Tahrir Square in 2011 In the early hours of 12 April 2002, with massive anti-government protests filling the streets, members of the Venezuelan military abducted President Hugo Chávez and, promising new elections, installed an interim leader of their own choosing in his place. Large swaths of respectable international opinion praised
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Politics and its Discontents: A Lesson From Egypt
The other day I wrote a post contrasting the fervent engagement of the Egyptian people as they pursue their demands for a representative democracy, contrasting that passion with our own seeming indifference to the deficits we face here at home. This morning’s Star has published a letter from James Quinn,
Continue readingLeDaro: Egypt’s President Trying to Make Himself a Pharaoh
Morsi, the Egyptian president, was doing well after negotiating the cease-fire between Gaza and Israel, showed he and his country were playing a constructive role in the region. Though, after that, he seemed to think he was Superman, that he could do anything. He made decrees, tried to overturn the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Canada and Egypt: A Study in Contrasts
My wife, well aware of my anguish over the disengagement with democracy of so many Canadians, made a comment this morning that has inspired this post. She observed the sharp contrast that exists with Egypt, where the notion of democracy is still more a dream than a reality, a dream
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: On Egypt’s Presidential Election
It’s official. More than one year after the overthrow of hated dictator Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi has won Egypt’s run-off presidential election with 51.7 percent support. This outcome was widely known ever since last weekend’s vote wrapped up. What was unknown was whether Egypt’s military rulers, the
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