newspeople started asking their loaded questions… something that made for even better answers. You’ve got to love it. I’ve put in bold some parts of interest; things that many of us have wondered about.…