Two revolutions, two months apart, that launched the Arab Spring. Three years later, the respective quests for democracy in Tunisia and Egypt are in very different places.
Tag: democracy
Change is afoot again in Tunisia, with a new constitution, a new technocratic government, and a Parliament in full celebration mode. Three years after triggering a wave of popular upheaval across North Africa and the Middle East, marked by decidely mixed results, Tunisia is again offering a snapshot of democratic hope. “Nothing can describe my […]
Georgia’s outgoing President Mikhail Saakashvili has been a darling in the West. Now that his opponents are in power, his fate will tell us much about the nation’s young democracy.
Russians have one of the highest levels of indifference, or anomie, in the world. They don’t know whether they want tea or coffee, much less democracy or authoritarianism.
-Editorial- SANTIAGO — What’s happening in the United States, with the partial federal government shutdown and the threat not to raise the country’s debt limit, is perhaps the most serious political crisis the country has seen in more than 100 years. There are those who downplay these developments, because the government has been shuttered before […]
The liberal arm of the anti-Muslim Brotherhood movement is unlikely to survive the army’s bloody attack on supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi.
AFP, JOURNAL DU MALI (Mali) Worldcrunch BAMAKO – Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won Mali’s presidency after his opponent conceded defeat late Monday. Former Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse, who had denounced electoral fraud during the first round, congratulated his rival on his victory in Sunday’s second round. Cisse told the AFP: “My family and […]
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That Imperfect Aspiration We Call Democracy
From Rio to Cairo, from Snowden to Erdogan, the excess and limits of the popular will.
In a state hospital after growing ill in jail, the Ukranian opposition leader denounces the “cannibalistic” tactics of those who have condemned her — and vows to fight on.
LE MONDE (France), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – According to Le Monde, the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on March 3, was more like a star-studded film premiere than a political event. The CPPCC is a 2,200-member body that meets annually to debate policy and advise government. It includes politicians, but […]
BERLIN – People who were there said he cried for several minutes at the executive committee meeting on the morning after his defeat. As party members analyzed what had gone wrong in the state election campaign, the governor of the German state of Lower Saxony, David McAllister, burst into tears. Angela Merkel comforted him, and […]
How the intersection of show biz and state power looks from China.
-Editorial- If there is one thing that both government supporters and the opposition in Venezuela can agree on: daily life in is an endless series of unnecessary frustrations. Here are just a couple of recent examples: problems with the ports delayed the arrival of Christmas trees – which are imported from Canada – raising the […]
SOUTHERN PEOPLE WEEKLY (China), MING PAO (Hong Kong) Worldcrunch HONG KONG – Martial arts star, Jackie Chan, has kicked up a fuss this week when suggesting that Hong Kong authorities should crackdown on the nation’s burgeoning protest movement. Chan, who was born in Hong Kong, told China’s Southern People Weekly: “Hong Kong has become a […]
SOWETAN, THE MAIL & GUARDIAN (South Africa) Worldcrunch South Africa’s former president and national hero Nelson Mandela is being treated for a lung infection. After much speculation, South African officials finally revealed Tuesday why Nelson Mandela, aged 94, was initially admitted to hospital in the nation’s capital Pretoria on Saturday. President Jacob Zuma’s office released […]
MOSCOW – U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland has announced that Washington would close the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) offices in Russia. Nuland said that it was the Russian government forcing the closure, a charge the Kremlin denies. “Like all foreign agencies that provide financing to Russian NGOs, USAID needs to follow […]
-Analysis- LIMA – The negotiations that are set to begin formally in October are by no means the first attempt to demobilize members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and incorporate the guerilla organization into the political process. There’s no guarantee, therefore, that these talks will succeed where others have failed. And yet […]
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Hong Kong), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s pan-democracy wing has failed to capitalize on the growing anti-Chinese sentiment, after a disappointing outcome in the legislative council elections. Albert Ho, the leader of Hong Kong“s biggest pro-democracy party has announced he will step down as chairman after his party […]