politics

Swingin' Swiss political rallies

Team Observers — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:04:21 +0200

Who said that Swiss politics is boring ? As France slowly catches up with US-style political rally “shows”, Swiss political parties are going even further. Their political musicals, with party leaders and activists singing and dancing on stage, are way funkier than Ségolène Royal’s one-woman show in Paris. Christian Democratic (PDC) candidates for the October 11 elections sang and danced for an audience of 500 people in Meyrin, near Geneva. A party leader and political scientist tell us what they think of Swiss-style politics.

Check up on skiving MPs

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:25:32 +0200

How often does your MP attend parliament? And when attending, does he or she actually do anything? A French website has been designed to answer precisely those questions, and spare constituents the hassle of having to frisk government records.

Nosdéputés.fr, or "Our ministers", has been recording the attendance, spoken contributions, and committee work of each member of the National Assembly for the past 12 months. Loaded with information, the website opened to the public on Monday (14 September)and soon became victim of its own success. The site's servers were so overloaded just a few hours after it went online that the website struggled to work at speed.

Statistics for ruling UMP party member Patrick Ollier reveal him to be one of the parliament’s most active attendants.

Henri Cuq on the other hand, also a UMP member, has evidently been skiving in the past year.

Our Afghani Observers weigh in on the election

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:03:44 +0200

Posted on Flickr by From Afghanistan With Love

Four of our Afghani Observers, who have been to the polls today, explain how their country has changed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and what they're hoping to see from their next president.

There are 41 candidates in total, including current president and favourite to win, Hamid Karzai. His closest competitors are former Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah Abdullah, and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani.

The election is proving to be a far from peaceful affair. The Taliban have made various threats of attack in the past few days and called for a boycott of what they consider a "sham orchestrated by the Americans".

Egypt's most wanted dog

Emmanuel F24 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:12:03 +0200

Egyptians are not amused by “I love you, Man” (Paramount Pictures), the latest summer comedy to come from across the Atlantic. The reason: the main character’s dog is named after the country's former president, Anwar Sadat.

In this film, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) asks his friend Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) his dog’s name, to which Sydney answers : "Anwar Sadat like the Egyptian president (...) Because they are so similar!”. A dog looking like the former president? That’s one joke too many for some Egyptians, who voiced their disappointment in public and even created a Facebook group to get the film off cinema screens.

Anwar Sadat was president of Egypt from 1970 until 1981. He was the first Arab leader to visit Israel and to speak in front of the Knesset in November 1977. Less than a year later, on September 17, 1978, he signed the Camp David Accords, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

A Druze leader caught bashing his Christian and Sunni allies

Julien — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:18:08 +0200

Several weeks before the Lebanese legislative elections, Druze political leader Walid Jumblat essentially shot himself in the foot by insulting his Maronite Christian and Sunni party allies in a conversation that wasn't as private as he thought...

Walid Jumblat is viewed as a pillar of the Lebanese multi-confessional, anti-Syrian alliance known as the "March 14 Alliance", opposed to the country's Shia faction. But the group's show of unity was dealt a severe blow when Jumblat was overheard calling the Maronites a "bad race" in a private meeting with Druze religious leaders. Extracts from the mobile phone video of this serious blunder were aired on several Lebanese media early this week, sparking outrage in the Christian community and among Jumblat's own allies.

In the same video, Jumblat also indirectly criticised his most powerful ally, Sunni leader Saad Hariri, by implying that Sunni combatants are useless in battle.

It could not have been worse timing for this footage, which risks alienating Jumblat from undecided Christian voters. Nicknamed "the windvane" by his detractors for his flip-flopping political alliances, Jumblat later apologised to the Maronite community and announced his intention to visit their patriarch before the end of the week to smooth things over.

Why Ravalomanana is out

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:43:01 +0100

Malagasy President Marc Ravalomanana has just stepped down and handed power over to the army. Why, after being re-elected for a second term two years ago, does this Malagasy politician find himself walking out the back door? Rewind to the start of the crisis...

Colette Braeckman, a specialist on African politics, published this interview with Malagasy writer Jean-Luc Raharimanana, author of l'Arbre anthropophage (The Man-eating Tree), on her blog.

Guinea-Bissau leaderless after gangland killing

Team Observers — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:57:44 +0100

The presidential palace in Bissau. Posted on Flickr by Xavier Hinnekint.

Guinea-Bissau awoke on Monday morning without a president. Head of State Joao Bernando Vieira was gunned down as he tried to escape from a group of soldiers who attacked his home. Our Observers from Guinea-Bissau speak about the tragic events of the day.

President Vieira, nicknamed "Nino", had governed the country for 23 years. In 2005 he was re-elected as president of this tiny West African country, nine years after a military coup left him stranded and running for safety. For the past two days, an eerie atmosphere of gangland killing had reigned over the capital city of Bissau. The night before Vieira's assassination, the army's chief of staff - and long-time rival of President Vieira - General Tagme Na Waie, was killed in a bomb attack.

Supporters of President "Nino" in Guinea-Bissau. Photo Xavier Hinnekint posted on Flickr.

Guinea-Bissau is a small country of 1.7 million inhabitants. A former Portuguese colony that gained its independence in 1974, it remains very poor and heavily in debt. The country is also suspected of acting as a crossroads for drug traffic from South America. Yet, the country appeared to be on course for a transition towards democracy. Indeed, European Union observers deemed that the 2005 elections, which re-instated President Vieira, were "free" and "fair".

Iran, 30 years after the Islamic revolution

Julien — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:00:34 +0100

On Feb. 11 Iran marks the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.

We asked the same four questions to our Iranian observers, some living in the country and some living abroad:

What were you doing 30 years ago?

How much freedom do you feel there is in the country?

What is your impression of the United States? Do you think there will be any changes after the June presidential election?

Over the next week, we will be publishing the replies of musician Hamid Reza Taherzadeh, economics professor Ali Tehrani, exiled opposition activist Aladin Touran and PhD student Assadi Tari.

McCain’s Move: Bold or Bonkers?

Ségolène Team Observers — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:02:20 +0200

Ed Mazza is The Observer's regional editor for the United States. From now on, he will be following the 2008 election online, and posting daily roundups of the latest from the campaigns and the blogosphere.

When John McCain suspended his campaign yesterday to return to Washington and focus on the economy, supporters cheered. This was exactly the kind of bold, unexpected move their "maverick" was known for, they reasoned. But supporters of Barack Obama were quick to point out that their candidate doesn't seem to have a problem focusing on the economy and the campaign simultaneously.

McCain also called for a postponement of Friday night's debate, the first scheduled meeting between the pair. Obama has said he'd like the debate to go on as scheduled.

Again, McCain supporters say it shows a man who won't settle for business as usual. But his opponents, especially some bloggers, have gone as far as calling the war hero cowardly. Ken Layne of "Wonkette" filed a McCain story under the tag "cowards" and collected his favorite Web responses, such as this one: "In honor of McCain trying to get out of Friday's debate, here's a recipe for chicken pancakes."

The conservative "Blogs for Victory" called the move "bold" and "a brilliant stroke." Similarly, "California Yankee" writes that McCain is "again putting ‘Country First' even as the Dems continue to put party first."

"This Modern World" created a doctored version of the McCain-Palin campaign poster, with "TIME OUT" written beneath it. Below that is a footnote, "How can you expect us to debate foreign policy when we've spent all week trying to figure out the economy?"

On the other hand, "Classical Values" mocks Obama's decision to stay out on the campaign trail. "Evidently he doesn't think his presence will help. I'm inclined to agree."

Many political blogs - especially the more liberal ones - are having a field day with the early reports from a taping of the CBS "Late Show With David Letterman." McCain was scheduled to be a guest, and then cancelled when he suspended his campaign.

Letterman apparently was not impressed. The host, according to the Drudge Report, told his audience "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves. I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

Metamucil is a fiber supplement commonly used by senior citizens, among others.

The Web site also quoted Letterman as saying, "What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

McCain used Letterman's show to announce his candidacy back in February, 2007.

And finally, blogger Chris Cilizza of the Washington Post points out that the move "comes as two new national polls -- including one conducted by the Washington Post -- show McCain slipping in the head-to-head matchup against Barack Obama."

Only time will tell if it helps him regain the momentum he had after the Republic convention.

Madonna takes a jab at McCain

Julien — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:34:32 +0200

An advert for Madonna's concert in Cardiff (from http://madonnalicious.typepad.com)

Never one to keep shy of controversy, Madonna raised something of a storm as she kicked off her latest international tour on Saturday. In a video aired during the show, Republican White House candidate John McCain appeared alongside images of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, while Democrat rival Barack Obama enjoyed the company of Mahatma Gandhi.

McCain’s spokesperson was quick to issue a statement slamming the “disgraceful” and “inacceptable”’ comparisons made by Madonna. Meanwhile, conservative bloggers are having a whale of a time lashing out at the pop star.

Posted on Youtube by MadonnaWyat

This video interlude was shown on Saturday during Madonna’s concert in Cardiff, where she kicked off her “Sticky and Sweet” international tour. It was designed to accompany the track “Get stupid”.