Tag Archives: Not Europe

Bolivia In Crisis

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The situation in Bolivia seems to get more complicated by the day.

“Thousands streamed into the Bolivian capital, La Paz, on Tuesday as Indian protests against the ruling elite gained force even after President Carlos Mesa offered his resignation.

The critical highway to the highlands, where the international airport is situated, remained cut off by roadblocks, and the city of one million people was hit by food shortages and a transport strike.

Demanding that the government expropriate foreign energy installations and call new elections, miners in hard hats and indigenous women in derby hats and colorful, multi-layer skirts marched into La Paz in a show of force punctuated by blasts of dynamite that demonstrated the depth of the crisis buffeting the government. ”

Publius Pundit is covering the blogging side. Eduardo Alvarez is giving a good running commentary, Miguel Centellas worries about his mum and other issues from the comparative safety of the United States, and Nick Buxton has photos and good narrative description of the anecdotal details. And a good reflective analysis of what is going on comes from Miguel Buitrago at Mabb.

Update. This seems to be a fairly good summary of where things stand late afternoon CET.

Advantages Of Trade With China

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I remember it was not so long ago that people imagined China was so, so far away. Now this kind of news is almost daily.

“Media and publishing group Bertelsmann on Tuesday announced the first big Sino-foreign wholesale book distribution business in China, as overseas investors seek new ways to get access to the country’s book-sales market.

Bertelsmann’s DirectGroup said it had set up a joint venture with Liaoning Publishing Group worth Rmb30m ($3.6m), with the Chinese group controlling 51 per cent“.

Mounting Tensions in Iraq

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This is becoming more and more preoccupying:

Thousands of Shiites, many waving Islam’s holy book over their heads, protested the U.S. presence in
Iraq on Friday after the detention of several supporters of a radical cleric, while Sunnis shut down places of worship elsewhere in a show of anger over alleged sectarian violence against the minority.

Again, this is crying out for a much longer post.

Uzbekistan Update II

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Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary Uzbek government officials continue to dismiss eyewitness reports that soldiers opened fire on civilians during last weeks protests in the eastern town of Andijan.

Not a single civilian was killed by government forces there,? Prosecutor General Rashid Kadyrov said.

Registan notes that Kyrgyzstan has opened a refugee camp in the Jalalabad region: Nathan has more links.

Nigara Khidoyatova, head of the Free Peasants party, says her party has compiled a list of 745 people allegedly killed by government troops in Uzbekistan. She stated her party arrived at the number by speaking to relatives of the dead and that the count was continuing. ie she claims to have names and addresses.

Lyndon has some interesting background at Scraps of Moscow. Reuters’ Dmitry Solovyov is reporting that “Uzbekistan’s government on Wednesday took foreign diplomats to the town where witnesses said troops shot dead hundreds of people but did not show them the actual site of the massacre”.

The report contains a useful description of the visit, and of what the diplomats were able to see:

“Heavily armed special forces accompanied the busloads of visitors as they traveled around the deserted town, where the normally bustling tea houses and kebab shops were empty apart from the police and soldiers patrolling them”.

Condoleezza Rice has called on Uzbekistan to open its society. She is quoted as saying:

” Now, as to the latest events that have just taken place, I do think that we — and we would hope that the government of Uzbekistan — would be very open in understanding what has happened there…Nobody is asking any government to deal with terrorists..That’s not the issue. The issue, though, is that it is a society that needs openness, it needs reform.”

Now maybe I am being slow, but I don’t understand this. Where is the openness in Rice’s own statement?