MILINKEVICH JAILED!!!!

Belarussian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich has been sentenced to 15 days in jail in connection with a massive protest that he organized.

This could be a big news story and I will watch it closely.

Stay tuned...

PERSON OF THE WEEK - April 16-22, 2006

Nobody really stood out last week, so I decided to use this award to congratulate one of my favorite world leaders on the first aniversary of his election. As a non-Catholic, I think that Benidict has done a fine job. So, for continuing the legacy of John Paul II while putting his own unique spin on the papacy, Pope Benedict XVI is ConservaGlobe's Person of the week.

Chaos in the Solomon Islands - Aussies Send Troops

Solomon Islands

Riots have broken out in Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon Islands. The citizens are angry that the newly elected parliament's choice of Prime Minister, a man named Snyder Rini. Rini was Deputy Prime Minister in the outgoing administration of PM Allan Kemakeza, which was apparently rather corrupt. There is also speculation that the government of Taiwan attempted to influence the election (The Solomon Islands are among the few nations that grant Taiwan diplomatic recognition, so Taiwan has a vested interest in making sure that a friendly government is elected in the Solomons).

Personally, I have no clue what to make of this because I know very little about this particular country, but the Australians seem to think that this is a pretty big problem. They sent over 100 troops to help restore order.

Stay tuned...

Note to Bush: PLEASE pick Tony Snow!

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan stepped down today. On one hand, I am sorry to see him leave. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. McClellan, he served the administration well and I admire anyone who has the guts to go up against the White House Press Corps.

That said, I think that the Bush Administration has a golden opportunity here. Rumor has it that radio talk show host and former Fox News anchor Tony Snow is one of the front-runners to replace McClellan, and I think that he would be an absolutely fantastic choice. Snow is already a well known figure, which means that he will bring a huge measure of authority and credibility to the position. He also has extensive experience working in the media, he's probably worked with journalists of all shapes and sizes every day for years - not as a source of information, but also has a colleague.

Tony Snow is also a political outsider who is known to have strong opinions of his own, so he will be seen as a force in his own right - not just a talking head. To top it all off, Snow is also one of the most level-headed commentators on the radio today, and I think he is the type of guy who could make fools of the press corps when need be while still maintaining a positive rapport with journalists and television audiences.

In short, I think that Tony Snow has the capability to be the most dynamic White House Press Secretary that this nation has ever seen.

I BEG THE PRESIDENT TO OFFER TONY SNOW THIS JOB, AND I BEG MR. SNOW TO ACCEPT.

Tags: Tony Snow, Scott McClellan, McClellan, Bush, White House, White House Press Secretary, Press Secretary

PERSON OF THE WEEK - April 9-15, 2006

Iranian President Ahmadinejad now says that his country has enriched unranium (meaning that they could make a nuclear bomb if they want to). He has also escaleated his rhetoric against Israelm telling the Jewish state that it can expect too be eliminated "soon". Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't sound like Iran's nuclear program is as peaceful as Ahmadenijad would like the world to think.

So, for putting Iran withing spitting distance of getting the bomb, threatening Israel with nuclear holocaust, and making the world wonder if it's nuclear nightmares are about to come true - Mahmoud Ahmadenjad is ConservaGlobe's Person of the Week.

Note: LONG LIVE ISRAEL!

PERSON OF THE WEEK - April 2-8, 2006

This was a busy week in the world of politics and in the world in general. There were a couple of big names that could have contended for this title, but Katie Couric, The Senators who authored the short lived compromise on illegal immigration, and even so-called Gospel of Judas take a back seat to the king of a small Himalayan nation this week.

Gyanendra has ruled Napal by decree since 2003, when his dismissed the democratically elected Prime Minister, who he deemed unable to deal with a rampaging Maoist (communist) guerilla insurgency. As you have probably guessed, the king's popularity has taken a nose dive since then (and he wasn't all that popular to begin with). The pro-democracy oppositon has been gaining strenth, and this week thousands took to the streets of Kathmandu to protest the monarchy. They were met by riot police, and at least one protester was killed.

Now, normally I am ecstatic about uprisings like this one, but this time I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for democracy in Nepal. However, I am very disturbed by the fact that, in order to gain enough strength to oust Gyanendra, the pro-Democracy forces have been forming loose ties with the brutal Maoist guerillas. Now that the Maoists are part of the milleu, it is becoming harder to see the opposition as a positive force. If they succeed in toppling the king now, many fear that they will bring anarchy rather than democracy and that the Maoists will become more powerful.

While the opposition has done a pretty good job of messing things up, I still place the blame for this whole situaltion sqaurely on Gyanendra's shoulders. If he hadn't ousted the forces of democracy, those same forces would not now be forced to ally themselves to the Maoists, and there would not be bloodshed on the streets of Kathmandu. So, for making a royal mess out of his country, King Gyanendra of Nepal is ConservaGlobe's Person of the Week.

Tags: Nepal, South Asia, Asia, News, Revolutions, Democracy, Politics, Gyanendra, Person of the Week

Iraqi Liberation Day!

Today marks the third aniversary of the liberation of Iraq from the brutal, dictatorial reign of r imposed by Saddam Hussien. For three years, Iraqis have been able to choose their own destiny.

Now, for those of you out there who think that my claims of liberation and freedom are either bogus or stupid, let me point out a few things.

1. Iraqis have had several free and fair elections in the last year, and the last two have elected parliaments that were not led by the parties that the U.S. would have preferred (Iyad Allawi's secular party). Instead, a somewhat religious Shi'ite party has won both elections.

2. The U.S. is letting Iraqi democracy take shape without intervening. Trust me, I'm sure President Bush is really angry at Prime Minister al-Jaafri right now, since he is refusing to step down in favor of a candidate more acceptable to all Iraqis. However, I have not yet seen al-Jaafri thrown out of office by the U.S. Armed Forces. Instead, we are letting the elected parliament do its job and allowing them to debate ad nauseaum who should lead thier nation.

3. The sectarian clashes that you are seeing now are actually manifestations of the new freedoms that Iraqis now enjoy. Yes, they are a little over the top (not to mention destructive and dangerous), but they look to me like the earliest portion of U.S. history, when there were several rebellions over how the new nation would be governed. In all honesty, the only reason that these clashes didn't happen earlier was that Hussein's tactics of ham-fisted repression managed to keep the population in fear of the govenment. Any demonstration of Shi'ite pride, would probably have been met with a spray of gunfire from the Republican Guard. Hussein also bears some of the blame for these riots because he severely inflamed the tension between Sunni and Shi'ite during his reign. This new conlict is not only long overdue, it is absolutely necessary. The two groups need to resolve their issues before they can forge ahead in the process of building a better, stronger Iraq.


So, I send my best wishes to the people and government of a new, free Iraq on the aniversary of their liberation.

Tags: Iraq, War in Iraq,

PERSON OF THE WEEK - March 26-April 1, 2006

Sorry for being late on this, but I couldn't decide on a person, and I had trouble finding a graphic (There are no public domain photos, and this was the only graphic in the Microsoft Clip Gallery that even VAGUELY conveyed the idea of a hostage, let alone a freed hostage.)

ANYWAY... I really appreciated some of the things former hostage Jill Caroll had to say last week. I had been getting really sick of people getting released by terrorists and then telling the world how great their captors were to them. Carroll bucked the trend and told it like it was - the people who held her were evil terrorists, period. Finally, someone who realizes that no political cause justifies the the kidnapping of innocent civilians!

I have noticed that the terrorists in Iraq have adopted the strategy of only kidnapping people who they think will sing their praises once released (peace activists, journalists). Luckily, there are still a few jounalists in this world who lay politics aside and just tell it like it is. Jill Caroll seems to be one of those people, and she made sure that the terrorists' strategy of using former hostages as PR tools blew up in their faces this time. So, for being a model journalist and standing up to the forces of terror, Jill Caroll is ConservaGlobe's Person of the Week.

Runners-Up: Rafi Eitan, Amir Peretz

Tags: Jill Caroll, News, Iraq, War, War in Iraq,Terrorism, Operation Iraqi Freedom, War on Terrorism, Media, Christian Science Monitor, Person of the Week