Kazakh President Nazarbeyev may be feeling a bit uneasy with neighboring Kyrgyzstan having new leadership:The overthrow of President Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan is emerging as a powerful catalyst for the Kazakh opposition, which already was inspired by popular uprisings in Georgia and Ukraine.
When did this country cease charging someone with treason?
I am the bread of life, all who come to me shall not hungerAll who believe in me shall not thirstNo one can come to me, unless the Father beakonAnd I will raise you up, and I will raise, you up, and I will raise you up, on the last day!Unless you eat of the flesh of the son of manAnd drink of His blood, and drink of His blood, you cannot have life within youTerri Shiavo passes today.God Rest Her Soul…
The key to the election today may be the number of ‘zombie’ voters that end up casting their vote:Zimbabweans waited in long lines on March 31 to vote in their country’s sixth parliamentary election, knowing that two factors beyond their control could decide the nation’s fate – the so-called “zombie vote” and President Robert Mugabe’s personal power to appoint one in every five members of parliament without an electoral test.Some 5.7 million adults in a total population of 11.5 million people – excluding 3.5 million political and economic refugees outside Zimbabwe’s borders – are registered to vote.
Musharraf may be in trouble at home as many of the various political parties have joined a strike call tomorrow urging him to leave office:MMA Punjab president Liaqat Baloch, MNA, has said that the masses will fully participate in April 2 strike call against the price-hike by downing the shutters and observing the wheel-jam.(in other words…
“Pro-Opposition” officials fired before elections:The Zimbabwean government has reportedly dismissed over one thousand polling officers and accredited election monitors, ahead of Thursday’s parliamentary elections, on allegations that they support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).US blasts “Food for Vote”:The United State denounced what it called the “despicable” practice by Zimbabwe’s ruling party of using food supplies to win over voters in this week’s parliamentary elections.
Wednesday Protests against the monarchy in Swaziland:Nearly 1000 members of the Young Communist League (YCL) and the Swaziland Solidarity Movement (SSM) called on “democracy-loving people of the world” and governments to impose sanctions on the Swazi government and to isolate King Mswati III and his “lavish family”.The monarch recently came under scrutiny for purchasing a number of luxury vehicles for himself and his ten wives while poverty and HIV/Aids are rife in the small kingdom.I’m not hip to communism but I do like the demands of the protesters: The protesters listed the following demands for “the struggle for freedom in Swaziland”: – the unbanning of all political parties in Swaziland and the cessation of all intimidation and cessation of hostilities against political leaders and activists, – the unconditional end of arbitrary arrests, torture and victimisation of political leaders, trade unionist and activists- an all-inclusive process of constitutional transformation.
When I was a boy, my mother bought my brothers and I each a copy of Good News for Modern Man which was a Bible version that was easy to read.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the bias.
Protesting Outside of Parliament Aljazzeera is reporting of major demonstrations in Egypt today:Thousands of protesters have staged a series of pro-reform demonstrations across Egypt in defiance of the government’s warning.
Promoting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan Laura Bush visited Afghanistan today for the first time to promote education for women.
Here is another interview from Memri TV of a Syrian terrorist captured in Iraq who was helping slaughter Iraqis on orders from the Syrian regime:Interviewer: Who gave the orders to slaughter those people?Fadi Al-Abdallah: The Syrian intelligence.Interviewer: Why?
Beslan Grade School Terrorist Goes to Trial The one captured terrorist involved in the Beslan school massacre is on trial now in North Ossetia:Nurpasha Kulaev, a 30-year-old former contract laborer from the Chechen village of Engenoi, has been charged under nine articles of the Criminal Code of Russia, including murder, banditry, terrorism, and the taking of hostages.
Protesters rallied in Ufa the Capital of the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan this past weekend:Protesters have rallied in Bashkortostan, an autonomous republic in the Volga region, against President Murtaza Rakhimov and the authorities’ social policy, the Russian news site Gazeta.ru reported.
Not exactly your average conservative.
Mongo, (No BS, No PC) does the lambasting of a Post Dispatch editorial with his analysis of the “Working Poor” .
After yesterday’s protest in the mainly Muslim southern Russian Republic of Ingushetia against the unpopular leader, President Zyazikov, there is talk about Ingush being on the brink of revolution:Yesterday’s events showed that a revolution awaits Ingushetia.
Interfax is reporting that Pasat will end his hunger strike under certain conditions: Former Moldovan defense minister and top advisor at UES Valeriu Pasat, who is currently in custody in Moldova, will end his hunger strike only if he is allowed to eat food prepared by his mother.Pasat’s parents persuaded him to end his hunger strike while visiting him on Monday, Pasat’s lawyer, Gheorghe Amihalachioaie told Interfax on Tuesday.
Deady Soccer Game in Iran Iran Va Jahan has the story of a Iranian Democracy Protest/Soccer Match that got deadly last Friday:Six Iranian students were killed Friday 25 March 2005 and more than 40 others wounded, some of them critically at the end of a decisive soccer match between Iran and Japan, making it the worst after-soccer incidents in Iran.
Let’s Hope So…
Pakistani Islamic Political Party Leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad continues his struggle against President Musharraf: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (The MMA Political Party and the largest Islamic Political Group in Pakistan) President Qazi Hussain Ahmad said on Monday that if President General Pervez Musharraf refused to step down, the religious alliance would lead a “long march” towards Islamabad to throw him out of power.He said that General Musharraf’s anti-Islamic and pro-American policies had pushed the country towards chaos.
A New Career for Kofi?
“RatherGate” was just one battle in the “Battle for in Reporting”.
Kofi and Kojo under fire: In a report due out tomorrow, Mr.
Ex-Defense Minister Pasat continues hunger strike against the government:According to him, Pasat has been on hunger strike for 17 days now.
Youth Democracy Protesters in Minsk before Police Break Up Rally Activists from the weekend protest in Belarus have been hospitalized with “brain injuries”.
Protests in Another Former Soviet Republic There was a protest in the former Soviet republic of Ingush over the weekend.
The international organization is not doing enough to thwart its own sexual abuse problem, says its own investigators:A new UN report issued on Thursday said that efforts to stop UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from sexually abusing the local population have not been effective and it recommended establishing better mechanisms to investigate cases.”Sexual exploitation and abuse appeared to be ongoing, thereby highlighting the inadequacy of current measures to address the problem in peacekeeping operations,” Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Jordan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, who the UN Secretary had asked to produce the report, said.
Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters give the party’s open hand salute during an election rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, Sunday, March 27, 2005.
Just this month China passed legislation to allow possible military action to “reaquire” it’s “lost colony” of Taiwan.
The Ukraine and Georgia are going to begin sharing successful revolution techniquesto to those interested:Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she is convinced that the pattern of revolutions that occurred in Ukraine and Georgia could be used by other countries.
Now they are protesting for democracy is Mongolia:More than one thousand people marched in front of the Mongolian seat of government here demanding more democracy in a protest inspired by the revolt in Kyrgyzstan, witnesses said on Saturday.
There is growing concern in Belarus over the increase of governmental intolerance of democratic reform activists.
Happy Easter
25 Questions from the Terri Shiavo experience:1.) Will you have a discussion with your child about your child’s wishes if they were to become incapacitated?2.) Will you include their spouse?3.) Will you have this discussion with your child and fiancé if they wish to marry?4.) How do you explain to a young child how the starvation death of Terri Shiavo is a good thing?5.) At what level of brain activity is a person allowed to be starved to death?6.) Would you starve a chicken if it appeared brain dead?7.) Would you deny a chicken with apparent brain damage a drink of water for 10 days or less until death?8.) Would you give the brain damaged chicken a quick death instead?9.) Why would you not, then, give a human being a quick death rather than starve them to death?10.) When does a soul leave body?11.) How should a society handle its late stage Alzheimer’s patients?12.) How should autistic or severely mentally challenged children be treated for the societies good?13.) If a mentally handicapped child does not make progress, what should a society do with them?14.) Do severely mentally handicapped children have souls?15.) How many children with another woman can a man have before his marriage with his first brain dead wife is annulled?16.) When did the judicial branch become the dominant government branch?17.) How long will the government remain with the judicial branch as the dominant branch?18.) What will happen before the judicial branch will not remain the dominant government branch?
Beslan Mothers Demonstrate in North Ossetia Opposition candidates are feeling bolstered by the Committee of Beslan Mothers in North Ossetia:The Committee of Beslan Mothers, CBM, has joined forces with North Ossetia’s main opposition movement to demand the resignation of President Alexander Dzasokhov.The move came after the authorities took the decision – unprecedented in the North Caucasus – to block a peaceful demonstration called “Women Against Terror”, organised by the CBM, and scheduled for March 8 in the centre of Vladikavkaz.Initially, the government reacted with a media campaign urging the public to stay away from the protest because of concerns over a possible attack by Islamic extremists.
This could get quite expensive, even for a rich dictator.
From the Lebanese Daily Star:A shadowy Islamist group which claimed it carried out last week’s suicide bombing in Qatar said in an Internet statement it was responsible for an oil
Opposition Demonstrators display cards in the likeness of Rafik Hariri at Beirut Rally.
Let’s see:Kyrgyzstan- Protests move to capital on Thursday; after the take-over of the Kyrgyz “White House” and some looting, a new government is passing resolutions by Saturday.Belarus- Hoping to see a repeat of Kyrgyzstan, a protest in the capital on Belarus Independence Day; a violent ending; protesters are prosecuted; only time will tell if the brutal government remainsTaiwan- Up to 1,000,000 million march in protest to the latest threat from the mainland.Bahrain- Tens of Thousands protest for more democratic reforms in the country…
Wow!
Protesters yesterday gathered on the anniversary of the founding day of the People’s Republic of Belarus in “October Avenue” opposite the presidential compound and chanted slogans like,”Damn you Lukashenko!”This didn’t go over to well with the authorities!Today, the protesters were charged with breaching the peace:Prosecutors opened a criminal case Saturday against more than two dozen protesters arrested in a rally demanding the ouster of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Sending a Message from Taiwan From the New York Times:Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese marched on Saturday afternoon to denounce Beijing in one of the largest political demonstrations ever here, the clearest sign yet of how China’s antisecession legislation has poisoned relations across the Taiwan Strait.The size of the demonstration showed how much the political landscape has changed since the Communist Party-controlled National People’s Congress in Beijing approved a law on March 14 calling for the use of “nonpeaceful means” to halt any Taiwanese attempt to declare independence from the mainland.
The New Kyrgyzstan Government set a date for the replacement presidential election:Kyrgyzstan’s parliament Saturday scheduled a June presidential election to replace longtime leader Askar Akayev, who took refuge in Moscow after opposition protesters seized government headquarters.
Belarus Demonstration Ends in Violence It has been barely 24 hours since the government in Kyrgyzstan collapsed and already news is coming out about a democracy rally in suppressed Belarus.
More Street Violence No, the picture above is not from Kyrgyzstan, although there were reports of looting and fires yesterday during and after the collapse of the Akayev Regime.
So what do the events of yesterday mean to Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia?
In St.
From The UK Independent:Yesterday morning, President Askar Akayev ruled Kyrgyzstan, and vowed to see down protesters.
On Thursday Kyrgyzstan’s opposition declared itself in power after seizing key government buildings as veteran president Askar Akayev vanished from view following days of violent protests.
Go Dee Brown!
Buying Votes for $5 or $10 From the Belleville News Democrat:The chairman of the East St.
ABC network is getting bull rushed by the bloggers.
*** President Akayev May Have Fled the Country ***Updated BelowProtesters Storm the Ministry of Defense Building in the Capital:Protesters stormed the presidential compound in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, seizing control of the symbol of power after clashing with riot police who had surrounded it during a large opposition rally.
Five More East St.
Next time you leave home remember to “secure” it:When Smith County Constable Dennis Taylor got a call reporting a stolen house, his first question was, “Is it a trailer house, ma’am?””No, it’s a brick house,” the real estate company representative replied.Board by board, shingle by shingle, for nearly three months, thieves dismantled a three-bedroom brick house in this East Texas town and carted it away until only a pile of rubble was left.Authorities allege Brandon Ray Parmer, 29, and Darrell Patrick Maxfield, 44, both of Tyler, took the house apart and sold it for drugs, in plain view of everyone cruising along Lindale’s main street.When I “googled” this I found that this is not an isolated insident.
Dale P.
The Shiavo family lost two more rounds to the judicial branch today.
Not a Good Sign for President AkayevOpposition Protests Reached the Capital of Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan today and the event got ugly:A peaceful anti-government demonstration in the capital, Bishkek, against flawed parliamentary elections was violently dispersed by Kyrgyz riot police on Wednesday.
