Category Archives: Text

Seeking Belarus Sources

Alexander Lukashenko is pretty well known as the last dictator of Europe, that is if you don’t count Tony Blair. His ability to remain in power while most of the continent, especially Eastern Europe, moved towards a more open and liberal-democratic system, is pretty impressive. Despite the mixed results in the Ukraine, where the orange revolution seems to have gone sour somehow, it seems likely that the people of Belarus want change, beginning with the president.

Or at least that’s what it seemed before these latest results came out. Though the opposition claims fraud, no clear evidence of fraud has been presented, which means it is quite likely that his 82.6% of the vote is legit. BBC says even if the election were redone, it is very likely that Lukashenko would win easily.

So what to make of all this? I’m going to read up on Belarus bloggers and see if I can’t learn something and get a guest for the podcast this week. Could it be that he’s not an evil dictator that I’ve so often heard about? Maybe things in Belarus are going great? Or is it that culturally, perhaps people aren’t so into the idea of changing horses; instead they prefer to stay with the same president for as long as he lives. Or maybe it’s just well executed corruption. Hard to tell right now.

Some Burmese-American Hypocracy

Not that anyone should ever look to Secretary of State Rice or any of her colleagues for statements that mean anything or consistancy in general – but I noticed she was talking about Burma today.

Yeah, you know, Burma… oh I know.. you still remember the good old days of Myanmar, you’re so old school. Oh and you probably still have fond memories of Rangoon as the capital… well that’s just about over. And if you think extra hard, you might recall companies like Unocal, Halliburton, and Chevron; American oil companies (they’re not alone, plenty of European too), doing lot’s of business with the military Junta over the last 20 years.

But I guess that was before the United States government received a message from god that said they should spread freedom everywhere and stop being friends with their old friends who are possibly genocidal murderous dictators, and generally not nice people.

Thing sure are a’changin, cause today I read Condoleezza’s speech where she says:

“So long as the proud people of this great nation remain oppressed, there can be no business as usual in Southeast Asia”

No business as usual? Well Well. What about the usual business and all your friends who profit? Are you going to suddenly turn your back on them? Impressive!

Sorry, suddenly I started talking directly to Condi instead of just, about her. Here’s an interesting related PBS-NOW report as well as an old Nation article that might point out some hope. I mean, besides our champion of global justice secretary of state.

UnCivil War and the American Public

Public opinion oh public opinion…. so often I find the significance public opinion to be one of the worst side effects of this era of alleged instantenous communication.

Not to undermine the importance of people’s thoughts, experiences, and ideas… those things are fundamentally of interest and should ideally – be shared. But often times I look at public opinion reports, consider the kinds of initiatives different publics have supported throughout history, and I start to think – why the hell should we trust what is called “public opinion”? Seems like more often the public has behaved like an angry and fickle mob, who will support some very violent or irrational practices and then change their minds a year later, only to change their minds again sometime later. And what contributes to such poor judgement and dangerous behavior? – Misinformation. Poorly educated – or rather – educated in such a way that their world view is skewed to be based on half-truths and nationalistic revisions of history.

I bring this up because lately I see the news stories and blog posts about the American public opinion regarding the occupation of Iraq. I see them all the time on blogs like Americablog and Talkleft – pointing out the lack of support the government has from its citizens on this issue.
Granted – this matters in this type of democracy, especially when an election is coming up. But what strikes me is the idea that this opinion is a good barometer to measure what is happenning in Iraq. It almost assumes that the American public is very in tune with what is REALLY going on in that country. This, in turn, suggestions that the more popular sources – CNN, FOXnews, NYTimes (less popular than the first two obviously) – that they provide enough information for the viewing public to make a proper evaluation. Which at a certain level, I do not agree with.

Some will say it’s very Machiavelli of me, to distrust the public. But I am one of the public, and one thing I know for sure, is that the basic education combined with the dominant media outlets, did not give me the critical tools and a broad world view, which would allow me to see world events unfold through a wider and more informed lense. That ability came from other sources, university professors, people in my life, the internet, life experience abroad… not the typical education the average person can afford or will seek. Which means although I respect collective action and social consciousness, I refuse to accept “public opinion” as a reliable measure of how foreign policy should be carried out. That may not add up within the American political system, but that is my personal opinion.

That being said – there are voices that have proven themselves more qualified over the years, especially as first hand observers of the events as they unfold. And one major source for me regarding Iraq observations, over the past 3 years, has been Chris Albritton at Back-to-Iraq. And indeed – he has described the situation as a medium-grade civil war. Similar observations have been made by a man who’s been at the epicentre for years – Robert Fisk. And then I look to infrequent bloggers like Dear Baghdad, and I get another clue to what’s going on.

Anyway all this to simply say – public opinion polls are nice and important in the foggy context of american politics. It is also nice, but somewhat wishful, to think that the American public is just now waking up from a deep sleep, and seeing things more clearly. But do I actually trust the opinion of the american public when I look back over the past 6 years? Hell no.

Paper Mills and Border Troubles

It’s always curious to hear about border disputes in South America where I tend to assume they’ve lived next to each other long enough to have nothing to fight over when it comes to borders. I had already heard about Peru and Chilé having issues. But today I’ve been reading up in both the Argentinian Clarín newspaper and on the BBC about the struggle between Argentina and Uruguay over the building of paper mills along the border.

Actually the conflict involves two more important actors: Greenpeace and a Finnish paper company. The company is building two paper mills along the river that separates the two countries. The Uruguayan government talks highly of the jobs and benefits, the Argentinian government says they will take them to the international court for violating treaties, while many people, including greenpeace, are against the building of the mills as they will pollute the river. (because paper mills are, in fact, well known polluters!)

Naturally being the activist and the lover of the earth that I am, I admire the Argentinians who are taking direct action, and peacefully blocking the roads, to prevent trucks from bringing building materials into the area. Meanwhile Greenpeace is doing what they are famous for and never ceases to impress me, putting themselves between the ships and the construction.

It will be interesting to see what happens, Greenpeace has had alot of success recently as they helped pressure the French government to recall their asbestos ship from being sent to be taken apart in India. With the support of the Argentinian government and international law, we may just see a little environmental justice on this one.

In the Streets of Bangkok

Now that late night TV no longer features the giant slalom, snowboarding downhill, curling, or any other winter olympics for that matter, I take in an extra dosage (to add to my already busting at the seems media diet) of BBC world in the evening. Last night I was quite taken by the images out of Thailand, of people in the streets of Bangkok, demanding that the prime minister step down.

It is a beautiful thing when people get together in the thousands in front of important buildings and collectively, peacefully, make their presence felt and demand action from representatives that no longer represent them. It reminds me of the Ukraine only a few years ago. Or when they chased the representatives out of parliament in Georgia not to long ago. Or what I think SHOULD have taken place in Baghdad without bombs and guns; people linked arm and arm marching in overwhelming numbers, despite the dangers.

I’m still researching to see if it’s a potential show topic and who the guest would be, but thus far, it is clear that multimillionaire prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could certainly be involved in some very corrupt and illegal policy decisions that favor his own telecom companies. In some ways he reminds me of a certain Italian leader. But nevermind that, my eyes are fixed on Bangkok, in hopes that the corruption will be investigated and exposed, and a more competant and capable representative will be elected to take his place.

Philippine Landslides

As I write this the deathtoll is quite uncertain. BBC says 90 confirmed dead but that it may get as high as 1,000. An entire town swallowed up by a landslide.

I was browsing around the blogosphere for Philippine blogs and first hand testimony from the area, but oddly enough I couldn’t find much. The Asiapundit’s blog provided a good gateway to find Torn and Frayed in Manila. In a recent post addressing natural disasters and how the nation handles them, Torn and Frayed writes:

Where the Philippines and many other countries perform badly is in taking precautions before emergencies occur. Why are families living on Mayon in the first place? Or Guinsaugon? Presumably we will find out some of the answers to the Leyte tragedy in the next few days. Since the area had experienced more rainfall than for at any other time in the last 30 years —(read on)

My only other comment on this tragedy, for now, is that while watching the BBC news coverage I saw the US aircraft carrier and the Marines that were dispatched to help in the relief effort. All I kept thinking was — this is what the military should be used for, this is the kind of military initiative I support.