[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[Rasker]

http://sophistpundit.blogspot.com/2005/04/carnival-of-revolutions-week-1.html

Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Carnival of Revolutions Week 1

This is it: the first real run of the Carnival of Revolutions.

Here goes.

A special thanks to Daniel Berczik of Bloggledygook, Nathan Hamm of Registan.net, Arthur Chrenkoff, Robert Mayer of Publius Pundit, and Will Frankin of WILLisms for submitting and for making it much easier to put this thing together.

A thanks also goes out to all you bloggers writing about Democratic Revolutions going on around the world. You are all doing a great job supporting democracy in your own little ways, and without you the COR would not be possible.

Now that that's out of the way, let's dive in headfirst.


Recent Revolutions

We'll start strong with a submission from Chrenkoff: the 25th installment of his series on good news from Iraq. The series started out as a way to bring the good news out while we were being bombarded with bad news by the MSM. These days, however, good news from Iraq is extremely abundant. This is a must read--you cannot claim to be informed about the situation in Iraq without reading Chrenkoff's roundup from top to bottom! Robert Mayer also gives us this intellectually stimulating piece that provides the American historical context in regards to the just-named Prime Minister of Iraq. Robert also sent me this post at The Fourth Rail, showing just how far from the doomsayers' predictions we have come.

Over at Blogrel we get a real treat: a letter from Kyrgyzstan, written by a young woman about her experiences during the revolution. (Hat tip: Nathan) Gateway Pundit writes that overthrown president Akayev is selling off his assets within Kyrgyzstan.

Next, a nation that has rapidly become the icon of the democratic revolutions sweeping across former Soviet territories--Ukraine. Bloggledygook gives us this post, which takes a look at Yushchenko's recent speech in Washington, in front of Congress. Daniel also discusses some of the questions and scandals that Yushchenko might have to face when he returns home. And this Publius Pundit post talks about Yushchenko and Bush's pledge to promote democracy together in Cuba and Belarus.

It was very difficult to find anything on Afghanistan, so I would like to challenge anyone reading this to find as much up-to-date information on the first Middle Eastern nation liberated by US forces and submit it for next week's COR. What I did find was this article on the Taliban attempting to study the methods of Iraqi insurgents (Hat tip: Winds of Change). I also found this entry at the Word Unheard, about an air base opened up in honor of Pat Tillman, "the NFL star who left behind a promising career and a multi-million dollar contract to enlist in the US Army as a private", as USMC_Vet eloquently puts it.

That's the end of the Recent Revolutions. I cannot stress enough the importance of this section, and how eternally grateful I would be if I could get more submissions on nations like Afghanistan, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, and the Ukraine.

It's very easy to be swept up by the romance of an occurring revolution, but unless that revolution ends in the establishment of a lasting democratic regime, it becomes meaningless. That is why I believe it is vital to support those nations where democratic revolutions have recently occurred, at least as important as keeping up on nations where it could potentially occur. It is true that we want to keep up public support of democratic movements in nations where tyrants cast shadows to blind the people's hope. However, I believe there is no better way to do that than for those people to find neighboring models--and models that last.

Ok. Enough preaching to the choir. Time to move on to the...


Potential Revolutions

It was difficult deciding where to place Lebanon, but I eventually concluded that until the upcoming and much-anticipated elections, the revolution will not yet be completed. Will provides three posts on the subject. The first talks about a recent marathon that the Democratic Opposition ran in order to promote unity. The second deals with a Lebanese newspaper's positive take on President Bush, among other things. And in the third entry, he boldly states that the "Lebanese Can Handle the Truth"! Over at Publius Pundit, Robert Mayer also has an excellent roundup on Lebanon that is certain to get you up to speed.

Regime Change Iran has its Week in Review of news from Iraq's theocratic neighbor. (Hat tip: Robert)

Normally I would split up links that deal with two countries at once into their individual countries. But since no one else wrote about either of these countries, I'm content to keep the Vulgar Moralist's entries together. He provides us with very informative links about unrest in Egypt on every level of society, as well as the Syrian Baath Party's sudden decision to give lip-service to democracy.

Nathan gives us this post on the new youth movement in Azerbaijan.

A Kazakh opposition leader was attacked, another Registan.net post informs us.

Bloggledygook has more for us, but you'll never guess from where. This post, as well as this one discuss the possible democratization of an EU constitution that has largely demonstrated itself to be the work of the combined elites of several European nations. Certainly makes for interesting reading.

Will gives us more on Zimbabwe's fraudulent elections. From Publius Pundit, this post and this one seem to reflect an opposition movement in Zimbabwe that is mostly helpless but is attempting to do the little it can in vain.

Next, we come to Uzbekistan. Nathan submitted three entries concerning this central asian nation. The first goes into the situation there and describes his concerns about the situation getting messy. The second discusses the possibility of growing unrest in the Ferghana Valley, and the third takes a look at Dr. Martha Olcott's review of the situation.

This WILLism entry goes into great detail on the situation in Bhutan, where a benevolent king seems to be moving in a democratic direction--but Will has his doubts.

Robert points out that Djibouti president Ismail Omar Guelleh, who hides behind manipulated elections and tear gasses opposition protests, must have meant to be ironic when he called the opposition cowardly.

Most people are aware that Putin has been taking Russia in a more authoritarian direction. Bloggledygook asks the question that must be asked by those of us who have taken an interest in the democratic movement: Is Russia Ripe for Revolution? Robert also provides this post about the Russian candidate supported by young revolutionaries. Not to mention this chilling post at Siberian Light (which Robert pointed me towards) about the seeming plausibility that Russia's Putin and Belarus' Lukashenko working together to quell democratic revolutions in both their nations by merging the countries together.

And on that note, we draw this roundup of Potential Revolutions to a close.

UPDATE: This is fantastic! Commentor Frank_D points out that COR dropped the ball on Mongolia, Bahrain, and Taiwan! Thank you very much for the help, Frank! I'll definately start getting more on those for next week! Bahrain, in particular, looks like a very interesting case which I have not read nearly enough about.


Conclusion

What is there to be said about the upsurge in democratic movements, as well as in enthusiasm for pursuing everything we can learn about them? From news on the current uprises to speculation on where and when the next ones might happen, we just can't seem to get enough on this subject any more. What else can be said?

Will believes that Bush deserves more credit than he has been getting. This is most certainly a good point, and one often neglected, or perhaps pointedly ignored, in the major media outlets. Say what you will about the potential for revolution before the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq, it cannot have discouraged the enemies of long-established totalitarian regimes in the Middle-East to see the birth of functioning democracies in their own backyards.

Governments that block democracy can survive only by creating the illusion that one is utterly isolated and alone. Once this illusion is shattered, people tend to band together, and the possibility for change is there like it seems it never was before.

As we say our final farewells to Pope John Paul II, we are reminded of this truth. His visit to Poland drew crowds in numbers that no doubt surprised the people there more than anyone else--and it was after his departure that democratic opposition movements formed in any force.

So go ahead and ask the defeatist question--what difference can we possibly make? What can we do, isolated in our lives thousands of miles away from the oppressive regimes we so desperately want to fight?

This is the blogosphere. Like it or not, you are never isolated, and you are never alone.

No, we bloggers are certainly not isolated. [b]And together, maybe we can show the rest of the world that they aren't, either.[b]

posted by Adam Gurri at 2:14 AM
6 Comments:

Great posts guys. Hope this is the first of many such carnivals, cause that would mean that the revolutions just keep on going.

By D. B. Light, at 5:17 AM

Very nice collection.

By Will Franklin, at 8:20 AM

Excellent collection of links. I tried something similar last month but fell far, far short of your work.
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2005/03/its-about-freedom.html

By Headmistress, zookeeper, at 10:33 AM

You forgot Mongolia, Bahrain, and Taiwan

By Frank_D, at 12:07 PM

Great site. After all if it wasn't for the Net and the Blogos we would never know that "FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH!"

The MSM is largely ignoring these stories. Go Figure!

Dr. Zin is reporting there have been massive demonstrations and riots in Iran over the last several weeks. Have you seen one word in the MSM?

The strategic consequences of the Mad Mullahs of Iran going nuclear are unimaginable.'

We have a window of opporturnity to help the Iranian people to implode the repressive regime.

The Net and the Blogos now have the power to report these stories independently of MSM.

Check this link out on how you can support this effort.

IRAN - WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR REGIME CHANGE

Link Here

Sign up for Dr. Zin's daily news summary on Iran at Regime Change Iran.

By Rocket, at 1:36 PM

Outstanding Idea, COR is...

I'd be thrilled to participate in what ways I can. I blog frequently on Iran and may have something of value on occasion to contribute.

Let me know if you would like another warm body...

Cheers to an outstanding idea and a great post.

By USMC_Vet, at 4:05 PM
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