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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: democracy

democracy stories: 67 news summaries

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opinion

 Post-1989 Germany 
 an Unexpected Success 

Successes in Europe would boggle a 1989 mind: Applebaum

Nov 9, 09 12:42 PM CST
(Newser) - As “the exhaustive and perfectly blameless celebrations” of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall unfold, Anne Applebaum has a bone to pick. The festivities are “focusing on what didn’t happen rather than what did,” she writes, treating “the past two decades... More »

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Angela Merkel • Eastern Europe • democracy • Soviet Union • East Germany • Berlin Wall • Communism • Central Europe

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton told an audience of Nigerians yesterday that while their country's democracy is deeply flawed, the Florida presidential race recount shows America's isn't perfect either, the Guardian reports. "Our democracy is still evolving," Clinton said. "We had some problems in some of our presidential elections. In... More »

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Hillary Clinton • Nigeria • democracy • Jeb Bush • Election 2000 • Florida voting • George W. Bush

OPINION

Buddhist Monks Are Key to Change in Burma

Diplomatic efforts to 'engage' generals won't lead to democracy

Aug 11, 09 6:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - The extension of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest today serves as the latest reminder of the injustice at the core of the Burmese government. Past US policy revolves around sanctions, which further isolate the country and drive it into China’s economic embrace. Some congressional figures have called... More »

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democracy • dictatorship • Myanmar • Burma • Aung San Suu Kyi • junta • Democratic Voice of Burma • military junta

Appreciation

 Somehow, 
 Aquino Kept 
 Her Halo 


Aug 1, 09 2:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Before his murder, Benigno Aquino predicted that anyone who succeeded Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos would smell like manure in six months. But his own wife would prove him wrong, writes Howard Chua-Eoan of Time. Corazon “Cory” Aquino, who died yesterday of heart failure, was a political saint who... More »

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democracy • Philippines • free elections • Corazon Aquino • Filipinos • appreciation

OBITUARY

 Corazon Aquino Dead at 76 

Former president restored democracy in the Philippines

Jul 31, 09 4:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - Corazon Aquino, former president of the Philippines, has died at 76, the Los Angeles Times reports. Aquino became Asia’s first female president, leading a “people power” movement that eventually toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986—and arguably set off a wave of democratic revolutions that ended with the... More »

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democracy • obituary • Philippines • dictatorship • free elections • Corazon Aquino • Filipinos

(Newser) - President Obama today warned Africans that corruption and strong-arm tactics must be overcome if the continent is to see prosperity, and he promised US support to nations on the right path, Politico reports. “America will be with you,” Obama said in Ghana. “As a partner. As a... More »

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Africa • democracy • United States • corruption • Ghana • ancestry • President Obama • state visit

(Newser) - The billionaire chief of Formula One racing admires Adolf Hitler, disses democracy, and applauds Margaret Thatcher—but slams the West for lacking cultural sensitivity. Hitler "could command a lot of people" and was "able to get things done," Bernie Ecclestone tells the Times of London. But... More »

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democracy • Adolf Hitler • Formula One • dictatorship • Bernie Ecclestone

(Newser) - Sick of all the violence in Tehran? Try taking a stroll through the capital of Morocco, suggests Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post. Not long ago, Morocco was a dictatorship, plagued by arbitrary arrests, “disappearances,” and torture. But over the last decade this distinctly Arab, distinctly... More »

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Iran • Morocco • democracy • monarchy • Democratic Constitutional Monarchy

ANALYSIS

Honduran Coup an Opportunity for Obama

President should demonstrate US commitment to democracy: expert

Jun 29, 09 2:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Honduran military coup overthrowing President Manuel Zelaya offers the Obama administration a chance to rehabilitate the battered reputation of the US in Latin America, Reuters reports. "This is a golden opportunity to make a clear break with the past and show that he is unequivocally siding with democracy”... More »

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Barack Obama • democracy • US foreign policy • Costa Rica • foreign policy • military coup • Honduras • coup d'etat • term limits • President Obama • Manuel Zelaya

(Newser) - The Dalai Lama has told Tibetans his successor should not bear the burden of being both spiritual and political leader to their community, the Independent reports. "When we put the whole responsibility in the person of the Dalai Lama, it is dangerous," he said in a video address... More »

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democracy • Tibet • Dalai Lama • Tibetan independence • Tibetans in exile • Tibetan monks

Mexicans Eager to Cast Votes
for No One

Blank ballot campaign gains popularity as democracy loses it

Jun 18, 09 2:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - Plenty of politicians are battling for votes ahead of Mexico’s July 5 congressional election, but the campaign getting the most buzz isn’t for a candidate—it’s for no candidate. The vote en blanco movement is urging disillusioned Mexicans to turn in their ballots with a giant... More »

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Mexico • democracy • vote • protest vote • vote en blanco

(Newser) - An annual vigil marking the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre brought a record 150,000 people to a park in Hong Kong, the only place in China to mark the event, reports the BBC. “It is something to remember not only for our generation but for the... More »

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China • democracy • Hong Kong • Tiananmen Square • protests • student activism • vigil • candlelight

(Newser) - Twenty years ago today, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times was in Tiananmen Square, sweating in fear and watching as "'People’s China' opened fire on its people." The soldiers had shot at ambulances, too, so no one was helping the wounded—except the rickshaw drivers.... More »

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China • democracy • Tiananmen Square • political protest • Nicholas Kristof

  Chan Says 
 'Chinese 
 Need to Be 
 Controlled' 

Action star rethinking his stance on democracy

Apr 18, 09 5:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan may be picking a fight with a new foe—democracy, the AP reports. Speaking at a business summit today in China, the action star said he wasn't "sure if it's good to have freedom or not. I'm gradually beginning to feel that we... More »

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China • democracy • Hong Kong • Jackie Chan

(Newser) - The George W. Bush administration is planning a reunion in honor of the former president’s nascent policy institute, the New York Times reports. Condoleezza Rice, Karen Hughes, speechwriter Michael Gerson, and White House counsel Dan Bartlett will meet the former president next week in Dallas for dinner and... More »

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Bush administration • democracy • Condoleezza Rice • Dan Bartlett • Karen Hughes • George W. Bush • AIDS epidemic • Michael Gerson • George W. Bush Policy Institute

analysis

Online Town Hall a Positive Step for Democracy

Format shows administration is serious about opening government

Mar 26, 09 4:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Sure, President Obama’s online town hall meeting today ended up being mostly like a normal press conference, writes Jose Antonio Vargas for the Washington Post, with Obama answering mostly “predictable” questions with “tried-and-tested policy responses.” What makes the event important is that the president was asked... More »

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Barack Obama • Internet • democracy • town hall meeting • Obama administration • President Obama

OPINION

 DC Shrugs Off 'Miracle' in Iraq 

Obama must support healthy Iraq, even if he opposed war

Feb 13, 09 8:41 AM CST
(Newser) - The US barely noticed the recent "small miracle" in the Middle East, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post: Iraq's peaceful elections. The nation "moved away from religious sectarianism toward more secular nationalism”—good news for the US, bad for Iran. Even though our policies made it... More »

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Iraq • democracy • secularism • Washington, DC • Iraq war • Iraqi elections • Obama administration • President Obama

Democratic Petition Gains Support in China

Charter 08 first sustained human-rights campaign since '89 Tiananmen protests

Jan 29, 09 11:42 AM CST
(Newser) - An online human-rights manifesto has been gaining support in China, the Washington Post reports. Charter 08 has gathered 8,100 signatures, from ordinary citizens as well as known advocates for democracy. The document, modeled after a document put together by intellectuals in the former Czechoslovakia, demands China’s constitution be... More »

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China • human rights • democracy • censorship • political freedoms • freedom of speech • Charter 08

 This Time, Iraq Gets 
 Politics With Its Elections 

Stability gives candidates chance to compete more in Western democratic style

Jan 22, 09 10:55 AM CST
(Newser) - If Iraq’s tumultuous 2005 elections were a trial run at democracy, the current provincial race has main-event flavor, the Washington Post reports. Greater stability has allowed town-hall gatherings, where voters grill some 14,000 candidates running for 440 seats on everything from housing to militarization. And campaign posters, T-shirts... More »

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Iraq • Sunni • Shiite • Nouri al-Maliki • democracy • political party • Iraq government • candidate • election • local election • political campaign

 Former Iraqi PM: 
 Bush an 'Utter Failure' 

Allawi had been appointed by US after Saddam's fall

Jan 3, 09 4:20 PM CST
(Newser) - The Iraqi prime minister installed by Washington after the fall of Saddam Hussein has blasted President Bush’s policies as an “utter failure,” Reuters reports. In an interview with an Arab newspaper, Iyad Allawi said Bush’s “insistence on names like ‘democracy’ and ‘open elections,... More »

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Iraq • Saddam Hussein • sectarian violence • Nouri al-Maliki • democracy • Iyad Allawi • free elections • George W. Bush

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