It’s started. Leftist barbarians in El Salvador are burning tires and hurling explosive devices into the faces of police as their way of resolving their disagreements over the implementation of CAFTA. They are always free to not trade with us if that is their wish but they just can’t leave others alone who choose differently. That’s why they’re creating an atmosphere of terror through their incendiary devices and seeking to ruin the business climate for everyone. That way, they can all sit in the mud together with no free trade and wonder why the hell they are poor.

Agencia EFE has the story here:

Salvador protests turn violent
Eds: updates with clashes.

San Salvador, Feb 28 (EFE).- At least four demonstrators and a police officer were wounded during protests here Tuesday that prompted security forces to fire rubber bullets at demonstrators.

The officer was wounded in the face and another suffered injuries shortly before the clash by a home-made explosive device thrown by protesters, a police spokesperson told EFE.

Members of various social organizations burned tires and set off powerful firecrackers after staging a series of rallies around San Salvador to protest the taking of effect of the CAFTA free trade agreement.

The pact, which joins the United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic, goes into effect Wednesday in El Salvador, while in the rest of the participating countries it will be put into force in the coming weeks.

Organzations taking part in the protests were mostly union and student groups.

Though CAFTA has been ratified by the legislatures of every signatory country except for Costa Rica and formally took effect at the beginning of this year, El Salvador is so far the only nation deemed by U.S. trade authorities to have completed all necessary steps to actually implement the treaty. EFE chm/cd

(Disclaimer: I’m in a heavy-OT zone today, and do not have the time to write this up with the care that it deserves, but the issue needs to be raised, because the “common wisdom” is beginning to accrete in a dangerous direction.)

Bosnia has brought up Serbia on war crimes. Yes, the entire nation. This has never been done before, and there’s a good reason for that: the Allies didn’t hang the entire population of Germany for war crimes after World War II, the entire Serbian nation didn’t somehow wake up one morning and think “let’s go murder all the Bosnian Muslims.”

Now, for those of you who are rightly beginning to protest, don’t get me wrong. I know folks who were in Sarajevo. I can remember to this day handling the piece of shrapnel that the Bosnian I was introduced to kept to commemorate the piece of metal, one half of which cut his hair and sat in his pocket, the other half of which tore his best friend’s head off. At no point do I wish to even pretend that what Milosevic engineered does not fully justify putting him and his at the end of a short rope, just as was done to the men who ran the Nazi concentration camps. But just as it would be ridiculous to hold every Croat guilty for the expulsion of Serbs from the Krajina, mass judgment in this case is an abrogation of, rather than a support for, final justice.

The trial is giving rise to self-righteous screeds like this, which sacrifice history on an altar of sanctimony. History is more complicated than an editorial-page sound-bite, and the Serbs also suffered terribly at the hands of Milosevic as he rallied the Chetniks’ long memories of earlier horror as a distraction from what he was doing to the populace at large. The Bosnian government’s attempt to create collective guilt papers over certain inconvenient facts, like Milosevic’s little habit of putting Chetnik units directly behind the lines in order to keep Serbian line units from simply deserting en masse out of a war with which they wanted nothing to do in the first place.

I don’t know where Ratko Mladic’ is. Neither does the average Serb, and the Serbian government appears to take its responsibility regarding the fugitive seriously. That some Chetniks are in denial over the whole process, or even actively aiding and abetting this monster even today, does not justify making a mockery of history by putting forth collective judgment. Collectivism makes a mockery of justice. If everybody owns the land, nobody owns it. The same thing applies to atrocities. The individuals who took part in the mass killings and rape rooms need to be brought to full, merciless justice. Otherwise, individual accountability suffers, and it becomes easy enough to once again subordinate one’s guilty conscience under the murderous goals of an evil regime.

The 20th Century should have unequivocally taught us this lesson.

The declaration of a state of emergency, the possibility of a military coup, and the rising chance of mass street protests are all challenges to democracy in the Philippines. After twenty years following the original People Power Revolution, it’s high time that all of the country’s stakeholders begin to respect the rule of law. Especially the military. While President Arroyo’s declaration of emergency may be both shady as well as bad politics, especially in light of her lost legitimacy following a corruption scandal last year, the military has done more to undermine democracy in the Philippines than any other single player. It must be purged of any members who want to influence politics in the country in any way if the country is to ever develop democratic institutions.

Though the state of emergency smacks of the martial law imposed by the Marcos dictatorship, as protests have been blocked, newspapers censored, and leftist politicians arrested, it could be over in less than a week and is being challenged in the Supreme Court even now. The army isn’t even patrolling the streets. What kind of sad excuse for martial law is this anyway?

That’s because it isn’t. In the hysteria sweeping the worldwide media, it has subsequently come to our attention that it was not just a few low-ranking officers planning to stage a coup, but even the commanding general of the elite Marines division. Arrests and replacements within the military are being made constantly now. Those not loyal to constitutional law and order, who do not refrain from interfering in politics, are being purged. After twenty years and no less than a dozen coup attempts, it’s about time.

Steps will then need to be taken in order to change the structural foundation of the military that cause such open rebellion. Pay is extremely low, so low that many soldiers resort to graft and black-market dealings in order to make extra income. Need a grenade?… For a military that’s fighting a constant hit-and-run conflict with Marxist guerrillas, low pay, poor housing conditions, and humiliating hazing sessions is no way to gain its loyalty.

Once the military has been effectively neutralized, it will be time to start truly building the democratic institutions that allow reform and public policy to be enacted. The constant threat of military coups has left these institutions fundamentally weak. In a democracy, populism is the ugly underbelly that sometimes erupts, and when institutions are too weak, it results in the constitutional system being usurped by charismatic leaders. In the Philippines’ case, it has led to multiple people power movements following the original that have put into place governments no better than the previous ones.

The main characters supporting the current government and those opposing it are all comprised of a group of elites who have dominated the country since Marcos’ downfall twenty years ago. In the meantime, work-a-day Filipinos are still trying to put food on their plates. At the end of the day, they don’t care that the opposition considers Arroyo illegitimate because both sides have proven themselves ineffective. They want a government that works. The only way for this to ever happen is if they lay to rest the notion the idea of using people power coups when anything goes wrong and develop the institutions that make democracy work.

After so many complaints that the United Nations Human Rights Commission is host to some of the most abusive human rights violators on the planet, one would think that the United States is being hypocritical by opposing planned reform at the UN for scrapping it and creating a new Human Rights Council that’s more effective in dealing with these issues. That’s what you’d think if you only read the headline and first paragraph of this Guardian Unlimited article, anyway.

U.S. Against Proposed U.N. Rights Panel

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States announced its opposition to the proposed new U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, putting the U.S. administration on a collision course with many U.N. members, key human rights groups, and a dozen Nobel peace laureates.

Well, I guess that’s settled! Can’t argue with a few nobel laureates and the rest of the world. Or can you? Because judging by the rest of the article, these nobel laureates and European countries that pride themselves on their human rights records are willing to settle on minimal changes as long as it doesn’t upset anybody.

Just read it. You’d almost get the idea that there is something inherently bad with wanting to push the envelope. Blocking major human rights abusers from being on the council? Pshaw! Impossible!… Why else do you think this current “reform” is going through in the first place? Because the Axis of Evil suddenly wanted to agree to human rights protection?

The fact is, almost every country in the United Nations is looking for a token way out of reforming the system, mostly for their own benefit over creating an effective system of dealing with human rights abuses. So while critics try to accuse the United States of being hypocritical by opposing meaningless symbolic reform, it is actually those who put themselves up on a pedestal, making human rights a major issue in their politics, who are the hypocrits. If Zimbabwe is ever going to stop making decisions about human rights that affect the entire world, these people need to back further and deeper changes that will eliminate such conflicts of interest.

Source: The Nation

It’s getting bad again in Thailand. The Bangkok Post says the crisis is deepening. The opposition to billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, led by rival media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, is giving Thaksin till Saturday to resign or they will chase him out. About 50,000 demonstrators filled the streets Sunday, and another 25,000 filled the streets Monday. All credible analysts point to 1992-style violence, the memory of which is pretty grim.

An old monk-general who led that 1992 People Power revolt against what was then Thailand’s tinpot generals, has recently resurfaced at rallies and people are starting to wonder whether it’s going to be that same violent kind of change in Thailand by Saturday.

Thaksin has drawn massive opposition to his premiership because of a $1.9 billion profit he turned in Singapore, shamelessly and tax-free enough, through his Ample Rich (I kid you not) Holding Company. Middle class Thais are enraged at this graft and coming out in the streets in their thousands. Some factions of Thaksin’s coalition are breaking away from him - one’s parting words, of Thaksin, were “a thief and a cheat.” Thailand’s markets are tanking.

Thaksin called snap elections about a week ago but the opposition says that Thaksin, having consolidated power and taken over all institutions, isn’t going to put on a fair vote. (In this regard, the situation looks similar to Venezuela.) However, unlike Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Thaksin says he’s willing to postpone the election or meet with the opposition to discuss terms for a new election that will satisfy them. He sounds willing to compromise, at least on the surface. But the opposition want him simply out of there and gone. Reuters has a very good account of this growing revolution here.

And an update (Thanks, Rob!) here

This would be a completely irrelevant toss-off post except for its potential significance.

The MDF (Hungarian Democratic Forum) is raising some eyebrows with a couple pieces of news lately. It needs to, because as discussed before, the MDF is in a fight for its life when it comes to parliamentary representation. If it cannot make 5%, and that’s looking increasingly doubtful, then it’s out there with the also-rans.

Which makes it significant that the MDF:

1. Has said they will neither enter into coalition with FIDESZ, nor support them with second-round votes. FIDESZ, whose proposals are increasingly self-contradictory, is no longer seen as a truly credible partner (Getting rid of car registration fee: good. Pledging to return Hungary to a free market by means of strengthening price controls: confusing at best). This would mean that the electoral see-saw has just tilted back slightly towards the middle, and cuts probably 1-3% out of FIDESZ’s fairly narrow lead,

except

(and this is the significant part)
2. As part of their “we’ve got to get some votes or perish” strategy, the MDF is echoing current events next door in Romania, by proposing an across-the-board 18% flat income tax would reduce the role of the underground economy.

This would put the Hungarians a touch behind the Romanians in terms of “raw number” accounting, but comfortably ahead of several other countries’ proposals (no internal links, scroll down for table). Note that Romania’s recent proposal would put it on a par with Hong Kong, so two percentage points off that is still not bad. (And would be a vast improvement over what we have here in the U.S.)

Not that this is the final word, since tax systems are as important as the raw number, but it’s now an open question as to how the promise of a reasonable flat tax will float in Hungarian politics.

Take that, Hugo Chavez!

Colombia has chosen freedom and prosperity over dependency, isolation and handouts! A free trade pact was signed this morning with the U.S.!

It was one long hard tough slog in negotiations, but President Alvaro Uribe and the U.S. Trade Representative finally came to common ground after lots of give and take, as is right between two good friends.

Today, Colombia now has access to the world’s biggest market, will get all the computers and technology and whatever it want from our markets, and we in the U.S. in turn will benefit from Colombia’s ever more competitively priced roses, vegetables, coffee, steel, manufactured goods, and, get this … oil … a rising star among Colombia’s many exports as it diversifies its economy in a healthy direction. It’s not a perfect pact but it’s a done pact and most of it is going to help everyone. So much for the chavista model of isolation and antiamericanism. Colombians would prefer our money instead. Hence, free trade is victorious today!

This is going to be really cool. Colombia joins Peru as a partner in free trade, and soon Ecuador will follow.

Welcome to the club, Colombia!!!!!

TRADE FACTS
Office of the United States Trade Representative
February 27, 2006

Free Trade with Colombia: Brief Summary of the Agreement

* Market Access for U.S. Consumer and Industrial Products: Over
eighty percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to
Colombia will become duty-free immediately, with remaining tariffs
phased out over 10 years. Key U.S. exports will gain immediate
duty-free access to Colombia. Colombia agreed to allow trade in
remanufactured goods, and will join the WTO Information Technology
Agreement.

* New Opportunities for U.S. Farmers and Ranchers: U.S. farm
exports to Colombia that will receive immediate duty-free treatment
include high quality beef, cotton, wheat, soybeans, soybean meal; key
fruits and vegetables including apples, pears, peaches, and cherries;
and many processed food products including frozen french fries and
cookies. U.S. farm products that will benefit from improved market
access include pork, beef, corn, poultry, rice, fruits and vegetables,
processed products, and dairy products. The United States and Colombia
have worked to resolve sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to
agricultural trade, including on food safety inspection procedures for
beef, pork, and poultry.

* Textiles and Apparel - Promoting Cooperation and Benefits:
Textiles and apparel will be duty-free and quota-free immediately if the
products meet the agreement’s rule of origin, promoting new
opportunities for U.S. and Colombian fiber, yarn, fabric and apparel
manufacturing.

* Strong Protections for U.S. Investors: The agreement
establishes a stable legal framework for U.S. investors operating in
Colombia. All forms of investment are protected under the agreement.
U.S. investors will enjoy in almost all circumstances the right to
establish, acquire, and operate investments in Colombia in an equal
footing with local investors. Investor protections will be backed by a
transparent, binding international arbitration mechanism.

* Expanded Access to Services Markets: Colombia will accord
substantial market access across their entire services regime, including
financial services. Colombia agreed to eliminate measures that require
U.S. firms to hire national rather than U.S. professionals and phase-out
market restrictions in cable television. Colombia also agreed that both
mutual funds and pension funds in its territory will be allowed to use
portfolio managers in the U.S.

* Greater Protection for Intellectual Property Rights: The
agreement provides for improved standards for the protection and
enforcement of a broad range of intellectual property rights, which are
consistent with both U.S. standards of protection and enforcement, and
with emerging international standards. Such improvements include
state-of-the-art protections for digital products such as U.S. software,
music, text, and videos; stronger protection for U.S. patents,
trademarks and test data, including an electronic system for the
registration and maintenance of trademarks; and further deterrence of
piracy and counterfeiting by criminalizing end-use piracy.

* The Digital Age: The United States and Colombia agreed to
provisions on e-commerce that commit all parties to non-discriminatory
treatment of digital products. The parties agreed not to impose customs
duties on digital products transmitted electronically and to cooperate
in numerous policy areas related to e-commerce. Additionally, the
agreement requires procedures for resolving disputes about trademarks
used in Internet domain names.

* Strong Protections for Worker Rights: Labor obligations are
part of the core text of the agreement. The agreement requires that the
parties effectively enforce their own domestic labor laws. Procedural
guarantees in the agreement will ensure that workers and employers will
have fair, equitable and transparent access to labor tribunals/courts.

* Commitments and Cooperation to Protect the Environment:
Environment obligations are part of the core text of the agreement. The
agreement commits parties to effectively enforce their own domestic
environmental laws and to establish high levels of environmental
protection. Additionally, the agreement is complemented by an
Environmental Cooperation Agreement that provides a framework for
undertaking environmental capacity building in Colombia.

* Trade Capacity Building: Development and Trade Together: The
agreement creates a Trade Capacity Building Committee, which will help
Colombia build its capacity to implement the obligations of the
agreement and to benefit more broadly from the opportunities it creates.
Assistance programs discussed by the committee include programs for
small and medium-sized enterprises and rural farmers, and programs for
improvements in transportation infrastructure and telecommunications.
The U.S. Government provided approximately $92 million in trade capacity
building (TCB) assistance to Colombia for the period of fiscal years
2004 and 2005. Colombia has benefited from an additional $7 million in
U.S. Government TCB assistance to Andean regional programs for that
period. Multilateral lenders such as the Inter-American Development
Bank and the World Bank provide additional trade-related assistance.

* Fair and Open Government Procurement: U.S. suppliers are
granted non-discriminatory rights to bid on contracts from a broad range
of Colombian government ministries, agencies, public enterprises, and
regional governments. The agreement requires the use of fair and
transparent procurement procedures, such as advance notice of purchases
and timely and effective bid review procedures.

* An Open and Competitive Telecommunications Market: Users of
Colombian telecom networks are guaranteed reasonable and
nondiscriminatory access to the network. This prevents local firms from
having preferential or “first right” of access to telecom networks.
U.S. phone companies obtained the right to interconnect with Colombian
dominant suppliers’ fixed networks at nondiscriminatory and cost-based
rates.

* Increased Transparency: The agreement’s dispute settlement
mechanisms provide for open public hearings, public access to documents,
and the opportunity for third parties to submit views. Transparency in
customs operations will aid express delivery shipments and will require
more open and public processes for customs rulings and administration.
For custom procedures, Colombia committed to publish laws and
regulations on the Internet, and will ensure procedural certainty and
fairness. Colombia also committed to make public their responses to
significant comments received on proposed technical regulations.

* Dispute Settlement: Core obligations, including labor and
environment provisions, are subject to the dispute settlement mechanism
of the agreement.

###

A more detailed fact sheet is also available at the USTR website:
http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Fact_Sheets/2006/asset_uploa
d_file485_9023.pdf

A Chavista women’s collective in a small city called Los Teques in Venezuela recently sent this letter to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and some of his key minions. If this is Chavista, then we are ALL Chavistas.

Their fascinating statement highlights the growing popular opposition to the corruption, the thievery, the bureaucratization and the barbarism of the Chavez “revolution.” The women are not closing their eyes. Although these women say they still have faith in Chavez, they certainly have lost any such faith in Chavez’s underlings who are supposedly distributing the spoils but in fact pocketing them.

Poor people do not like corruption any more than we do. The tone of this letter will blow your mind.

Given the growing coercion of the Chavez government, I find myself fearing for these women who dare speak out so frankly about Chavez’s so-called “revolution.” It’s only a matter of time before they realize that Chavez is a part of this too. But by then it could be too late. People like this are the first to be rounded up when the purges come and the knout comes down. It always happens. In the end, these women are going to have some problems:

STATEMENT FROM WOMEN HOUSEWIVES WORKERS IN THE HOME TO OUR PRESIDENT

We see the need to issue this statement given the imminent emergency of having to spend another year without a budget or begging here and there for resources in order to guarantee people’s participation in the direct exercise of participatory democracy and grassroots sovereignty.

We have been working for five years as the Red Popular de Los Altos Mirandinos (Grassroots Network of Los Altos), Miranda State, Municipality of Guaicaipuro, with connections in Aragua, La Guaira, M????rida and Valencia spreading information on the creation of the Land Committees Urban and Rural, and the setting up of the Mesas Tecnicas Locales (Local Technical Committees). In those five years we have designed and carried out property surveys, population censuses, socioeconomic studies, and workshops with their own methodology for topography, seismology and urban planning. Our experience also includes working with the Consejo de Economia Social (the Social Economic Council) since its creation three years ago. There we worked on developing projects and budgets, and on selecting projects and studying their feasibility within the communities. We were also involved in the creation of the Red de Usuarias y Aliadas del Banco de Desarrollo de la Mujer (Network of Users and Allies of the Women’s Development Bank) Banmujer. There too we carried out a selection process using a socioeconomic study to locate the women with the greatest need. We gave workshops on ideological training for the creation of a caring economy. From this selection process we developed the criteria used to deliver 120 credits between 2003-04 and to locate the Casas de Alimentacion (soup kitchens) and the Mercal (State-subsidized supermarkets for people on low incomes). The Land Committee welcomed and found a location for the Mision Barrio Adentro (the health care mission based in low-income neighborhoods) and supported the Cuban doctors while they set up the grassroots clinics. We also provided support for the Consejos Comunales (Community Councils) as they were being set up, and advised on the creation of projects that were going to be selected for the Plan de Obras Municipales (the Municipal Works Plan).

The great majority - between 70 and 80 percent of participants nationwide - are women housewives workers in the home who have become community leaders and defenders of this revolution, this participatory democracy. We are the women who are doing the work of carrying forward this revolution. We work for free and we are treated with contempt by the State bureaucracy - they take advantage of us by using our work to project themselves politically and give themselves credibility, appropriating the few resources we have managed to get after many battles, and which they have the nerve to pretend to administer and even operate. This has brought disappointment and despair to those who believe in the President but not in the majority of those who surround him. By stealing our projects and the resources needed to carry them out, and denying our ability as grassroots organizations, they are stealing the revolution and this unique and unrepeatable opportunity to change the world.

The President announced yesterday that, as part of the redistribution of the oil revenue, the work done in the home by women heads of household - starting with those who live in extreme poverty - would be recognized with a housewife’s pension equivalent to 80% of the minimum wage (that is 372,000 Bolivars a month) which would be paid to 100,000 women during the first semester of this year and to an additional 100,000 in the second semester. The President said that this would be administered by the Ministry of Work and the Ministry of Popular Economy, and that the beneficiaries would be put forward by the Consejos Comunales and the Juntas Parroquiales (Parish Boards) which would take account of the Land, Water and Health Committees and other community organizations for monitoring and accountability.

In order to ensure that this economic recognition - which the women of Venezuela and the world have fought so hard for - is delivered directly to those entitled to it and doesn’t stay in the pockets of bloodsucking bureaucrats who live off the politics business, and who discredit the government and corrupt any initiative that attempts to deepen the revolutionary process, we propose the following points:

1. We do not want the resources to pass through the town hall, the county hall, the parish or local councils, or other State institutions which divert or steal this money.

2. We do not want the parties to decide who shall be the beneficiaries of social programs because they use the Misiones to buy votes.

3. We do not want the points of reference of grassroots organizations to be manipulated and displaced in order to impose on us civil servants and bureaucrats who know little about our reality.

4. Nor do we want the projects and initiatives to be stolen from community leaders in order to be presented by the councils or the county authorities as their own.

5. We do not want to be excluded with accusations that we are escu????lidos Äthe term that refers to the pro-coup oppositionÅ if we make any criticisms or point out something that isn’t working that is the responsibility of a government institution or program. Rather, we want to be respected as monitors of social expenditure and guardians of this Bolivarian revolution.

We base this on our experiences as grassroots organizers who have been forced to beg for what is ours by constitutional law. As Land Committee we delivered the project we had worked on for five years into the hands of our President on the Al???? Presidente ÄCh????vez’s live weekly TV and radio showÅ he did in Guaicaipuro, Miranda state. On this program our President committed himself to providing directly to our organization the necessary funds to set up our local technical office for the regularization of the tenancy deeds of urban lands. Yet, we are still begging for scraps from the local authorities and the city council in order to function. We still do not know what has happened to those funds. Rumor has it that they are being held by the governor’s office or the national technical office, among other bodies. We do not know.

Another example is the experience we’ve had with the Segundo Consejo de Economia Popular (Second Council of Popular Economy) nationally with the executing body FIDES; we were elected by the people at a meeting of more than 500 citizens organized in work sessions. We were trained for three months and we organized a project for a center for seven service-providing co-operatives, and we worked with it for a year and a half. Yet the funds (365,000,000) have been withheld to this day, and despite our many requests we have received no reply. The only reply we want is the execution of the project.

One more example is that of the Land Committee at Ramo Verde, where for 45 years 26 families have lived on a military base which belongs to the Ministry of Defense. After many petitions, the Consejo Local de Planificacion Publica (local public planning council) approved two of their projects, one to build roads and another for electricity. Today, after three years, they still haven’t had a reply.

These are just a few examples of a general situation that exists throughout the country. It has many variants and it is wearing us out in the exercise of our grassroots sovereignty, running the risk that these revolutionary proposals may be lost and with them our revolution. We cannot allow this to happen and therefore we propose:

1. That the funds destined for workers in the home be paid personally and directly through Banmujer, and that the selection be made through the census of the Redes Populares de Usuarias y Aliadas de Banmujer because our experience shows that this would guarantee that the money is not stolen, that there is no partisanship or cronyism, and that social justice prevails.

2. That the pension is not temporary but for life because women’s work is not temporary and never ends.

3. That they include the recognition of revolutionary community work as productive work that should be remunerated. It is not right that we the women who, as our President has said, are the foundation of the revolution, have to depend on the charity of our partners and relatives in order to carry out our revolutionary labor.

We have not expelled the elite along with its cast of corrupt politicians and its regime of terror in order to make way for a new generation of thieves who take advantage of our revolutionary work. We will not allow our dedication toward the communities and the revolution to be used to build a new form of exploitation and terror against us, our people, our President and our revolution.

4 February 2006

Red Popular de los Altos Mirandinos, Estado Miranda, Municipio Guaicaipuro

President Bush has once again renewed his moral support of the Iranian people and their aspirations to total freedom.

This time, it seems, he’ll do more than merely talking about freedom; he pledged economic aid to the Iranian freedom fighters and those who risk their life by taking to the streets against the regime.

It remains to be seen if these funds will be directed to genuine opposition groups rather than to ‘reformers’, who want to save a part of the regime.

Indeed, to be effective, the funds should be directed to those student,workers and women’s movements that don’t have a dark past and are seriously committed to democratic Regime Change with the ultimate goal of establishing a true democratic and secular gov’t, regardless of whether it will be a monarchy or a republic.

Overall, however, the President seems to get it (so far):

(…) The international community is also speaking with one voice to the radical regime in Tehran. Iran is a nation held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people, and denying them basic liberties and human rights. The Iranian regime sponsors terrorists and is actively working to expand its influence in the region. (…) as we confront Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions, we’re also reaching out to the Iranian people to support their desire to be free; to build a free, democratic, and transparent society.

To support the Iranian people’s efforts to win their own freedom, my administration is requesting $75 million in emergency funds to support democracy in Iran. This is more than a fourfold increase over current levels of funding. These new funds will allow us to expand radio and television broadcasts into Iran (…) so Iranians can organize and challenge the repressive policies of the clerical regime(…) By supporting democratic change in Iran, we will hasten the day when the people of Iran can determine their own future and be free to choose their own leaders. Freedom in the Middle East requires freedom for the Iranian people, and America looks forward to the day when our nation can be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran.

There is no more time to waste.

Our dear friends, Darsi Ferrer, his wife Yusnaimy and other freedom fighters are keeping to help poor Cubans by directly visiting them in their favelas.Dari’s wife, Yusnaimy, even risked to be thrown in jail along with two Czech women for talking to ordinary Cubans about their daily problems. Czech model Helena Houdova also contributed to this noble humanitarian effort.

To see all the photos check out here (scroll down) and here

To help Darsi’s humanitarian work, please contact him or his wife:

Darsi Ferrer Ramirez: darsiferrerÉyahoo.com

Yusnaimy Jorge Soca : yusnaimyjorgeÉyahoo.com

Address: Calle San Bernardino 265 entre Serrano y Durege, Santo Su????rez, Municipio D????ez de Octubre,
Ciudad de la Habana, C????digo Postal -10500

Remember, this work is possible ONLY thanks to people of goodwill

The sweeping victory of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary election has the Bush administration and foreign policy experts on their toes. Isn????????t democracy supposed to be what frees the entire region from tyranny? That????????s how the meme goes.

Yet fairer elections in Egypt gave one quarter of the seats to the Muslim Brotherhood, and now Hamas rules the territories. If we define democracy on these terms alone, then what we have on our hands is a political census that shows the possibility of many countries electing Islamic extremists to power. I seriously doubt the world wants to handle more than one Iran at a time, so it????????s important to look at why this trend is emerging and how it can be stopped.

Elections alone don????????t make democracy. Institutions such as an independent and corruption free judiciary tend to make a huge difference. Gaza has none of these. The Palestinian territories are run by armed rival groups all vying for turf like a bunch of gangsters. Instead of democracy, what we have on our hands is a mafia-state with elections. What should have happened during the lag time between elections is institution building, which would have allowed for channels that turn the will of the people into action.

The Palestinian territories have suffered from inaction for far too long. That????????s why Hamas won. Sure, they threaten and attack Israel, but human needs are what loyalty always comes down to and Hamas was able to provide. They offered a corruption-free alternative to Fatah, which has stolen billions of dollars in aid money that should have gone toward building an economy. Hamas provided security and healthcare services where none had been before. What did Fatah ever do for them?…

Undermining the Hamas government directly through military and political intervention would only prove the point that many Arab believe that the Bush administration only wants democracy in the Middle East as long as their man gets in. This question of hypocrisy is incredibly salient in the minds of the general population in the Arab world.

It is important to prove them wrong. But that doesn????????t mean the West has to help Hamas. The billions of dollars in stolen American and European aid are what led to the creation of the Palestinian mafia-state in the first place. The problem can be solved by cutting them off completely. Instead of depending on foreign governments for money, Hamas will have to depend on support from the Palestinian people in order to carry out the government????????s operations.

Similarly, the old monarchs of the Middle Ages, in order to finance their intra-continental wars, had to collect taxes. But to do so they had to win the support of a broad cross-section of elites who could be convinced that the war was in their best interest. It is said that this basic principle alone is what led to the development of the modern nation-state and, eventually, liberal democracy itself. A war against Israel would be pretty expensive and destructive. The Palestinians, for the most part, may hate Israel, but they????????re only going to pony up the dough if it????????s used for ???????? finally ???????? bettering their daily lives.

It is for this reason that if aid is cut and Hamas uses the levers of power for extremism, it will fail. A breakdown for Hamas would be an enormous blow to radical Islamist groups all across the Middle East, from the underground Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to the mullahs in Iran. The people would see what it????????s like to live under a government based on Islamic extremism, and subsequently come to reject that philosophy. It would also be a victory for the region????????s real moderates who want to work under the rules of democracy.

The odds are in our favor, as long as we take advantage of it. The West has an opportunity to put an end to the vicious cycle of supporting corrupt authoritarians that breed resentment and anti-Americanism while improving our image with the people themselves. All we have to do is let Hamas fail on its own.

President Gloria Arroyo has announced a state of emergency in the Philippines following the thwarting of a coup plot. Somewhat ironically, today is the 20th anniversary of the original People Power revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

MANILA (Reuters) - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared emergency rule in the Philippines on Friday after the military said it foiled a coup attempt, but analysts criticized the move as unwarranted and potentially damaging to the economy.

Talk of plots against Arroyo, who survived a crisis last year over allegations of vote-rigging and corruption, has been running high around this week’s anniversary of the 1986 “people power” revolt that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“While we may have nipped it in the bud, there is still clear and present danger,” chief of staff Michael Defensor said.

He said eight to 10 politicians and military officers were believed to be behind the plot but did not identify them.

Sources in the security forces said the alleged financiers and plotters included deposed president Joseph Estrada, former colonel and senator Gregorio Honasan, former budget secretary Salvador Enriquez, a former nun and five retired officers.

I wrote yesterday about the plot being averted, but at the time it was only known that a few lower level officers were involved. Now it comes out that potentially several high-ranking government officials and even a brigadier general may have been supporting it. A couple of bottom-feeders would never have succeeded, but this is much more serious if it’s true.

The state of emergency, however, seems to be too much to me. The entire point of the People Power revolution was so that the country would never again smack of martial law. I read in an article earlier today that a peaceful anti-Arroyo protest of 5000 people was broken up by riot police. She’s already politically unpopular, but this state of emergency could backfire as it resonates with the electorate. Chances are, the military coup could be cut off completely without it, but it was imposed so as to strengthen her power base in the restive days ahead. Such actions, in democratic societies, rarely succeed however.

The blogosphere has been abuzz about the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Iraq, one of holiest shrines in Shia Islam. Of course, news reports always labels shrines as one of the holiest shrines, but it’s definitely true this time. This one is at the top. The attack was so profoundly felt by Shia Muslims that it has led to attacks on Sunni Muslim mosques and believers all over the country in retribution. Some think this may be a precursor to civil war. Others think not.

I think not. But many haven’t looked at is the politics behind the attack; and, especially, the response to it.

The main Shia political alliance in Iraq, the United Iraqi Alliance, quickly blamed the Sunnis for the attack. This makes no sense. The shrine has existed in predominantly Sunni territory for hundreds of years and never came under attack either during Saddam’s reign, when the Shia were heavily repressed, or even during the ongoing war right now. In fact, the many Sunnis in the area have a direct economic benefit because of tourism due to pilgrimages. Also, as Omar notes, 1) Association of Muslim scholars and the Islamic Party condemn the “criminal act”, and 2) Head of the Sunni endowment sheikh Ahmed al-Samarra’I announces that he will allocate 2 billion dinars (ü1.4 million $) for the rebuilding of the shrine from the treasury of the Sunni endowment.

The mainstream Sunnis have also fully engaged in the political process, have come to constantly renounce terrorist attack, tribal leaders have reigned in on Sunni insurgents and forced them to drop their arms and instead secure their local areas, and have engaged wholeheartedly in negotiations to form a new government. Who stands to benefit from this attack?

In case anyone doesn’t see where I’m going with this, the finger points directly at Zarqawi, who is using the attack as a last ditch effort to prevent the forming of a new government. He is looking to divide the country after to has come so close to being united.

The problem is in how the UIA has reacted toward the Sunnis, accusing them right off the bat. The UIA you may recall is in a tight political situation. It is beginning to lose its grip on power with the Kurds possibly looking to form a government with the Sunnis and Allawi’s multi-confessional secular list. The United States has also begun favoring inclusion of the Sunnis in the new government and has not been as favorable to the UIA as it was in the past. It is also facing internal divisions over policy. The attack actually provides a perfect reason to pre-empt its own degradation as the country’s main political force.

I say this not in the light that the UIA itself committed the bombing, but that many factions within it are taking advantage of it. Especially the pro-Iran Moqtada al-Sadr, but even al-Hakim of the SCIRI. The “retaliation” attacks against Sunni are not random. They are mostly organized by his Mehdi Army militia. Following in turn, Iran blames America for the attacks on the Shia shrine. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani immediately issued a fatwa following the attack and urged the Shia faithful to restrain themselves, but politically they are beginning to divide between Sistani and Sadr. It is obvious at this point that Iran and al-Sadr are politically motivated in their response to the attack.

For once it looks as if the Shia political leadership will have to decide if it wants a unified, cooperative, and peaceful Iraq. They will eventually have to accept that their position of power is on the wane, and how they continue to respond in the aftermath of the attack on the Golden Mosque will be an important barometer of this. The Sunnis have restrained from violence even as they are being hunted down by militias, but for how long? Iraqis, both Sunni, Shia, and Kurd, cannot afford to point fingers at each other. If they need to play the blame game, the only ones that should be blamed are the miniscule minority of Al Qaeda and radical Wahhabi fighters.

Alek Boyd at VCrisis and Daniel at Venezuela News & Views alert us to a new Chavista propaganda offensive against some of the best reporting on Venezuela coming out these days. It looks like Venezuela’s attacks on the free press do not stop at its water’s edge, but extend to any media anywhere in the world that dares report the truth on Venezuela.

In a spectacular article, The Christian Science Monitor sent a freelance reporter up to Venezuela’s mountain shantytowns and interviewed people about just how they felt about Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Not surprisingly, Venezuela’s poor have the same view of the brute as the rest of us do - they can’t stand the lies, the oppression, the crushed opportunity and the incompetence of the Chavez regime. The Monitor’s excellent, must-read story is here.

The Financial Times has done similar good reporting and thus, along with the Monitor, has attracted the rage of the Chavistas. This kind of truthtelling is too much for them.

The Chavistas aren’t just sitting and steaming on K Street, though. They are quite busy, organizing a letter-writing campaign against the two good newspapers to intimidate them. They have encouraged banana-left activists to pretend to be ordinary readers and have told them to zero in on these two articles. They seek to harass these newspapers and make the editors think all readers see things as they do, in their twisted little leftist world. That’s what they are up to and it’s illegal.

The Venezuelan Information office has launched its offensive by sending out its call to activists, but is failing to cite in its email missive that it’s a paid-for organ of the Venezuelan government. That’s how unethical they are. It’s time the lawmen got busy because nobody does what they are doing and gets away with it.

Alek Boyd has the whole story and the e-mails from VIO here. It’s disgusting.

Daniel has much more here.

If it weren’t sketchy enough that this is the second opposition leader assassinated in Kazakhstan within the past three months, the head of the government intelligence agency has resigned. He did so because several of his officers were implicated in the murder and have confessed, or so the story goes!

ALMATY, Kazakhstan ???????? Kazakhstan’s intelligence chief resigned Wednesday after several of his subordinates were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the slaying of an opposition leader.

The opposition has said the Feb. 11 killing of Altynbek Sarsenbayev was politically motivated and was carried out by the special services.

Nartai Dutbayev submitted his resignation Tuesday, hours after the National Security Committee said that five of its employees were among the six arrested suspects.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with him on Wednesday and “accepted his offer of resignation,” the president’s office said.

“I believe that I have no moral right to head the National Security Committee in the given situation,” Dutbayev said after the meeting, according to the president’s office.

He also said that the arrested security service officers “betrayed their duty and the interests of the people” and must be punished.

The Kazakhstan Today news agency said later Wednesday that police arrested the administration chief of parliament’s upper house, Senate, Erzhan Utembayev, on suspicion of involvement in the murder.

Sarsenbayev, a leader of the Nagyz Ak Zhol party, was the second prominent government critic to be killed in the oil-rich Central Asian nation in the past three months.

The strange thing to me about this entire scenario is that usually, while everyone suspects that the intelligence services are the ones that commit these assassinations, it is never actually proven as the government usually fails to carry out an effective investigation. But here they are, five intelligence officers confessing near-immediately to the crime. In fact, it is the speed in which this is happening that makes me question exactly what is going on. Nathan over at the Registan is definitely covering this story, so continue to see his blog for more details as they emerge.

Assassinations of political opposition leaders tend to be a catalyst for protest against the government, so perhaps the opposition will be strengthened by this. My theory is that the government, instead of letting rumors run wild (which would certainly contribute to the above), it decided that it could actually create a greater cloud of legitimacy for itself by promptly detaining some low-level officers within its midst. So then you have an opposition leader washed up and a sense that you’re doing your job as a government. Who benefit the most here?…

My eyes are practically filled with tears of joy on this news. Something our Salvadoran and Honduran and Nicaraguan friends have been PRAYING for for years has really happened …

A-G-A-I-N-S-T … A-L-L … O-D-D-S!!!!!

If there is a such thing as miracles, this is it.

Thousands of undocumented workers from war-torn El Salvador and elsewhere in Central America have had their temporary protected status in the U.S. extended. President Bush hinted at it in his state of the union message but I was not sure what he would do. News reports continuously said that Bush would let this bill die and force the poor Central Americans back. That in turn would benefit only Hugo Chavez who, like bacteria, prospers in wretched conditions.

Central America, as it picks itself up by its bootstraps, depends on the remittances of its emigre population. Not only that, its immigrants contribute greatly to the U.S. economy. But more than this, Central Americans have been a bulwark of support for the U.S., fighting even for the freedom of others in Iraq and elsewhere, and being such good friends of freedom, democratic revolution and decency, this is the LEAST we can do for them.

THE U.S. IS HELPING ITS FRIENDS!!!!!

The Washington Post has the scoop here.

EFE has the story here:

US-IMMIGRATION
U.S. to extend TPS for Central Americans, newspaper says

Washington, Feb 23 (EFE).- The U.S. government plans to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for another year for more than 300,000 Hondurans, Nicaraguans and Salvadorans, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The newspaper, which cited unidentified U.S. officials, said the announcement would officially be made Friday, when El Salvador’s president, Tony Saca, meets at the White House with President George W. Bush.

Although the announcement has not been made officially, congressional sources told EFE Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security planned to recommend extension of the special immigration status.

The United States grants TPS to citizens of countries affected by war or natural disasters. TPS allows immigrants to live and work legally in the United States.

Some 80,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans are in the United States with temporary visas that expire in July under TPS, which was granted to them in the wake of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and has been extended several times.

Slightly more than 250,000 Salvadorans were granted TPS after the devastating January and February 2001 earthquakes in their country, and their legal status expires in September.

The billions of dollars in remittances sent by Latin American workers in the United States to relatives back home have become an important source of income for the region’s countries.
The U.S. Senate is expected to take up on March 2 the tough immigration bill that was approved in December by the House of Representatives.

Sponsored by Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner, that measure calls for building hundreds of miles of additional barriers along the border with Mexico and for making unauthorized immigration a criminal offense.

Sensenbrenner’s bill has sparked an angry reaction in Mexico and Central America, and a group of Mexican lawmakers came to Washington last week to lobby their U.S. counterparts for a more “just” reform of immigration laws.

Bush, meanwhile, has proposed granting renewable two-year work permits to workers from south of the border, but his plan has been received unenthusiastically in Congress.

Democrats and some Republicans say Bush’s proposal is inadequate because it does not offer migrants a path toward legal permanent residence. Most Republicans, however, condemn the guest-worker initiative as a defacto amnesty that will only encourage more illegal immigration.

Most of the Central Americans who benefit from TPS live in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Miami, Boston, Chicago and New York, according to U.S. Census data. EFE jab/hv

***

REJOICE! And welcome to our country, amigos centroamericanos!

Two big developments on the truly revolutionary idea of free trade extending from the North Slope all the way to Tierra del Fuego.

Colombia is on the edge of signing a free trade pact with the U.S., according to Rob Portman of the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. The pact, if they can reach the finish line, is Colombia’s ticket to the first world and a stinging blow to the hideous anti-free-trade regime of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, who has destroyed much of his country’s private sector, branding it an enemy instead of a job- and value-creator, and driving it out of business. Free-Market News has the story here.

Here is a transcript of Portman’s thoughts:

First of all we have over the last year had very positive negotiations
with Colombia. I believe we are very close to finalizing an agreement. There are a few outstanding issues. President Uribe was here last week as you may know. We had an excellent meeting with him. He also met with the President. We believe that it would be in the interest of the United States to expand our current agreement with Peru, which is currently on Capitol Hill for consultation, by the way, to include the other Andean countries including Colombia. And we are hopeful that we can finalize the agreement and then move Peru and Colombia and Ecuador even together. So that’s our hope.

In terms of specific issues, I think we’ve come a long way, but we continue to have some market access issues, some what are called SPS phytosanitary issues in the area of agriculture. But I believe we will be able to close the gap and come together with an agreement soon.

President Uribe by the way, was a superb negotiator for his interests and his country last week. He’s very influential here in Washington. He has a lot of friends. He’s a very persuasive negotiator, so it went very well.

But that’s not even all.

Pro-free market candidate Oscar Arias in Costa Rica apparently has won the election, after a long, but fair recount in a tight race. His margin was 18,000 votes, a decent one for a small country, and the near-loss experience hopefully will make him humble, something that will do him good. Free trade wins there! Costa Rica has opted for real and sustainable prosperity instead of Chavista dependency, isolation and ruin. El Salvador isn’t going to walk off with it all, Costa Rica’s a player for prosperity too!

Costa Rica and Colombia are saying Y-E-S to free trade!

If it all comes together, it’s a great day for free trade in our hemisphere!

Will update with blogger coverage soon.

Rumors flying for months about a military coup in the Philippines may just have turned out to be true, as an investigation has led to the finding of 16 officers planning to overthrow the government.

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine army has questioned at least 14 lieutenants and sergeants linked to a plot to unseat President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a general said on Wednesday, adding he was confident no coup attempt would ever succeed.

Lieutenant-General Hermogenes Esperon, head of the army, said authorities had identified about 16 junior officers who were planning to carry out a coup. Two of them are absent without leave.

But he said the army has convinced most of the officers to abandon the plot and has disciplined a few uncooperative junior officers.

“I am confident that we have a solid armed forces,” Esperon told reporters. “Any coup attempt would not succeed because we have a solid army.”

The plot, named “Oplan Hackle”, was meant to create a military junta and involved the mass release of officers facing trial for leading a failed uprising in July 2003.

Citing intelligence reports, Esperon said the revolt was planned for either last weekend when graduates of the Philippine Military Academy gathered for a reunion or on March 25 when Arroyo will address the graduating class of 2006.

“We are not saying that we have totally pre-empted ‘Oplan Hackle’,” he told a news conference at the main military camp in Manila.

“We continue to investigate to find out more details. But, we are ready to take action against any group that will destabilise this country, this government.”

Apparently, the plan that the 16 officers had laid out involved releasing prisoners involved in the 2003 attempted-coup with the help of about 200 other soldiers recruited for the plot. They would then try to dislodge the government and form a junta. To say the least, they suffer from delusions of grandeur and I doubt that they would have been able to carry out the operation fully toward its end. When the military leadership is loyal to the government, as is the case here, they certainly weren’t going to get far.

The plan certainly does come on the heels of recently imflamed opposition toward Gloria Arroyo’s presidency due to corruption scandals, but the nature of the coup itself is not on behalf of the opposition itself. The drop in Arroyo’s legitimacy would only be a factor in legitimizing the coup itself, or so the plotters would hope. However, and it may be unnecessary to say this, but the coup would not be democratic in nature as rejuvenated democracy would not be the course that they seek.

On this note, we have to backtrack a bit. The Philippine military is notoriously corrupt, especially in the lower rungs. Many officers have conflicting loyalties. These coup plotters, according to this report, sided with communist rebels and were ready to stage what the document called “The Last Revolution, which outlined the stages of establishing a revolutionary government after forcibly removing Arroyo.” It also outlined the abolition of democratic institutions for the purpose of creating this communist government.

So let’s call this what it is. In reality, it was an attempted coup by communist guerillas acting within the system itself. But a couple of officers on the lower rung of the military hierarchy probably had little chance of success anyway, so chances are this story itself is being blown a bit out of proportion. The only true significance of this is the symbolic element; that it is called the “Final Revolution” and was to be commited near the 20th anniversary of the original People Power Revolution, which didn’t live up to the full hype.

Putin has okayed the return of the Sarospatak Library, seized by the Nazis and then by the Russians in WWII. Of course, this raises some eyebrows over the larger repatriation issues, even if the Russian official media feel the need to demonstrate that no new repatriation precedents are being set with the move. Given this, it’s no big surprise that Hungary has agreed to pay the Russians for “storage costs” that Putin’s buds can then turn around and tout as a foreign-policy success.

So, what’s going on?

A couple of things, as I see it. One, Putin is getting set to try to seriously normalize political ties with Poland and Hungary, the latter of which is pretty irritated over the gas shortages earlier this winter, and the former of whom has had badly-strained ties ever since they managed to get out from under the Pact, but especially given Poland’s support for the Orange Revolution and serious animosity with the ruling regime in Belarus.

It would come as no great shock to any of Publius’ readers to hear that the Poles and Hungarians are generally more sympathetic to the Ukrainians than to the Russians when it comes to near-neighbor relations. So it is equally obvious that Putin needs to equalize the equation a bit.

One way Putin can do that is by setting up some quid-pro-quo with the Polish and Hungarian governments. How that would be arranged with the Poles, I don’t know. But the MSZP (Socialists) are in trouble electorally: with even bird flu being used as ammunition in the traditionally-apoplectic Hungarian political scene, polls put them just slightly behind FIDESZ, when what they need in order to push through reforms is a convincing victory. Now, as covered before, neither party adheres perfectly to a left-wing/right-wing shorthand as we would know it in the US: the MSZP’s economic policy, for example, is vastly less populist, than, say, the Democrats, and FIDESZ has no systematic economic policy beyond what they think will sell in the next round of polls (for instance, Magyar Nemzet* reports that FIDESZ wants to end “laissez-faire capitalism” — a stance that is scaring small businessmen and possibly losing FIDESZ as many votes as it gains them).

But the MSZP’s history of antagonizing the Hungarian churches and other bastions of traditional culture, on the other hand, is long-established. Hungarians who support “traditional culture” by and large despise the Socialists, and the latter have earned each and every forint and filler of that hatred. Long-term, this puts the MSZP in a bind: they’re no longer the Communists of the past (though many powerful figures in the party still are, as many anti-MSZP Hungarians are quick to point out), and in order to have any chance at developing themselves as a credible governing party for the future, the Socialists will have to figure out how to defuse the anger they’ve earned for years of typically repressive left-wing governance.

Managing the return of the Sarospatak library to the Calvinists is one obvious move in that direction: this is a Big Deal(tm). Equally, Tony Blair’s recent visit for the MSZP’s party meeting, and the potential for Bush to attend this year’s 1956 anniversary celebrations, all theoretically hold out some hope for buoying up MSZP’s numbers among educated but undecided voters, and the Prime Minister’s blog possibly a bump among the younger ones. If Putin gets a slight reputation boost during his upcoming Central European trip and some local museum funds in exchange for potentially helping to give the MSZP the electoral edge it needs to hold onto power… then all sides of the equation benefit.

This isn’t a sure analysis, by any stretch — reading into tea leaves might be more accurate. But if it bears out, look for some similar initiative to be announced in the Russian press regarding Poland, whose minority government is having troubles of its own.

*hat tip: Hungary around the clock.

This is not a piece of news, however some may find it interesting.The Truth and Justice Alliance ????????D.A has introduced a new fiscal policy to eliminate, or at least reduce the tax evasion, corruption and eventually poverty. The rate of 16% applies to both personal and corporate income. To my knowledge Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia and Slovakia have already established a flat tax.

???????How is it that such a change appeared in a country characterized by the slow pace at which it has left communism behind? After the fall of communism, in December 1989, the Social-Democratic party inheriting the young wing of the former communist party adopted a progressive taxation system, based on four classical brackets. However, in recent years, this system has become less and less efficient, due to increases in taxation levels and widespread corruption. In the years 2000-2004, the black and gray economy was constantly evaluated at 40 percent.

In real terms, this means that most firms declare zero profit, to avoid taxation, preferring to distribute the money through illegal operations. Often firms employ people with two salaries: a declared (nominal) one, at the lowest level allowed by the law, and a real one, usually two or three times higher. As long as this situation was limited to the high-income level of the population, the bracket system was defended by the social-democratic ideology of social justice based upon comprehensive redistribution.???????

You can find the piece here.

The prominent Cuban dissident Martha Beatriz Roque, leader of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society, is harassed by Castroite mobs led by the State Security on a daily basis. She was released from prison back in 2004 for health problems, yet since months she is again a prisoner; the only difference is that now she’s prisoner at her own house!

Agents of the Castroite terrorist police and mobs are denying her to leave the house and if she does, they’ll kill her.

As she spoke at Radio Mart???? from her house in Santo Suarez neighborhood, Havana, a big ‘repudiation act’ was taking place against her and one of the fascists had a rottweiler threatening to incite this dog against Martha.

This Cuban Patriot is held prisoner at her own house and that is not at all different than being in jail at the Manto Negro prison (where she was kept when she was arrested).

Iran is dangerously close to producing a nuclear weapon and igniting a region-wide arms race. It could be within a couple of months or a couple of years. Nobody knows exactly how much time is left, but the day that Iran goes nuclear is one that many hope will never come. The thought of a government run by Islamic extremists who want to ???????wipe Israel off the map??????? should send chills down the spine of anyone who lives in the free world.

Fortunately, there is time left. The breaking point is when Iran actually produces the weapons. Until then anything is possible. After that point, the West????????s options will be limited dramatically and it will be nearly impossible to prevent the rogue regime from doing whatever it pleases. Unfortunately, however, there already exists an authoritarian government in the region that has maintained nuclear arms for years already. And it faces the threat of a radical Islamist uprising that would put those arms into the hands of people who want to use them.

Pakistan.

The repressive policies of Gen. Musharraf????????s government have created an environment conducive to widespread support for Islamic extremists. Economically the country is in complete shambles, children are not being educated, and people are shot just for protesting these very same things. Since all meaningful moderate opposition is quite literally cut off at the knees, as in Iran, the only alternative is the mosque.

Protests over the Danish cartoon controversy have been the bigger than those in all other Muslim countries combined. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets because of it, but the demonstrators are mostly taking their anger out on the government.

Pakistan????????s Daily Times newspaper says that religious groups are rallying the masses against the government. It would be impossible for such large demonstrations to appear spontaneously in the country????????s urban areas. Tribal leaders and underground radical Islamist organizations are teaming up to oppose Musharraf????????s authoritarian government. The former want to be left alone and the latter want the country????????s nuclear weapons arsenal. And most problematically, as Mao Ze Dong would say, they are ???????swimming in a sea of support.???????

The country????????s largest radical Islamist alliance, the six-party Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, planned a ???????peaceful protest??????? on Feb. 19 in Islamabad, the heart of Musharaff????????s power. In response the government has completely banned all rallies in the capital, arrested dozens of the group????????s leaders, and rounded up hundreds of its activists. A widespread, possibly crippling demonstration has been thwarted for now, but the momentum is on the Islamists???????? side and they will be harder to stop in the future.

It is a sign that the stability of the government is at its all-time low as these Islamist groups contend to take over through the use of people power. But there will be no Orange Revolution for Pakistan. The result instead will be a government desperately holding on to power through the use of any means necessary, with extremist groups willing to do anything to attain it.

The complication is that this challenge is arising directly because of Musharaff????????s repressive policies, which have depleted his legitimacy and caused the population to align with the Islamist forces. Yet this challenge is likely to only cause him to tighten his grip, not release it, culminating in a vicious cycle that will eventually lead to his downfall.

This is a grave threat that is going unnoticed. With Iran in the world????????s scope, Pakistan generally falls off the radar. But given that it already possesses a nuclear arsenal, the radical Islamists there may be closer than Ahmadinejad to obtaining weapons of mass destruction.

Alek Boyd has another bombshell on the details of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’s family fortune and all its offshore accounts. Using the offices of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Chavez has a sprawling network of bank accounts spread through Panama, Europe, Brazil and other places, amounting to billions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth.

What, you may ask, does this have to do with revolution? The answer is, a lot. It was vast corruption on a Plutus-like scale, in billions, that brought down the Marcos and Soeharto regimes in Philippines and Indonesia, both of which triggered massive moves to the streets to overthrow these dictators.

The Philippines in particular was a great contributor to world democratic revolution, with its 1986 People’s Power revolution (Note: The 20th anniversary of it is this week), which inspired the magnificent Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the downfall of the monstrous Soviet Union in 1990. It also inspired the downfall of Soeharto in 1998. The whole root of it was Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth!

Remember the S-H-O-E-S!!!!

Ill-gotten wealth in the billions is also the root of the current revolution in Thailand - it’s likely to be politically lethal in the end for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who’s up to no good with his Ample Rich Holdings (he really named it that!) in Singapore and crony deals with his satellite company. People are marching in the streets in Bangkok over this.

That’s why Chavez’s ill-gotten wealth held in offshore accounts is likely to be an explosive issue as word of this gets out. Go see it right here and get the full scoop on this emerging scandal from this brutal, oppressive, and thieving dictator.

Is Venezuela running out of oil? This Bloomberg article certainly suggests it, and if so, it’s an earmark of a communist regime. There’s no such thing as a communist regime without shortages.

Russia the breadbasket ran out of wheat.

Cuba the sugar king ran out of sugar.

Vietnam the rice bowl ran out of rice.

China the Middle Kingdom ran out of everything.

And now, Venezuela, with the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, is having trouble with its oil production, enough so that the energy-saving measure of natural gas substitution has been introduced to the domestic population, which consumes very little oil compared to the amount Venezuela produces. Why would they need to scrimp on a population that uses so little anyway? Why scrimp there? Does that little bit that’s used domestically really matter that much? Is the margin that thin?

Venezuela’s oil production has gone to hell and it’s not getting better. In 1998, Venezuela was the Number One exporter of imported oil to the U.S. Today, it ranks Number Six, and only sells the U.S. 10% of its oil - see the Energy Department site for proof, it’s not 15% as the news media lazily describes. Last year it was 15%, this year it’s since slid 10%.

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has driven his country’s oil company straight into the ground. Windfall profits on high oil prices that should have gone into reinvestment in order to ensure maximum production and maximum profits is instead being squandered on welfare handouts for immediate consumption. The oil industry’s seed corn is being eaten on this Hugo Chavez development model. Now, there are signs that Venezuela has ruined its oil fields, can’t pump gas, and still has contracts to fulfill. Already CITGO is importing oil from other countries because it can’t get enough from Venezuela.

With Hugo Chavez saying the country will consume natural gas because it must scrimp in order to have enough to sell abroad, alongside artificial price controls that ensure that Venezuelans will pay just 19 cents for a gallon of gas, there are some significant and inevitable shortages ahead indeed.

Even Hugo Chavez cannot escape the iron laws of economics.

Right under the news radar, the U.S. and Colombia are hashing out their last differences for the free trade pact that will create confidence and prosperity on an untold scale for already star-performing Colombia and will enrich and enliven the U.S. with the bright and brilliant side of Colombia from its private sector, not its ugly drug and crime side, which will be destroyed.

It’s a great occasion for joy and it might even happen by the end of this week.

There’s one nation watching this, one that already has a defacto free trade pact with the US due to its trade in oil - you’ve got it, it’s Venezuela.

Venezuela’s chavistas are responding with rage and fury at this beautiful coming development between the U.S. and Colombia. The Chavistas know that if free trade takes off in Colombia with the world’s most vast economy, it’s bad news for them. Suddenly, they won’t be competitive anymore. Maybe not even in oil - right now, Colombia is a fast-rising supplier of oil to the U.S. and that’s going to grow. But not just oil - manufactured goods, produce, steel, minerals. Venezuela, which has run its industries into the ground, can’t compete anyway, it’s just that Colombia will eat their lunch even more. El Universal reports the amazing story here:

Colombia-US FTA may distort Venezuelan market

Minister of Industry and Trade Gustavo M????rquez thinks that an eventual Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by Colombia and the United States could result in unfair competition to the detriment of Venezuelan commodities.

Colombian goods would become more competitive than Venezuelan items, and up to 40 percent of Venezuelan-Colombian trade could be damaged, according to Andean Community estimates.

“The execution may create distortion between Colombia and Venezuela. We are weighing this impact to prevent an adverse effect on our productive sector and move forward to Mercosur,” the senior official pointed out.

M????rquez deems it necessary “institutional redefinition and creation of community standards on dispute resolution towards unity of nations.”

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will assess over the next few days a number of scenarios to anticipate actions in order to lessen the impact of a possible US-Colombian agreement.

Go, free trade!!!