It seems the Fire of Liberty seems to be burning even brighter in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. According to this article in The Guardian, it seems that the citizens of this tiny nation have had enough of their dictatorial government and organized a massive protest of 10,000 people in the capital city Baku. From the looks of things, it seems that people power and the desire for democratic freedoms is changing the tide of things once again. I especially like the following paragraphs from the piece:
The massive rally in Baku was the largest opposition demonstration in the former Soviet republic since October 2003, when one person died and nearly 200 were injured in clashes between police and demonstrators protesting vote-rigging in the presidential election.It amazing how much of an influence President Bush and his call for Democracy has amongst the people in these far away lands. And yet the press and various foreign policy gurus like Madeline Albright and Wesley Clark keep on quoting how much the world hates us. Seems, to me these folks need to visit Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon and Azerbaijan and see how wrong they are.
Tensions have been building steadily in this oil-rich Caspian Sea nation in the run-up to parliamentary elections set for November, leading some observers to predict that Azerbaijan could see a massive uprising similar to those that toppled unpopular regimes in other ex-Soviet nations of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan during the past 18 months.
Supporters of several opposition parties chanted ``Freedom!'' and ``Free Elections!'' while holding placards with such slogans as ``Down with robber government!'' Some carried a picture of Bush with the inscription: ``We want freedom!''
No comments:
Post a Comment