First of all, I’ve to admit that I’m impressed by the courage and determination of the Cuban freedom fighters to keep fighting against the regime despite an increase in repression. Friends in Cuba tell me they’re convinced that the regime uses intimidation against dissidents because it knows its days are numbered.
The more the regime harasses and persecutes the freedom fighters, the more determined they’re.

Yesterday, several opposition groups in Banes, province of Holguin, held new peaceful activities to condemn the repression and Castro.
The groups that participated are: the Cuban Liberal Movement; the Civic Resistance Movement “Pedro Luis Boitel”, the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights and the Human Right Movement “Claridad”, affiliated to the Oriental Democratic Alliance. They all announced that this kind of non-violent protest will be held on a daily basis.

In Havana, a new independent library, named after “Jos???? Mart????”, has been founded and there has already been an activity on the occasion of the 153th anniversary of Mart????’s birth.

On Saturday, January 28, a Castroite mob beaten a peaceful dissident who were accompaining the Lady in White Dolia Leal, to her house. The fascists started shouting at Dolia : “You’re a CIA agent. You’re a counter-revolutionary”. Leal, with strong determination and courage, shouted at the mob : “You’re fascists! You’re fascists! You’re worse than Hitler! You turned Cuba into a concentration camp!” . Listen to her report here .

Finally, members of the Independent Union of Bicycle-Taxi drivers have been detained for hours for participating to an opposition meeting.

A December 2005 photo of some members of the Independent Union:

Peru’s April election just keeps getting more interesting. It’s a real black and white choice for Peruvian voters, nothing complicated, quite simply a contest between the good dignified low-key free-market lady and the racist tinpot dictator wannabe. There’s also plenty of sideshows to keep it interesting. In fact, this Peruvian election is shaping up to be every bit as interesting as Mexico’s in July.

Hugo Chavez has gotten involved of course, as he has in Mexico’s, hurling loud public insults at the distinguished Lourdes Flores, while cavorting for the cameras and flashing his checkbook with the bad guy, Ollanta Humala.

Chavez’s actions have done Humala no favors, though. Shortly after a particularly vicious round of abuse against Flores, an episode that resulted in Peru recalling its ambassador from Caracas, Flores rose 10 points in the polls. The whole lift that Humala got from the Evo Morales election in Bolivia was dissipated by the one round of Chavez’s opening his mouth. His lead may also have dimmed on the example of the peaceful, orderly election of Michelle Bachelet in Chile. Flores went from dead-even in the polls to eight points ahead.

Now, with the wind at her back, she’s pulled out an even bigger campaign weapon, announcing that the great Hernando de Soto will lead her economic team.

Talk about awesome! De Soto is the world-class economist who leads the Institute for Liberty and Democracy who went to the shantytowns of Lima to find out what poor people really need. His result was the stunning book, ‘The Other Path‘ about the number of petty, expensive, unnecessary regulations it takes to start a business. De Soto’s next book was even more revolutionary, and I mean revolutionary: his realization that what poor people need are not fax machines, not Blockbuster video, not Nikes, not cellphones … but capital. And more scarily still, they were sitting right on top of it, in the shantys they lived in, but couldn’t capitalize, only because they lacked title deed as a means to access capital. His findings, published in ‘The Mystery of Capital,’ shook the world, one of the strongest and most original ideas to come out of the 20th century.

Peru, like Mexico, has made a hell of a lot of progress on title deed but hasn’t got to the finish line yet. De Soto says that oftentimes superficial understandings of the concept make the process incomplete. De Soto doesn’t have a superficial understanding of the concept.

There also are signs of good things happening in Peru. Trade is rising. U.S. store shelves are brimming with Made In Peru merchandise - I just saw that Whole Foods has a nice new Peruvian organic coffee - and when was the last time you … ever … saw Peruvian coffee? Target is selling Peruvian handicrafts that most definitely are not Made In China. Trader Joe’s has beefed up its Peruvian seafood selections. Trade with the U.S. and Peru is roaring, and better still, it will roar even more when a free trade pact is signed with Peru, something that is all but done. Peru is further along on the free trade pact route with the U.S., the world’s largest market, than any nation in Latin America. As for Humala, it sounds as though the reality of this is beginning to hit him. He had concilatory things to say today (last part of the article) about Peru’s trade with the United States.

In light of these good trends, and with the stellar introduction of Hernando de Soto, it looks like there’s going to be good news coming out of Peru.

It was 364 days ago that King Gyanendra suspended democracy by sacking parliament and began a new war against Nepal’s civil society in the face of a Maoist insurrection. Since then, thousands of people protesting against the government have been arrested, from major politicians and journalists to the everyday man and woman. Just today, on the eve of the anniversary of the king’s seizure of power, over 1000 people have been arrested for opposing him.

Hundreds of opposition activists have been arrested across Nepal on the eve of the first anniversary of the royal coup, the opposition says.

An opposition spokesman said up to 1,000 people had been detained ahead of rallies planned nationwide to mark King Gyanendra’s seizure of absolute power.

Dozens were held in Kathmandu during a women’s rally, the spokesman said. Official figures were unavailable.

Local elections are due next week which the opposition are boycotting.

The crossroads I’m talking about is the municipal elections scheduled for exactly a week from tomorrow. The King’s inability to confront the Maoists — even though the reason he disbanded parliament was because of their supposed inability to do so — has led to a surge in violence and over 1/4 of the municipal seats standing without candidates. In fact, so many candidates (hundreds) have withdrawn that a beggar even won unopposed.

All the polls are is an attempt to legitimize the power grab following parliamentary polls later this year. But they are inherently illegitimate, and people are quickly coming to realize that. Nepal already has a duly elected parliament! Just not the one the king wants.

MORE: The United States has called on the king to restore democracy, saying that his power seizure has made the security situation more precarious than it already was. Well, duh.

After being targeted with a violent ‘repudiation act’ , the Sigler Amaya family is once again attacked. But this time, one of the family’s members, Juan Francisco Sigler Amaya, suffered an attempt to his life while going to work.

A woman????????s voice yelled ???????worm,??????? ???????worm,??????? and several male voices exclaimed, ???????we????????re going to squish you, worm.??????? Ä…Å
???????My life has become a living hell. Our situation ????????mine and my family????????s- is extremely dangerous. But, I will not leave the country, they know it, and for that reason I hold them responsible for anything that happens to me or my family.” Ä…Å , Sigler Amaya said .

And yesterday, Felix Bonne Carcasses, one of the prominent leaders of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society, was on his way to visit Martha Beatriz Roque but was attacked by a communist couple living in the same neighborhood as Martha. The couple, belonging to the “committees for the defense of the revolution” (CDR) was looking for people to take part in the aggression. Seeing that nobody showed up, the woman said to her husband: “it’s not important if nobody comes to help us. Me and you can do this”. Bonne Carcasses was hit by a punch on his face.
Listen to the report from Martha Beatriz Roque here .

Meanwhile, tens of opposition groups paid homage to the Cuban patriot Jos???? Mart????, on the occasion of the 153th anniversary of his birth, on January 28.
In downtown Havana, the Independent Library “Felix Varela”, hosted a meeting of members of the “Collegio de Pedagogos Independientes de Cuba” and the “Coalici????n Juven????l Martiana”, to debate about the martian thoughts and how better to let the people know about the true Mart????.

“Mart???? has been widely abused and its democratic thoughts distorted by the 47-year old Castro’s dictatorship.We need to let the people know the true martian thoughts”, said Marcos de Miranda Rivas, member of the Coalici????n Juven????l Mart????ana.

Listen to the report from Carlos Serpa Maceira in Havana here .

On January 28, members of the Coalici????n Juven????l Mart????ana and Fundaci????n Isla de Pinos de derechos Humanos y Fomento Territorial, were trying to pay homage to Mart???? in Nueva Gerona,but suddenly a state security official prevented them from performing the act of tribute.

At the same time, other activists in Isla de Pinos, who also were going to pay homage to Mart????, were stopped by a 50-member mob of men led by the state security.
Listen to the report here .

In the photo below, some members of the Coalicion Juvenil Martiana:

The Washington Post published an editorial over the weekend entitled, “U.S. Policy Seen as Big Loser in Palestinian Vote” that is well worth a read for anyone who wants to know exactly what it’s like to be completely oblivious to what democracy actually is and the institutions that are needed to sustain it. Staff writer Glenn Kassler attempts to critique Bush administration policy toward the Palestinians, in which there are probably many. But it ultimately turns into a condemnation of America’s policy of trying to spread democracy in the Middle East and becomes a declaration that the Palestinians, Egyptians, Iranians, and Iraqis are incapable of self-government. In short, it is the same Third-Worldist view that the poor and oppressed brown people of the world need — no, crave — authoritarian regimes because of their supposed stability. The argument is completely racist. Check it out:

Standing in a sunny Rose Garden on June 24, 2002, surrounded by his top foreign policy advisers, President Bush issued a clarion call for resolving the deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror.”

This week, Palestinians gave their answer, handing a landslide victory in national legislative elections to Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings and desires the elimination of Israel. Bush’s statement calling for new leaders was aimed at the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but in the same speech he also said it was necessary to thwart Hamas — formally the Islamic Resistance Movement — and other militant groups.

The election outcome signals a dramatic failure in the administration’s strategy for Middle East peace, according to analysts and some U.S. officials. Since the United States cannot deal with an organization labeled a terrorist organization by the State Department, Hamas’s victory is likely to curtail U.S. aid, limit official U.S. contacts with the Palestinian government and stall efforts to create an independent Palestinian state.

More broadly, Hamas’s victory is seen as a setback in the administration’s campaign for greater democracy in the Middle East. Elections in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and now the Palestinian territories have resulted in the defeat of secular and moderate parties and the rise of Islamic parties hostile to U.S. interests.

No, Mr. Kassler, the Palestinians did not vote for Hamas because President Bush told them not to. Nor did some Egyptians vote for the Muslim Brotherhood because they are ideological psychopaths. And Iran — are you serious? You think those elections, in the face of a massive boycott and government-sponsored fraud, are actually representative of what Iranians think?

In his attempt to identify a broad trend, Kassler loses the plot completely. The rise of Islamist parties across the Middle East with the introduction of elections is not due to overbearing sympathies with radical Islam, but disaffection with corrupt authoritarian regimes. With the stamping out of liberal opposition and civil society, the only alternative to the Mubaraks and Fatahs is the mosque. The big problem with this is that the likelihood of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas acting democratically once in power is very little; in fact, they will likely dismantle even further whatever institutions have already been built.

Journalists and other commenters who know nothing about the exact functionings and institutions of democracy tend to mistake it simply for holding elections. If this were true, then perhaps Kassler is right — the Palestinians are not capable of governing themselves. However, democracy is much more. It is a social contract with the proper institutions in place that guarantee political and economic freedoms despite whoever may be in power at the time. Elections were held in the Palestinian territories without any of the proper institutions being in place to create a liberal society.

If Kassler wants to criticize the Bush administration for failing to hold off on elections while institutions are developed, then that would be fine. Instead, he relies on the structural components that have generally been beneficial toward developing democracy; things like education, wealth, experience, etc. It leads him to the same argument that British colonizers would use about India. That is, until it became the largest self-governing democracy in the world. Leadership matters, sometimes even moreso than the structural components. What was needed was a leadership that could take the Palestinian territories onto the path of democratic nationhood. However, Fatah was so tainted with corruption and inability — in the present and in the path — that it led to Hamas’ victory. This does not mean that the Palestinians, or Iraqis, or Iranians, or Egyptians are incapable of governance. It just means that so far there are no proper institutions to govern with. Elections alone do not a democracy make.

Last week, I got an email from Darsi Ferrer of the Center for Health and Human Rights,which is a dissident organization member of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society. Darsi , who is living in Havana and has been victim of numerous ‘repudiation acts’ ( during one of which he was wounded to his right hand ) , sent the story of a Cuban doctor who worked at a hospital for 24 years and now is surviving thanks to his family’s help, because the regime had fired him and don’t let him return to work.

He’s now forced to live in a ‘house’ where hygiene is an unknown thing.

The photos were taken by members of the Center for Health and Human Rights, who - along with Darsi and his wife - often visit poor Cuban families and offer them medical assistance, medicines, food, clothes and food ( these items are sent to the Center by Cuban exiles in Miami ) .

Darsi’s wife , Yusnaimy, was briefly detained along with another activist and two foreigners , among which was the Czech top model Helena Houdova, for talking to poor people and taking pictures of their houses

Look at the pictures and draw your own conclusions. I don’t think there’s need to further comment . The pictures can be seen here .

UPDATE: I’ve just received another email from Darsi Ferrer,in which he asks for our precious help in order for him and the other activists to intensify their humanitarian mission. I cannot give the details in public, so please send me an email and I’ll let you know.

My email : stefania07Éhotmail.com

In case you want to communicate with Darsi and be included in his mailing list to receive updates from their activities, here is his email : darsiferrerÉyahoo.com

Thanks in advance

Tim Russo continues to post his manuscript about his work promoting democracy in Armenia back in the ’90s, and a particularly interesting post for Publius readers would be one of his latest on the “velvet coup” in the country preceding the rise of current president Robert Kocharian.

Quote: “Velvet coup. What the fuck is that.???????

Click to find out. Then you can immediately read the next installment that just came out.

Well, it’s the weekend, and you know what that means… See you Monday!

On January 25, twenty members of the Pro-Human Rights Party of Cuba, affiliated to the Andrej Sakharov International Foundation, were holding a meeting at a dissident’s house and suddenly a mob made up with plainclothes agents of the state security,the ‘committees for the defense of the revolution” and the “rapid response brigades” gathered in front of the house and started shouting all kinds of insults, offenses and threats at the freedom fighters.

It’s to note that the mob shouted more offensive slogans after hearing the dissidents singing the Cuban national anthemn.

At the end of the meeting, the freedom fighters went out of the house to go home, but were stopped by the mob, who claimed that “the street belongs to the revolutionaries”.
Mariana Carballo Castillo, one member of the party, tells the story at Radio Mart???? here . Notice that as she was speaking, the ‘act of repudiation’ was taking place just outside.

The same thing occurred yesterday to Martha Beatriz Roque, (former political prisoner and leader of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society ) and other dissidents who were there with her. Speaking at Radio Mart???? via phone from her house in Havana in the very same moments in which the fascist mob was harassing her by shouting insults and threats, Martha said that she was keeping the door and windows open, because “here we are not doing anything bad”. Listen to her here .

Three unknown individuals beaten two freedom fighters in Santa Clara, for distributing copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The three warned the dissident women to stop distributing those copies or they’ll be thrown in jail. To add insult to injury, the three fascists insulted the female activists by shouting : ” You counter-revolutionary blacks!” at them .

The activists who were victim of these fascist attacks said that they will keep fighting for a free Cuba with even more determination and even if it leads them to die.

Viva la resistencia cubana !

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei’ and his cabinet (most of which are Fatah) announced their resignation following the January 25th elections. With a voter turnout of 77% preliminary results show Hamas with a substantial victory, taking 76 of the 132 seats, and proving that pollsters were clearly off in their predictions which favored a Fatah majority.

According to the Israeli online news site Ynet, Hamas leader Mahmoud A-Zahhar continues to say that they will not change their call for the destruction of Israel. He also said, “The issue of weapons is related to the occupation. We will not receive dictations from Bush or anyone else??????? His words are not new, and were always against the Palestinians and their interests.”

The Media Line reports President Bush’s initial response to the election:

In his first reaction to the Palestinian elections, U.S. President George W. Bush told the Wall Street Journal that he would not negotiate with Hamas until the terror group renounces its desire to destroy Israel. Bush added that, “a political party must support peace, and must act peacefully.”

Hear audio of U.S. Embassy response here.

Under the founding leadership of Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, Hamas, The Islamic Resistance Movement, believes the land of Palestine (Israel) is “consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day,” and any talk of moderation by Hamas quickly fades by their continual harsh rhetoric towards Israel.

Hamas is famous for its ‘Da’awa’ (proselytizing) activities, which includes social services such as medical care and education. They also make use of the internet as Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations do, and three years ago they started an online children’s site, Al-Fateh (The Conqueror) which encourages methods of fighting ‘their enemy.’

An excellent resource is the documentary “The New Barbarians, Training Children to Kill.” (A must see)

While Newsweek and other mainstream media outlets report on, what I see as an ignorant and unrealistice optimism that Hamas will change (turn from violence) now that they are in the government, the news of a Hamas victory rocked the World Economic Forum taking place in Switzerland todday. There were varied reactions, such as by Miller, a public policy scholar with the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars who said, “I see no way, given the circumstances that exist on the ground, that Israel and the Palestinians can negotiate a conflict-ending agreement anytime soon.” Pollster James Zogby, who is also President of the Washington-based Arab-American Institute said the vote was a reflection of the failure of the long-dominant Fatah party to provide Palestinians with jobs and personal security, much less peace. He urged Western nations not to withdraw aid from the Palestinian Authority suggesting “extremism will only be fed” and urged Mahmoud Abbas not to resign.

Conservatives both in Israel and the United States, however, are writing a different perspective, Such as Founder and President of the Family Research Council and former Presidential candidate, Gary Bauer, who says the Hamas win should be a wake-up call both in Israel and Washington D.C. “Faced with a choice, the Palestinian voters picked the most ardent and committed Jew-killers and America-haters. Now well-meaning and decent men in Israel, the United States and Europe must start answering questions too long ignored. Why should the free world push for a Palestinian state when it has been made clear, yet again, that it will be a terrorist state? Why should the U.S. and Europe continue to send millions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies to such a corrupt regime? On what basis can anyone in Israel or the U.S. still argue that the answer to Hamas???????? success is to give away more precious land and force more Jews out of their homes, while putting Israel at greater and greater risk?”

Anyone who understands what’s really happening in the Middle East knows a Hamas win is BAD for Israel, and dare I say, what’s bad for Israel is also bad for America.

More related Audio/Video here.

Charles at LGF points out a discrepancy between Google’s .cn and .com versions.

At least they’re notifying the poor Chinese what they’re missing! From a Google translation of a google.cn search:

According to the local law laws and regulations and the policy, partially searches the result does not demonstrate.

I guess Chinese speakers who live outside communist China must prefer to use search engines that don’t work according to “local law laws and regulations and the policy.”

Traian Basescu, the President of Romania delivered yesterday a speech at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg. He talked about several issues, like the importance of the Black Sea, Romania’s accession to EU, the current status quo and the future of the Moldavian Republic, the national minorities status, Transdniestria, etc.

The Romanian Ziua daily writes about the exchange of retorts between the Romanian President and the Russian deputy Constantin Kosacev.

Kosacev asked if the presence of the US military bases in Romania was in keeping with all conventional forces in Europe and the Russia-NATO Treaty, stipulating NATO might not have large forces on the territory of new members.

President Basescu responded that Romania did not break any international agreements, and to complete his answer, he told the Russian deputy:
“The Russians stayed in Romania for 30 years, and we have never asked you why!”
Apparently, this response astonished the deputy, but it attracted the applause of the other deputies.

President Basescu may lack the basic diplomatic skills, but this time he said it right.

OK, so Hamas won the Palestinian election. Probably better to deal with straight-up terrorists than with terrorists who are widely considered to be peace-seeking politicians. Although, I suppose, certain members of the press corps will continue to endorse the AK-toting “activists.”

We all know how bad the education system is — my theory is that most journalists just don’t know how to spell “atavists.”

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has been openly meddling in Peru’s April election.

He’s hurled insults at centrist Lourdes Flores, a leading candidate, and cavorted on camera with Ollanta Humala, in a message implying to Peru’s voters that a vote for Humala was a vote for Chavez’s abundant open checkbook, something Flores would never get.

This led to extremely bitter relations between the two states, plus a local magazine putting Chavez and Humala on its cover depicting them as an ape and its apelet.

But something happened on the way to the polls - the SAME thing that happened on the way in Mexico’s polls - the incumbent party, insulted by Chavez, gained. Peruvians don’t put up with insults to their president and Mexicans don’t either. These are, after all, real democracies.

So, now Lourdes Flores has taken a strong lead in Peru’s coming elections. It probably doesn’t hurt that a strong, intelligent woman, Michelle Bachelet, was just elected president next door in Chile. Take that, Hugo Chavez!

The EFE story is here:

New poll shows growing lead for conservative in Peru

Lima, Jan 25 (EFE).- Conservative Lourdes Flores is consolidating her lead in the Peruvian presidential race, a poll released Wednesday indicates.

“Lourdes Flores is consolidating voting intentions in Lima and has captured the votes that were going to Paniagua,” the director of Catholic University’s Public Opinion Institute, Fernando Tuesta, told EFE Wednesday.

He also sought to explain the outcome by noting that voters in Lima are “more sensitive to media effects,” a reference to a wave of negative coverage of Humala and his associates, focusing in particular on the candidate’s supposed ties to leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Tuesta’s survey showed Flores fares best among women aged 18-44, while middle-aged and elderly women are most hostile to Humala.

Asked why they support her, Flores partisans cited her sex, her proposals and personal qualities such as honesty and sincerity.

Humala backers said they were confident their man would battle corruption and that they like his military background and nationalist views.

Peruvians will go to the polls April 9 to elect a successor to Alejandro Toledo for a five-year term. EFE pau/dr

UPDATE: El Universal is reporting that Humala is desperately trying to distance himself from Chavez, denying contact and assistance. The story is here.

Note: I have been posting articles from my friend Richard Chesnoff on Bloggledygook. His latest is on the Palestinian elections. It is reproduced here in total. Chesnoff is a former correspondent for Newsweek. He currently writes for the New York Daily News and US News & World Report. He lives in New York and France.

THE HAMAS GAME
by Richard Z. Chesnoff, NY Daily News, 1/25/05

Final results of yesterday????????s Palestinian legislative elections are still trickling in. But one thing is sure: Yasser Arafat????????s chickens have come home to roost. After decades of dictatorial and corrupt control by the late Fatah leader and his cohorts, vast numbers of voters in both the West Bank and Gaza have angrily turned their back on Arafat????????s heirs and given their support to rival Hamas, the radical Islamic party.

The prime result: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may feel obliged to let Hamas join a coalition government.

Trouble is Hamas remains the same terrorist party it????????s always been, a heavily armed, blood-drenched gang that boasts of suicide bombings and doesn????????t even pretend to want peace with Israel. Its goals are crystal clear: the total annihilation of the Jewish state in favor of an Islamic state throughout the entire Holy Land. Its presence in a Palestinian government is hardly incentive for Israel to follow up on its recent withdrawal from Gaza and move ahead on the U.S.-sponsored road map to Mideast peace.

The danger is that there are already some in Israel ???????? and a growing flock outside ???????? who talk about the need for Israel to launch a dialogue with Hamas leaders ???????? as though talking to this band of religious fanatics who hate Jews and Christians would be any more successful than trading land for peace was with the Arafat gang. Yet there are those who argue that if Hamas gains political responsibility, it will find itself forced to weed out its militants, eventually turn from terror and moderate its policies.

You mean like the mad mullahs in Iran moderated their policies after they took power?

Of course, Hamas plays the word game ???????? just as Arafat always did. One top Hamas leader recently raised the magnanimous possibility of holding ???????negotiations??????? with Israel through a third party. ???????Negotiation is not a taboo,??????? said Mahmoud Zahar, just two days before the elections. Three days earlier he made the real Hamas position starkly clear. ???????We do not recognize the Israeli enemy, nor his right to be our neighbor, nor to stay Äon the landÅ, nor his ownership of any inch of land,??????? Zahar told Palestinian TV. ???????Palestine is a land of Islamic trust, which cannot be given up.???????

Which means that any kind of deal with Hamas would have about as much meaning as a truce with Osama Bin Laden.

The U.S., the European Union, Russia and the United Nations have all declared that ???????a future Palestinian Authority cabinet should include no member who has not committed to the principles of Israel????????s right to exist in peace and security and an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism.??????? And two weeks ago, Secretary of State Rice said that ???????armed groups have no place in the democratic process.???????

Let????????s hope they hold firm. Granting any legitimacy to Hamas unless it seriously disarms and changes policy would be total disaster. At the very least it would undermine Palestinian moderates who preach that violence will distance Palestinian statehood, not bring it closer. It could also produce a defeat for Israeli moderates in Israel????????s upcoming March elections. Then back to square one-minus.

Originally published January 25, 2006.

Me: This, to me, is extremely discouraging, but not surprising. In essential ways, we are just substituting one terror group for another. While the Mad Mullah’s crazy nephew makes regular and serious threats to Israel, we now have seen that a large faction of Palestinians wish to be governed by terror forces. The conventional wisdom, or at least the conventional party line is that the Palestinians just want their own country, their own slice of earth. Now we have prime evidence that not only do they want their own land, but they also want the land and lives of others, namely, Israeli’s. The election of Hamas is akin to the US voting in the KKK.

Ehud Olmert has announced that more territory will have to be given over to the Palestinians. Once, or even before that is accomplished, look for the barrier to be completed and for the Israeli government to announce that the Palestinians are now the concern of their Muslim brothers in neighboring governments.

In democratizing countries emerging from tyranny, where tremendous injustice has occurred, there is usually some effort to call the past into account. South Africa is a good example, where truth commissions have forged national reconciliation, and Germany after World War II is another, where Naziism was totally repudiated and renounced, and large compensation payments were made to Israel in its infancy. Chile and Argentina since their Dirty Wars, making efforts to restitute victims, return orphans, and jail oppressors is of the same piece. Even the U.S., with its efforts to compensate Japanese victims of internment camps in the U.S. is in this category.

In countries where less of that went on, like Japan since World War II, or today’s China, which is trying to tiptoe around the legacy of Mao Tse Tung, there are more faultlines due to the existing injustice.

But nowhere is the need to correct and atone more absent than with the crimes of communism. The mighty Berlin Wall went down and there was no move to confront the monstrous legacy of this evil ideology and all its boneyards full of millions of dead. None.

The crimes of communism exceed any anywhere in the world, and there were never any good communisms. All brought economic ruin, soul-corroding corruption, a tremendous loss of human capital, monstrous economic underdevelopment, spiritual starvation, desolate ethics, tyranny, and evil.

Which is why so many fled or lost their lives trying to - from the boat people of Vietnam to the balseros of the shark-infested Florida strait, to those who tried to scale the Berlin Wall.

In part, this inevitable effect of communism was because human beings were purely soulless matter in the atheistic philosophy of communism and its master; it is the first tenet of Lenin. (This is not a criticism of atheists who are a diverse group - Ayn Rand was one too, and did a lot of damage to communism.) When human beings are looked on as commodities, there is no such thing as potential, no such thing as wealth creation, no such thing as creativity, only static numbers. Hence, to give to one is to take from another. There is no expanding pie, only redistribution. Which means no private property can exist.

The result was the immorality and inhumanity of communism. Communism was never even good as an idealism, because it’s so bitterly opposed to human nature. Anyone who permits it will next meet a tyrant, a monstrous tyrant if he lives. As William Buckley once said: Communism is the worst curse ever to ever befall mankind.

He is right.

Today the Council of Europe passed its first resolution, 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, to condemn the crimes of communism. Via Lucianne, the item is here. It was a watered down resolution due to the lingering romanticism of the leftist parties who continue to refuse to see.

Women living in the United Arab Emirates have staged a first-ever protest demanding equal citizenship rights in the country.

Dubai: Twenty-three UAE national women protested outside the Labour Ministry building yesterday to demand the re-instatement of their social security payments.

A top ministry official said the minister has issued directions to reconsider their cases.

The women stood outside the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs yesterday from 9am until 11:30am in a silent protest.

It was sparked after their social security payments of Dh1,095 a month were cut off, days before Eid Al Adha, because they are married to working expatriates.

This is the first public protest UAE national women have carried out to demand equal rights.

She said while the social security issue had sparked the protest, the aim was to demand equal citizenship rights.

“This protest is to ask for our equal rights as citizens of the UAE,” a spokeswoman said. “We should have the same rights as men when it comes to marrying foreigners. Our children should be citizens, and have access to free university education, health care and passports.”

There seems to be at least a bit of controversy over this, because whereas the Gulf News story linked above gave it full exposure, the Khaleej Times barely gives it any coverage at all. But despite the protest only involving a couple dozen women, it is highly symbolic because it is the first one ever of this nature. Taken in one view, this is just an isolated incident that may or may not trigger more significant action. But when looked at from the broad view of the greater reform underway in the Middle East, this is another step alongside women being elected to the Afghan parliament andwomen getting the right to vote in Kuwait.

Iranian activists responded positively to a call by the United American Committee to join a national march against Islamic fascism, scheduled for February 1st.

Most Middle-Easterners and Iranians have been long among the first victims of Islamo-Fachism Ä…Å No one, except a few demagogues located mainly abroad, can claim anymore that the Islamic republic regime has any kind of popularity or legitimacyÄ…Å
lobbyist groups and infamous apologists of the clerical regime Ä..Å are looking to legitimize the Islamic regime.

It’s in reaction to such an immoral and illegitimate agenda that we must all mobilize Ä…Å We must use any possible occasion to echo the outcry of Iranian people and all those rejecting Islamo-Fascism Ä…Å we must participate in any American or European groups’ actions which are targeting the root of our misery Ä…Å

The time has come that we must move forward Ä…Å Remember that your participation would”t mean the acceptance of any group’s total agenda, but it would be a clear show of support for the call to oppose Islamo-faschism and the Iranians’ aspiration for the peaceful liberation of Iran!!

In that line, the SMCCDI anf the INSP (Iran’s National Secular Party) are participating in some of the February 1st rallies against Islamo-Faschism. Our members and supporters will also be carrying placards stating “End the Islamic Republic in Iran!”, “No to Theocracy, Yes to Secular Democracy!”, “Democratic Regime Change in Iran!”, “Respect Iran’s Territorial Integrity”, “Down with Islamo-Faschism”.

We will also carry Iran’s only legitimate flag which is the “Lion & Sun”, which has been banned by the clerical regime!! May it be raised again on the Damavand pick, in all Iran’s current provinces and on all the Iranian islands of the eternal Persian Gulf! Ä…Å

Read the whole thing

Boli-Nica has come out from hibernation for this to state, in his richly colorful way, that he is not impressed! It’s a must-read here.

More to follow - must get some other stuff done.

Dick Marty has presented his preliminary report on alleged CIA prisons and detainees in Europe, in today’s session of the Parliamentary Assembly in the Council of Europe. High on the list of suspects is Poland and Romania, but also Bulgaria, Ukraine, Macedonia and Kosovo.

What we have found out is actually nothing new. So, there is evidence of 31 flights in and out of Europe conducted by the CIA. Human Rights Watch provided the list to the public and then to the investigation commission some weeks ago, and the Eurocontrol agency documents backed it.

But, there is no hard evidence to support the rumors that Romania, or any other suspected country for that matter, is hosting or had hosted CIA detention centers.

The EU temporary commission is made of 46 members, and it has already announced that it will interview officials of Romania, Poland, Macedonia, and Great Britain. Also, they will have meetings with Gerhard Schroeder (former chancellor of Germany), Javier Solana, and with Gijs de Vries, the EU’s counter-terrorism coordinator.

Claude Moraes (member of the EU Parliament) told Reuters a couple of weeks ago that Romania is not telling the truth in what he called the CIA “scandal”. Apparently he, as other EU MP????????s think, that Romania’s involvement in this issue, together with its well-known problems in terms of human rights, justice and corruption, might delay its accession to the EU (presumable to take place in 2007), by a year or two. The Bucharest officials have to provide the investigation commission with their own report and conclusions about the CIA scandal by February 21.

While there are strong arguments (America will have a few military bases on the Romanian soil, we are part of NATO, mainly because of US support we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan) for Romania to have such a close partnership with US in the war on terror, it is (almost) impossible for this commission to find any hard evidence in order to prove that Romania has indeed hosted detention centers. They can get it only from CIA, or from the Romanian Secret Service (SIE). I doubt anyone is looking to blow their cover. Also, the Romanian political class (both the government and the opposition) will not dare say anything that might jeopardize the national goal of joining the EU in 2007. In this context, all it’s left to are rumors.

Val Prieto at Babalu blog reports that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is raising a Great Wall of Havana to encircle the U.S. Mission there. Castro is enraged at a running lighted billboard which plays the UN declaration of human rights across its pixel-stream and the words of Martin Luther King. The former is actually an illegal document there, although Cuba has signed the declaration.

So now a wall is going up. One of Val’s posters noted that this will provide a great group of souvenirs for people’s mantelpieces once the odious Castro regime is overthrown.

Val’s post is here.

Glenn at Instapundit has an excellent roundup of this growing issue about Google’s problematic relations with Red China’s government and its implications for freedom of press. The link is here.

Val at Babalu and Steve at Hog On Ice have additional thoughts - or well, deeds - here and here.

UPDATE: This just ran across the stock ticker:

Google (GOOG) lost 6.35 to 436.68 in high volume despite news it launched a search engine in China. The search engine censors topics that are sensitive to Beijing, creating some controversy. Google hit an intraday high of 454.23 before falling back.

THE MARKET IS HEARING US!!!

The first-ever participation of Hamas in the Palestinian elections on Wednesday poses significant policy challenges to the United States, Europe, Israel and the region.

Hamas calls for the destruction of Israel and is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the E.U. A Hamas victory could lead to the creation of the first Sunni jihadist state in the modern Middle East, paralleling the Shiite theocracy in Tehran. Hamas is a local offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a regional extremist network that threatens Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. While Hezbollah represents only one sect in Lebanon, Hamas threatens to overwhelm the entire Palestinian Authority.

Hamas is running neck and neck with the ruling Fatah party and will likely enjoy a strong showing in Wednesday????????s elections. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be unable to form a government on his own and will be forced into protracted negotiations with Hamas. This transitional period, which may last many weeks, will be fraught with perilous political and security implications, especially on the eve of Israel????????s elections, traditionally a period of heightened terrorism. The Palestinian electoral crisis, combined with Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah-sponsored terrorism could lead to a ???????perfect storm.???????

The United States, Europe and Israel have made clear that Hamas participation in the Palestinian Authority would undermine the prospects for peace and lead to the Palestinian Authority????????s isolation. There is only one way to resolve this. In the words of the international Quartet, Hamas must “renounce violence, recognize Israel????????s right to exist, and disarm.??????? Washington????????s challenge in the coming weeks will be to lead an international effort and enforce this line in the sand.

The Dispatcher is a new contributor at Publius, focusing on the Middle East. It is a pseudonym for two foreign policy specialists in that region, who must remain anonymous. They also blog at Vital Perspective.

Veneuzela’s vast gold and diamond mines, no small thing in the era of soaring gold prices, have sold concessions to several foreign firms to mine the minerals. But they have witheld the permits, so the firms, which have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure, are unable to mine them. Squatters are jumping in, though, people who would probably be given jobs in the mines if the chavista permits would ever come through.

Today, Venezuela’s government has announced it will expropriate the mines - for idleness. The only reason they are idle is that the government refuses to issue the permits. Now, they are being expropriated.

This pattern of expropriations, by the way, is going on all over Venezuela. Factories are being driven out of business by price controls. They are then expropriated as idle. Farms, same insane thing. “There is no room for waste in this revolucion,” Chavez has said.

In other words, you’ll produce at a loss and only if I say you can first, or you’ll be expropriated.

It’s a communist regime there.

While Canadians voted in a new Conservative leader today, the Palestinians are holding their first election since 1996 which many believe is key in the Palestinian push for statehood. Hamas candidates have entered the race and their popularity makes them running a close second to Fatah.

While campaigning, Hamas says a truce could be on the table, yet in one ad which was rebroadcast by CNN, Hamas shows footage of militants and states: “We will not rest as long as one inch of our holy land is in the hands of the Jews. Our flags will fly over the minarets of Jerusalem.”

Hamas boycotted the last election in 1996 but could win one-third of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Mahmoud Abbas, is “hoping Hamas will be tamed by mainstream politics, that the day-to-day duties of government — such as running schools, hospitals and garbage collection — will lead to pragmatic change within the group.” But, Abbas, the current head of the PA (Palestinian Authority) faces great losses for his party as shown in this graphic from the Christian Science Monitor

If anyone thought there was a chance of peace in the Middle East, by efforts such as pulling Israeli’s out of their homes in Gaza, a win for Hamas in the PA government should shake them out of their fantasy.

Such as Jimmy Carter seen here for a meeting at the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority president.

Related:
Why Hamas is Gaining in the Polls
Can Moderate Abbas Weather Hama’s Rise?
Divisions in Fatah give hope to Hamas as Palestinians go to polls
Israelis fear Hamas ‘terror state’
‘Bombs are not forbidden. But we now have other ways’

Sharon Hughes is the host of her own talk radio show in San Francisco and is a new contributor at Publius, focusing mainly on Israel and the Middle East. She also has her own blog called Veritas.