Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Not Again

BBC

Protesters in Mongolia are demanding fresh elections after disputes over the results of elections in June. Their numbers are small so far and the election was nearly a year ago. However, each of these people-power revolutions have surprised me.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Democracy in Bhutan

BBC
King Wangchuk of Bhutan has drafted a constitution that would create a two-party system and greatly reduce the powers of the monarchy. While this may appear to be a reaction to recent political developmentsin other nations, this constitution has actually been in the works for the past four years.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

People are Idiots

BBC

One in ten e-mail users have bought products advertised in spam. Makes me what to become a spammer.

BBC

Remember that episode of "Seinfeld" where it turns out that Kramer does have a job, he's just been on strike for 15 years or so? Apparently that kind of stuff happens in real life.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Protests in Kyrgyzstan

BBC

The wave of pro-democracy protests that started with Georgia then Ukraine and Lebanon have now spread to Kyrgyzstan where protesters have seized control of a city. A police station has been destroyed but there have been surprisingly few injuries as the government so far refuses to use force. These protests stem from last week's elections.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Prisoner of Conscience Freed

BBC

The University of Richmond Amnesty International Chapter has had its second prisoner of conscience freed and this time we didn't even do anything. We were going to hold a special event about her next week, but now we have to make other plans. The Chinese are always trying to foil our plans.