Home add your blog Archives Search Book Reviews Forum Contact RSS FEED

This site is an rss/xml news reader containing our favorite feeds. All articles are the copyrighted material of the blogs that wrote them.

Guest Post by Caroline Esser: The Right Kind of
Democracy Promotion

post from The Washington Note on 02 July 2009 11:08:00 AM. © The Washington Note

Caroline Esser is a Research Intern at the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program.

The unfolding political crisis in Hondruas reminds me of a statement that Imran Khan, world-class cricket player and current member of the Pakistani Parliament, gave at a recent New America Foundation event: the United States can best promote American ideals and positively influence other countries by supporting the democratic process rather than sponsoring one "chosen" leader (or American puppet), as the Bush administration did for years in supporting former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

It seems that Obama has surprised many by doing as Imran Khan advised in Honduras - he has demanded the reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya in the name of democracy.

Daniel Larison, a blogger for the American Conservative, attempts to show a contradiction between the Obama administration's criticism of the coup in Honduras and its support for the protesters in Iran.

Larison claims that in both cases the dissenters rightfully objected to the violation of their countries' democratic institutions. He asks, "Isn't it the case that the response of Honduran political and military institutions to presidential illegalities is exactly the one that most of the Western world has been openly desiring in Iran?"

But what were previously legitimate and progressive efforts to challenge Zelaya's referendum became regressive and anti-democratic when the opposition used military force to expel their democratically elected president from the country. Larison is correct that the people of Honduras had every right to protest their president's violation of the constitution; however, U.S. support cannot and should not extend to military violence.

And there is another distinction between Hondruas and Iran. Honduras has a genuinely democratic system worth supporting, whereas the Islamic Republic of Iran's democracy is largely a facade.

A review of past U.S. policy in Latin America demonstrates the wisdom of Obama's policy. It cannot be forgotten how many times in our recent past we have supported this sort of military coup, covertly facilitating the replacement of a leftist Latin American president in the hopes of expanding our sphere of influence.

The most well known example of this type of thoughtless American foreign policy is the 1973 American-backed coup d'état that removed Salvador Allende from power in Chile and replaced him with General Augusto Pinochet, a military dictator who committed countless human rights violations and played a large role in Operation Condor - a brutal effort to eliminate socialist dissenters from the Southern Cone.

Though democratically elected, Allende was ousted because the United States feared his allegiance to the Marxist party. Of course there are less extreme and more recent examples of this sort of American meddling, including President Bush's support of a Venezuelan coup to displace Chavez in 2002.

As Faith Smith has pointed out on this blog (here and here), choosing the side of democracy was no simple matter in the Honduran case because although Zelaya was democratically elected he has recently attempted to alter the Honduran constitution and reform the presidential term limit (never an indicator of a democratically inclined leader).

But Obama is correct to support the democratic process rather than any individual or political party.

On June 28th, Obama made the following statement:

I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya. As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

Thus President Obama has simply and wisely stressed the unconditional importance of constitutional law and democratic elections.

Along with the Senate's unanimous decision to pass the Kerry-Lugar Bill which declares "the consolidation of democracy, good governance, and rule of law" as the United States' number one policy commitment Pakistan - President Obama's response to the situation in Honduras indicates that the United States may be carving out a refreshingly modest, principled approach to democracy promotion.

-- Caroline Esser

Read The Full Article:
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2009/07/the_right_kind/

Digg this

Home Ownership: Do You Have The Courage To Buy
Into This Housing Market

post from Jutia Group on 02 July 2009 11:07:20 AM. © Jutia Group

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/EJt5t4LDWhA/

Digg this

FDL Action: Whippping the Public Option Day 9

post from Firedoglake on 02 July 2009 11:05:41 AM. © Firedoglake

We've added Tammy Baldwin to the "leans yes" category. Keep the calls coming folks, we've had very positive responses from Hill staff.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/02/fdl-action-whip-it-day-9/

Digg this

Mike's Blog Roundup

post from Crooks and Liars on 02 July 2009 11:00:00 AM. © Crooks and Liars

Sensen No Sen: The health care crisis oligopoly and the real weight of the AMA

The Stranger: A classic example of the Gay Panic Defense

Jack & Jill Politics: New video from @WeekInBlackness - BET doesn't care about black people

D-Day: The Maze of Food Policy

NotionsCapital: American Milestone - 2.75 ton of fudge!

James Wolcott: Sarah Palin taunts John McCain with her runaway caboose

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/mike-finnigan/mikes-blog-roundup-235

Digg this

Time For Another Blogger Ethics Panel: WaPo
Selling Access

post from TalkLeft on 02 July 2009 10:57:00 AM. © TalkLeft

Mike Allen of Politico actually has a blockbuster story about the total lack of journalistic ethics at the Washington Post:

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."

Frankly, this is simply incredible. Dana Milbank of the WaPo; he of the hissy fit over Nico Pitney asking a question at an Obama presser should have some comment on this. More . . .

From the WaPo offer:

"Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate," says the one-page flier. "Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth. ... Bring your organization’s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders …

Here is an important question - what "key Obama Administration and Congressional players" was WaPo offering? And what were these "players" getting in return? This is simply scandalous.

Speaking for me only

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/qcTfj6Yi0OA/49384

Digg this

My Heretofore Unrevealed Feelings About Two
Ongoing GOP Sex Sagas -- Verse-Case Scenario by Tony Peyser

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 02 July 2009 10:50:48 AM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

These stories get me hot under the collar
Like a drunk and out of control date;
While I love the Sen. Ensign scandal,
The Gov. Sanford one is my "soul mate."

VERSE CASE SCENARIO

Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, "Blue State Jukebox." He was a daily cartoonist for the L.A. Times from 1994 to 1997. You can e-mail Tony at tonypeyser@yahoo.com.

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/peyser/1192

Digg this

Washington Post reportedly selling health care
lobbyists and CEOs access to its journalists, Obama officials.

post from Think Progress on 02 July 2009 10:45:00 AM. © Think Progress

The Politico reports that the Washington Post, for a price of $25,000 to $250,000, is “offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, non-confrontational access to ‘those powerful few’ ? Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper?s own reporters and editors.” While the Politico notes that on-the-record events and conferences are becoming a trend in the newspaper industry, this type of closed, pay-for-access event raises serious ethical concerns. The flier for the event, titled “Health-Care Reform: Better or Worse for Americans? The reform and funding debate,” reads:

Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth [...] Bring your organization?s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama Administration and Congressional leaders [?] Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. [...] Annual series sponsorship of 11 Salons offered at $250,000 [?] Health-care reporting and editorial staff members of The Washington Post [...] An exclusive opportunity to participate in the health-care reform debate among the select few who will actually get it done. [...] July 21, 2009 6:30 p.m.

In recent weeks, the Washington Post has editorialized against a public option as a part of health care reform. Defending the status quo of a private insurer-dominated system, the Post wrote, “A public plan is not necessary to maintain a competitive market in health insurance.”

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/02/wapo-healthcare-lobbyists/

Digg this