Bolivia Has A New President

New Bolivian president sworn in

Former supreme court head Eduardo Rodriguez has been sworn in as Bolivia's new president, after Congress convened to accept Carlos Mesa's resignation, amid violent street protests that claimed one life.

Rodriguez was sworn in on Thursday by head of Congress Hormando Vaca Diez, who himself declined to assume the country's presidency.

In his inauguration speech, shortly after midnight, Rodriguez made his commitment to a new vote: "One of my functions will be to convene the electoral process to renew the representatives of the people."

He did not set a date for the polls, but the constitution stipulates that under such circumstances, new elections must be held within the next six months.

I've been quoting BBC on Bolivia recently, but considering how heavily I have raided the BBC archives on behalf of Ethiopia, and in view of my reputation for good diplomatic skills, it seemed prudent to look at Bolivia from an AlJazeerian viewpoint, at least for a while.

Bolivia has been in the news previously at Aljazeera:

Bolivian protester shot dead

Bolivian troops have shot and killed a miner after protesters swept into the city to demand the nationalisation of the country's natural gas resources.

Soldiers fired on a bus with miners heading to demonstrations in Sucre on Thursday, Interior Minister Saul Lara told reporters. Two more miners were wounded, Lara added.

The death was the first in nearly four weeks of protests by an impoverished indigenous Indian majority that have triggered the worst turmoil in Carlos Mesa's 19 months in government.

Police also fired tear gas at peasants and students who set off sticks of dynamite and fireworks in the streets to protest against Mesa's possible replacement, Senate President Hormando Vaca Diez.

Look at that! A possible vice-presidential replacement, stymied by fireworks and dynamite! Now there's something you don't see every day!!

Bolivian president offers to quit

Bolivia's Congress is expected to decide who should succeed President Carlos Mesa after he announced he was stepping down amid angry protests demanding nationalisation of the country's gas industry.

"It is my responsibility to say that this is as far as I can go," Mesa said on national television late on Monday, holding back tears.

"For that reason my decision is to offer my resignation from my post as president of the republic," he added, asking protesters to allow Congress to debate his successor.

"The solution to our problems must be based on the interests of all," he said.

Wow! Did you catch that? "The solution to our problems must be based on the interests of all." Good one! I haven't heard anything like that for a long time!

Bolivian protesters clash with police

Bolivian riot police in the capital La Paz have fired tear gas to repel dynamite-throwing protesters demanding nationalisation of the energy sector.

Despite President Carlos Mesa's guarantee of safety for a key session of Congress later on Tuesday, only a quarter of the country's lawmakers ventured into the city's narrow colonial streets and past heavily guarded police barriers.

The main opposition and indigenous leader Evo Morales tried to strike a note of harmony in Congress by saying he "hoped it will be a historical session to unite Bolivia".

But outside, protesters from the indigenous city of El Alto, many of them university students, launched dynamite at police with slingshots. In the rarefied air of the world's highest capital, protesters and office workers scurried to escape clouds of tear gas.

"The World's Highest Capital" takes on extra meaning, as all four or five of my regular readers already know.

And of course the inevitable profile.

Country profile: Bolivia

With a history of nearly 200 coups and counter-coups since its independence from Spain in 1825, Bolivia has been left a legacy of deep-seated poverty, social unrest and corruption along with an underground illegal drug economy.

Bolivia is landlocked between Peru, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Chile in central South America. The west of Bolivia is situated in the Andes mountain range and the majority of the population live in the centre of the country on a highland plateau.

22 Killed Protesting 'Fraudulent' Election

The BBC reports on what appears to be yet another cold-blooded massacre.

Ethiopians seek missing relatives

Addis Ababa is a ghost town with only a heavy police presence on the streets.

The city has seen three days of street protests over the ruling party's alleged massive election fraud and hundreds of young people have been arrested.

Doctors at city hospitals are working frantically to treat the wounded, many of whom have gunshot wounds.

At the Menelik II Hospital morgue, five narrow wooden coffins were laid out, according to Reuters news agency.

Fakedu Kibret had gone to collect his 34-year-old brother's body. "I'm deeply sad, not just for my brother but everyone who has died," he said.

Eyewitness: Ethiopian protests

Yeneayhu, 29, an Ethiopian lecturer at Addis Ababa University, tells the BBC News website what he saw in the capital on Wednesday when police clashed with protesters accusing the ruling party of fraud in last month's elections.

I was running, just like the others.

But I saw the military people.

They were directly shooting at everyone.

They were aiming right at the people.

It was the worst thing about today's experience in the city.

This is really the most disastrous thing in my whole life.

And tomorrow, from what I have heard, the same thing will happen again.

It will keep happening until the government takes action over the election results.

People want some kind of immediate action.

As of yet though, I have not heard any government body reporting about the situation.

Previously: Ethiopians shot dead in protests

Final results have not been announced [...] reports of massive fraud are investigated.
...
"When the crowd dispersed in fear, they started shooting at them. There was blood everywhere."

Deeper background: Ethiopians flock to cast ballots

Hundreds of people lined up at polling stations with some of the queues extending to adjacent streets.

Security has been tightened, but the chairman of the national elections board says voting is going on smoothly.

More than 300 foreign observers - in the country for the first time - are investigating claims of irregularities.
...
The poll has been marred by opposition allegations of harassment of its agents up to the eve of voting.

One of the main opposition groups, the CUD, said hundreds of election monitors had been arrested, and it threatened not to accept the results of the vote.

The government denies the allegations, saying opponents want to discredit the poll for political reasons.

The National Election Board head, Kemal Bedri, said he was taken aback by the accusations.

Notice how none of this sounds familiar.

Still more background:



Timeline: Ethiopia

Country profile: Ethiopia

Profile: Ethiopian leader Meles Zenawi

Gandhi: When Did Bush Decide?

If you're trying to convince somebody that the Downing Street Minutes is an accurate representation of events, and you need more ammunition, you'll probably find it in the newest post at my favorite Australian blog, Bush Out (by Gandhi):

When Did Bush Decide To Invade Iraq?

'Crunch Time' In Bolivia

I don't usually do anecdotes. Here's an exception. Some years ago I was introduced to a young woman who had spent a year in Bolivia as an exchange student. Looking to strike up a conversation, I asked her: "What one thing will you always remember about Bolivia?" She said: "Ten grams of cocaine cost five dollars."

Displaying my considerable mathematical skill, I said: "That's fifty cents a gram." She said "Yep." And I said: "So the people, they're ripped all the time?" She said: "No. They can't afford it." I said "They don't have fifty cents?" And she said: "No. Most of them don't have fifty cents. And if they did have fifty cents they would spend it on food."

Welcome to Bolivia, land of cocaine and natural gas; also

one of the least developed countries in South America. Almost two-thirds of its people, many of whom are subsistence farmers, live in poverty.

And yet these indigenous subsistence farmers, perhaps the poorest people in perhaps the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, have somehow found out that their government is "a stooge of the foreign energy companies" and they've decided they've had about enough of it. They want more control of their country's resources, and they have some other issues and concerns too. There's also a history of shady dealings.

In April 2000, Bechtel signed a contract with Hugo Banzer, the former president of Bolivia, to privatize the water supply in Bolivia's 3rd-largest city, Cochabamba. The contract was officially awarded to a Bechtel subsidiary named Aguas del Tunari, which had been formed specifically for that purpose. Shortly thereafter, the company tripled the water rates in that city, an action which resulted in protests and rioting among those who could no longer afford clean water. Martial law was declared, and Bolivian police killed at least 6 people and injured over 170 protesters. Amidst Bolivia's nationwide economic collapse and growing national unrest over the state of the economy, the Bolivian government was forced to withdraw the water contract. In 2001, Bechtel filed suit the Bolivian government for $25 million in lost profits. The continuing legal battle has attracted attention from anti-globalization and anti-capitalist groups.

This year the problem has been legislation setting tax rates on foreign energy firms. They think the foreign energy companies aren't paying enough, and they think they can influence their government's position on the matter.

So they've taken to the streets of their capital, and they've stayed there for weeks, and their protests have sometimes been violent but mostly they have been peaceful, and they've tied up the whole city, and they've virtually locked up the entire landlocked country, and their demands have certainly been noticed, and their President has resigned, and now their Congress is trying to decide whether to hold a snap election, or what they should do, but they can't meet in La Paz because nothing in La Paz is moving.

So today the Congress is going to meet in Sucre to see what ... if ... how ... they can avoid enflaming a dangerous situation ... whether they can avoid a civil war. It may be a good omen that the name of the city where they are about to meet -- Sucre -- is French for "sugar". Perhaps a sweet ending is in the cards for this crisis in Bolivia. But then again you never know.

I have been following this story for quite a while now, and I am continually amazed by the persistence and courage of the Bolivian protesters. But I have never been more amazed than I was when I took a close look at the 'gun' in this photo.



Here is the most recent BBC coverage of the Bolivian situation. Previous posts regarding Bolivia on this blog include this one, which has links to all the others.

This lowly and nearly frozen blogger extends his heartfelt best wishes to the indigenous subsistence farmers of Bolivia, where the cocaine is unaffordable at fifty cents a gram, and some of the rifles are made out of wood.

Reading Chris Floyd

Chris Floyd is one of my favorite writers -- I read him whenever I can find him, and I think you should be reading him too. During the past few months I've spent quite some time trying to prepare a list of links to his best work, but I keep running into problems.

For starters, his excellent weekly columns ("Global Eye") published by The Moscow Times are available by subscription only at the Times website. Uggh!

Fortunately, his most recent columns have been reposted at The Smirking Chimp. But they're tough to find unless you have a link like this one, and even then they're difficult to organize.

In light of all this, I am very pleased to report that Chris Floyd has recently started blogging, and that I have found his blog, "Empire Burlesque". He's been posting regularly, and his posts [as expected] are all well-written, eye-opening and thought-provoking. It certainly wouldn't hurt you to bookmark "Empire Burlesque", nor to visit it often.

But that's not the best news of the day. Chris Floyd has been re-posting old columns on his blog, and he's also been posting short items (which he calls the "Past Imperfect" series), each of which contains a handful of links to thematically related re-posted columns. What could be better?

OK, I'll admit, it would be better if I could stop reading Chris Floyd and get some sleep. But at least I'm not looking for his columns anymore.

And neither are you!

Past Imperfect I

No Ways Tired: A Post-Election Manifesto (2004)

Into the Dark: The Pentagon Plan to Foment Terrorism (2002)

Darkness Visible: The Pentagon Plan to Foment Terrorism is Now Operative (2005)

Past Imperfect II

Pin Heads: New Bush Law Would Establish Principle of Theocracy

Fresh Horses: Bush Brings Butchery to the Homeland

Sword Play: The Secret History of America's Terrorists (GLADIO)

The Fire Sermon: Strange Doings at the Inauguration

Past Imperfect III

This is where we came in:
"That Which Happened" (September 11)

Here's fresh hell waiting down the road:
Cry Havoc: Bush's Own Personal Janjaweed

A recipe for quagmire and defeat:
Manufacturing Intent: The Army's Cult of Killing Leaves a Generation Gap

A grim election prophecy from 2003:
Vanishing Act: "Disappearing" the Republic at the Push of a Button

Past Imperfect IV

Welcome to Bushworld:
Masked and Anonymous: The Age of Abu Ghraib
Ring of Fire: The Fallujah Inferno

The Republic's been dead for a long time now:
Death Wish: The Presidential Prerogative of Murder (2001)
Render Unto Caesar: The End of Law (2002)

A brief history of that great Bushist "moderate":
Colin Powell, Bagman

A statement of principles:
Moment by Moment

Past Imperfect V

A chronicle of whitewash foretold:
Silent Partners: Bush, bin Laden and the 9/11 Commission

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue:
Heart of Darkness: The Bush Cult and American Madness

High fever in the Homeland:
Suicide Bombers: Nihilism Enthroned

Head cases:
Voices Carry: Platonic Myth and Modern Fundamentalism

Past Imperfect VI

The curtain goes up on the grim comedy:
Invisible Republic: America's Owners Cash in Their Chips (December 2000)

How our statesmen went to war:
Ground Zero: The Anatomy of an Honest Mistake (January 2004)

It didn't start with Abu Ghraib:
The Pentagon Archipelago: Trapped in a Net of State Terror (March 2004)

Goodness hides behind its gates:
Unnatural Acts: No Place for Mercy in Bush's Babylon (April 2004)

That should keep us all busy for a while.

Thanks, Chris! You ROCK!

Human Rights Watch: "Massacre" in Uzbekistan

1. Crowd masses on Bobur Square, which is later sealed off by security forces
2. Troops open fire on crowd as helicopters circle, forcing people to flee north to Cholpon Prospect
3. Crowd pushes aside buses set up to block the road, as shooting continues
4. Crowd comes face to face with troops near School 15, who open fire as other soldiers in buildings along the road shoot at the crowd too

Uzbek crackdown was a 'massacre'

Uzbekistan's crackdown on protesters in Andijan last month was a "massacre", according to Human Rights Watch, in the fullest report yet on the bloodshed.
...
Tashkent says only 173 people, mainly Islamic militants, died in the protest.

But eyewitnesses say hundreds of protesters were killed when troops opened fire on Andijan's main square.

"The scale of this killing was so extensive, and its nature was so indiscriminate and disproportionate, that it can best be described as a massacre," Human Rights Watch [HRW] said in its report, presented at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

So now, of course, the question becomes: How can this be spun into the most valuable possible yarn?

As has been reported previously, HRW said the huge protest was sparked by the trial of 23 local businessmen on charges of religious extremism and the subsequent freeing of those men and other prisoners by armed locals on the night of 12 May.

But it said there was no evidence that the protest was motivated by an Islamist agenda, as alleged by the government.

"Interviews with numerous people present at the demonstrations consistently revealed that the protesters spoke about economic conditions in Andijan, government repression, and unfair trials - and not the creation of an Islamic state. People were shouting 'Ozodliq!' ['Freedom'] and not 'Allahu Akbar' ['God is Great']," HRW said.

I ask you: Do you have any idea why an ally of the USA's War On Islam would want people to think the protests were about religion, rather than "economic conditions, government repression, and unfair trials"? Any idea at all?

Witnesses told the group that they massed in Andijan's main square, calling for freedom and justice, and were then gunned down by government troops after the square was sealed off.
...
The protesters tried to flee the square, and fled north, but found their way blocked and came under heavy fire near School 15, the report said.
...
The government says it is conducting its own investigation into what happened.

Oh, I'm sure we can expect a thorough investigation and a no-holds-barred report from this US ally where the ruling thugs are [in]famous for boiling their opponents alive! No kidding. Have a look at this! With friends like these ... who needs ... friends?

The Uzbek embassy in London did not respond to a request for an interview regarding the HRW report.

I wonder why.

Would you like some more background? Here's some and here's some more.

Why The 'War On Whatever' Will Never End

Weapons spending tops $1 trillion

Spending on weapons around the world topped $1 trillion (£560bn) for the first time in 2004, a new report says.

A study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) found that countries around the world spent $162 on weapons for each person alive.

The US alone accounted for 47% of the global total, mainly because of soaring spending on its "global war on terror".

Arms companies were benefiting from the demand, with sales at the top 100 firms up 25% in 2003 on the year before.

Want more info? Click here for the BBC piece I have been quoting, or ... check out the AP article published in Toronto's Globe And Mail, which includes the following additional details:

Stockholm — For the first time since the Cold War, global military spending exceeded $1-trillion (U.S.) in 2004, nearly half of it by the United States, a prominent European think tank said Tuesday.

As military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terrorism continue, the world spent $1.035-trillion on military goods during the year, corresponding to 2.6 per cent of global gross domestic product, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.

The United States accounted for 47 per cent of all military expenditures, while Britain and France each made up 5 per cent. In all, 15 countries accounted for 82 per cent of the world's total military spending.
...
Besides its regular defence budget, the United States has allocated $238-billion since 2003 to fight terrorism, according to the report.
...
The arms trade also grew sharply, with the top 100 makers of weapons increasing their combined sales by 25 per cent between 2002 and 2003, the report said. Those companies sold weapons and arms worth $236-billion worldwide in 2003, compared with $188-billion a year earlier. The United States accounted for 63 per cent of all arms sales in 2003, the report said.

You can see the highlights of the SIPRI report here, although I don't mind including a few here. In the the section headed "Security and conflicts" you will see that

• In 2004 it became obvious that maintaining control over Iraqi territory would require capabilities other than high-intensity warfare and more manpower than in the technology-intensive phase of the war.

• Many of the conflicts that continue to produce the greatest number of deaths, casualties and suffering are wars of long duration. Far from soliciting more attention, their long-standing and recurrent nature tend to make them less visible internationally. Although the current international emphasis on the prevention of violent conflict is a positive development, it is worth considering whether the emphasis of policy and research should be directed at addressing the resolution of the world’s longest-standing major armed conflicts.

• Much of the current discussion of peace-building is focused on the macro level. What current operational experiences appear to illustrate, however, is that peace-building fails most often at the micro level, in the content and delivery of specific security, rule-of-law, economic, social and political reforms.

• Nationally led ‘coalitions of the willing’ of the kind that undertook the military actions in Afghanistan (2002) and Iraq (2003) pose special challenges for parliamentary oversight, since the interstate component of decision making is not carried out through an established, transparent multilateral institutional process.

• Military expenditure by states in the Middle East is high and shows a rising trend since 1996. Conventional arms races are unconstrained, but developments related to weapons of mass destruction are the ones that receive international attention.

• Since the 1980s, the introduction of a more open economic model in most states of the Latin American and Caribbean region has been accompanied by the growth of new regional structures, the dying out of interstate conflicts and a reduction in intra-state conflicts.

• A number of official inquiries into the handling of intelligence concerning Iraq’s weapon programmes, including how it had been interpreted or presented, published reports in 2004. The inquiries found a common theme that pre-war assessments were inaccurate and unsupported by the available evidence.

This is only a small sample; there are more highlights here. And if you really want more information, visit the SIPRI website at www.sipri.org.

Special thanks to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for keeping tabs on this for us.

Bolivia: Dynamite and Tear Gas

Protesters threw dynamite at police in the isolated Bolivian capital of La Paz and the police responded with tear gas, according to the latest report from the BBC.

Offer fails to end Bolivia crisis

Anti-government demonstrators have fought running battles with police in Bolivia's main city, La Paz, despite the president's offer to resign.

Indigenous peasant farmers and labour activists played cat and mouse with the security forces, trading dynamite charges with police firing tear gas.

La Paz is cut off from the rest of the country as protesters demand energy nationalisation and political reforms.
...
[T]he protestors ... have grown more violent and the place now feels like it is a city at war, our correspondent says.

Throughout Tuesday, poor Indian peasant farmers, miners and trades union members clashed with the police.

When they hurled deafening charges of dynamite, riot police responded with tear gas, forcing demonstrators and unlucky civilians to scurry for cover.

The road blockades across Bolivia are strangling the country, with access to many of its neighbours now impossible.

That's just a glimpse; there are more details in the BBC's story, which you can read here.

The AP's current story on Bolivia contains many more details, as you can see from the following excerpts:

Violent Uprising Persists in Bolivia

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Violent street protests choked off Bolivia's crippled capital on Tuesday, as the collapse of President Carlos Mesa's government failed to quell demands by the poor Indian majority for more power from the white elite that has ruled the country for decades.

Riot police firing arcing tear gas canisters sent thousands of demonstrators fleeing down the cobblestoned streets of La Paz's old colonial center.

Miners, who joined protesting Indians, farmers and laborers, responded by blasting dynamite sticks that sent pigeons fluttering. Ambulances sped away with victims and a major public hospital said it receive 12 victims. Most were felled by tear gas and rubber bullets, but the hospital said one miner lost a hand in a dynamite explosion.

A group of helmeted officers dragged miners roughly from the yellow dump trucks they had used to converge on the city, beating some of the protesters as others regrouped amid the biting tear gas.

Further excerpts from the same AP article may interest you:

[President Carlos] Mesa [who offered his resignation yesterday] went on national television late Tuesday to urge lawmakers to quickly call early national elections, saying it was the only solution to the crisis.

"Let's put an end to this craziness," said Mesa. "The only way to avoid further violence is to hold elections right away."

Congress could call new elections if it accepts the resignation. Such a vote would raise the prospect of Bolivia becoming the seventh Latin American country to move to a leftist government suspicious of U.S. intentions in the region.
...
Washington has watched with concern for its free-market agenda, which has failed to ease the grinding poverty that affects 64 percent of Bolivians. Per-capita gross domestic product, at $2,600, is among the lowest in the hemisphere.

The poverty has fueled anger at the U.S.-driven globalization movement. A recent tax increase touched off demands for the nationalization of the oil industry and for a new constitution giving more clout to Indians, who represent more than half the population.
...
The collapse of Mesa's government highlights the growing instability of the Andean region. It follows by just weeks the ouster of Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez in the midst of massive street protests.

In Peru, President Alejandro Toledo, whose popularity ratings have been in the single digits for more than a year, survived an attempt in Congress last month to declare the presidency vacant after a congressional report accused Toledo of helping forge party registration rolls.
...
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez reacted angrily to suggestions by U.S. officials that Chavez was somehow involved in the Bolivian protests, saying: "No, categorically no."

He and other leaders gathered in Florida for a meeting of the Organization of American States said they were ready to "provide all cooperation" to Bolivia but have no plans to intervene.

"The OAS never intervenes in a country. We're going to see how we can help," OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said.

What a tangled web! See this post for more on the embattled OAS and the endangered idea that it "never intervenes in a country".

Your lowly and nearly frozen blogger pleads "guilty" for not having reported very much [or at all] on the very interesting situations in Peru and Ecuador. (Regarding Ecuador, at least we've been reading Greg Palast, here and here). But those who would like more background on the Bolivian situation can find it here, here, here, here and here.

Another Grim Tale From Dahr Jamail

The newest post at Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches is called Who Cares? and it's another grim tale.

Suicide bombers unleashed another day of hell across Iraq today, killing at least 18 and wounding over 67.

Four of them struck Iraqi Security forces, along with US military convoys around Baghdad. Despite the huge US-backed Iraqi security operation throughout the capital city, attacks there continue unabated.
...
It continues to be clear that the plans of the Bush Administration in Iraq either do not include the protection of Iraqis, they don’t care, or both.
...
I received an email from someone today along these lines which I found interesting:

“I operated out of Camp Anaconda, near Balad. What almost everyone, both in uniform and those as contractors, agreed on (was) the objective of the Bush Administration’s long term (plan) is focused primarily on oil. Hearts and minds are secondary, far behind the issue of petroleum products, as the US continues to compete for resources around the world. I hope more media conversation is forthcoming on this issue.”
...
Recently, the US-backed Iraqi “government” announced it had detained nearly 900 “suspected militants.” A “suspected militant” in Iraq looks more and more like anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time when Iraqi or US forces conduct an operation.

Of course the looting of homes during raids continues along with the detentions of innocent Iraqis. So much so that as a result of the huge “security” operation in Baghdad, Laith Kuba, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari found it necessary to make the following statement:

“Some people complained there are cases where soldiers took advantage and helped themselves to cash and other items. One doesn’t rule it out. The complaints I heard from people were the aggressiveness of some of these forces as they do things. Some people have half-hinted that they have copied some of the mannerisms of other foreign troops. I think that is a valid criticism in some cases.”

Please read Who Cares? ... and please bookmark Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches.

President Resigns After Mass Protests!

Bolivian Carlos President Mesa, who had vowed to remain in office for his full term, resigned Monday night after mostly peaceful demonstrations which we have been following with great interest (and you can see previous posts here, here, here and here).

Here's the latest from the BBC: Bolivia leader quits amid unrest

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa has announced his resignation after mass protests demanding the nationalisation of energy and constitutional reform.

In a televised address late on Monday, Mr Mesa said he was stepping down because "this is as far as I can go".
...
Congress could meet as early as Tuesday to decide whether it will accept Mr Mesa's resignation.
...
Even if it accepts it, he says, that may not be enough to end the current crisis.
...
In an emotional address, he accused the protestors of intransigence and of taking advantage of his promise not to use force against them.

On Sunday the president met Church leaders and politicians to discuss the possibility of a snap election.

Senate President Hormando Vaca Diez, who was at the meeting, said it was "an idea that is gaining momentum as a way out of the problem".

With all due respect to Senor Hormando Vaca Diez, I wonder ... Who owns the voting machines in Bolivia?

OK, cheap joke. They can't all be funny.

There's more on the Bolivian situation from the BBC piece that I've been cherry-picking so please have a look at that. The BBC also has a Q&A page where you can read more about the history and economics behind the current politics. I'll post updates here when I know more... and yeah, I've been waiting a long time to write that headline! ;-)

Vice-President Resigns; No Reason Given

Syrian Vice-President Abdul Halim Khaddam has resigned from the government and the [...] party [...] during a meeting [...] on the first day of a conference focusing on reform.

No reason has been given for his resignation and it is not known if the party has accepted it.

Mr Khaddam, a veteran hardliner, is seen as an architect of Syrian influence in neighbouring Lebanon.

I'm quoting from a story that appeared on the BBC website Tuesday morning: Syrian vice-president steps down

BBC regional analyst Daniel Nassif says Mr Khaddam's influence has grown weaker recently.

International pressure earlier this year forced Syria to withdraw the troops it had sent to Lebanon during the 1975-1990 civil war.

There's more of course and you can find it here.

Thanks to www.exportinfo.org/worldfactbook/syria_WFB.html for the map.

Special Bonus: Here's a quiz for you! How long has it been since a vice president resigned in the USA?

Irony Overload Alert: Bush, CNN Can Cause Spontaneous Human Imposion!

Major international bodies are usually very difficult to implode. Most of them can only be imploded with industrial levels of irony, and Monday 'president' bush demonstrated once again that he can deliver enough irony to implode virtually anything. CNN gave him a bit of help here and there, as you can see in this article: OAS members balk at U.S. intervention plan begins like this:

Venezuela's foreign minister says plan aimed at his country

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- A U.S. proposal to intervene in Western Hemisphere nations to push democracy rankled the leaders of several South American countries debating the issue Monday at the meeting of the Organization of American States.

"There needs to be a dialogue rather than an intervention," said Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim. "Democracy cannot be imposed. It is born from dialogue."

The United States has not established how or where the OAS should intervene,

Forgive me for interrupting in the middle of a sentence, but did we just gloss over an implication that the USA should establish "how or where the OAS should intervene"? Isn't this something that the OAS should establish for itself?. I wasn't supposed to mention that, was I?

but one likely target is Venezuela.

'Target'? Oh, Venezuela is a 'likely target' now ... I see! No wonder Venezuela is worried about an imminent US invasion!

The OAS also is concerned about political instability in Ecuador and Bolivia.

Which is kind of funny, because these are the very same places that the USA is concerned about ... meanwhile the rest of the OAS is concerned about ... Can you guess? Oh no! That was too easy, wasn't it?

The rest of the article includes these high-irony gems:

The Bush administration has accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of using his country's democratic institutions to impose authoritarian rule.

Whereas bush has done nothing of the sort?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who chairs the summit as head of the host delegation, said Sunday the Bush administration has a "renewed interest" in the OAS as a way to promote its global democracy agenda.

I'm sure this administration has a renewed interest, but its global agenda can hardly be described as "democracy"!

The U.S. proposal calls for the OAS to craft a mechanism within its Democratic Charter that permits the group to intervene in nations to foster or strengthen democracy.

In other words, bush just told the OAS: "make yourself into a tool which I can use against you in my drive to rule the world"

The OAS has previously intervened in situations of political turmoil. In 2000, it sent an envoy to Peru following fraudulent elections.

And why were they not in Ohio in 2004? Why not Florida in 2000? Why not Georgia in 2002? I wasn't supposed to mention all this, was I?

The group, founded in 1948 to promote and defend democracy, has historically not been able to resolve crises in the hemisphere.

Perhaps because such crises are often caused by the strongest member of the Organization? I wasn't supposed to mention that either, was I?

Oh well ... We're almost through! Do you think we can get to the end of the article without imploding? Let's see:

In an address to the group Monday, President Bush did not mention the U.S. intervention proposal, but he pushed his vision of extending democracy worldwide.

"Bringing a better life to our people requires choosing between two competing visions," he said. "One ... is founded on representative government, integration into the world markets.

... as if those things could ever occur together ...

"...The other seeks to roll back the democratic progress of the past two decades by playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor and blaming others for their own failures to provide for their people."

Ouch! Ding Ding Ding! All Irony Systems Overloaded!

Ka-Boom! Spontaneous Human Implosion!!

Protect yourselves and your family. Be prepared for flying shards of truth. Spontaneous Human Impolsion can happen anywhere, anytime. And you could be next!!!