This war-battered city, according to U.S. statistics, now receives an average of 11.9 hours of electricity a day, far more than earlier this year. But don't tell that to Ghaida al-Banna.

reasons to be cheerful about Iraq

Iraqis' Quality of Life Marked By Slow Gains, Many Setbacks - washingtonpost.com

In almost every appearance as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudolph W. Giuliani cites a fusillade of statistics and facts to make his arguments about his successes in running New York City and the merits of his views.
...
“When he talks about New York, people see it,” Mr. Luntz said of Mr. Giuliani, “and they feel it, and if a number isn’t quite right, or is off by a small amount, nobody will care, because it rings true to them.”

politics in the age of truthiness

Citing Statistics, Giuliani Misses Time and Again - New York Times

There always seems to be a good reason to support a dictator. In the late 1970s, Jeane Kirkpatrick argued that it was better to support a "right-wing" dictator lest he be replaced by communists. Right-wing dictatorship -- today some call it "liberal autocracy" -- was in any case a necessary way station on the road to democracy. Communist totalitarians would never give up power and stifled any hope for freedom, but our friendly dictators would eventually give way to liberal politics.

Robert Kagan - Musharraf and the Con Game - washingtonpost.com

Hundreds of thousands of public employees, joined by students and striking railway workers, took part in raucous demonstrations across France yesterday to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans for state sector job cuts and other economic reforms.

fasinating to watch another country go through the political contest Britain went through in the early/mid eighties - specifics aside - this is about who runs the country, the unions or the elected government

Sarkozy: strikers are taking France hostage - Independent Online Edition - Europe

For years before rising to power here, President Hugo Ch�vez conspired alongside Ra�l Isa�as Baduel, who recently retired as army commander, in a secretive cell of leftist military officers intent on fomenting revolution. It was General Baduel who led the paratrooper raid that returned Ch�vez to office after he was briefly deposed by a coup in 2002.

But those impeccable leftist credentials have not spared the general from withering attacks since he broke with Ch�vez this month over proposed sweeping changes to the Constitution that, among other things, would abolish presidential term limits. At a recent political rally here, the president's supporters called Baduel a "traitor" and shouted for him to be taken to the "pared�n," the execution wall.
...
"I believe a president's term should be defined as six years, with one period of re-election allowed," he said. He has repeatedly described the proposed revision of the Constitution as a "coup," a word sure to elicit strong reaction from a government that frequently describes its opponents as "putschists."

I am reminded of Sir Thomas Fairfax

Charges of 'traitor' for Ch�vez ally turned critic - International Herald Tribune

Like vultures, the mortgage lenders began circling the single-family house with the tiny front lawn on Merrill Avenue.

They knew that the woman who owned the house was old and sick and that her two aging daughters were struggling with illness and poverty as well. That was all to the good as far as the lenders were concerned. The predator’s mission is to home in on the vulnerable.

“The people that wanted to put through the loan called me about a hundred times,” said Rosa Dailey, who is 65 and going blind and needs an oxygen tank at times to help her breathe. “I kept telling them no, because I didn’t think we could afford it. But they kept saying how it was to our advantage. So I finally said: ‘All right, let’s see what we can do.’ ”

A Swarm of Swindlers - New York Times

A lawyer for a gang-rape victim in Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six-months in jail says the punishment contravenes Islamic law.

The woman was initially punished for violating laws on segregation of the sexes - she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the attack.

When she appealed, judges doubled her sentence, saying she had been trying to use the media to influence them.

Her lawyer has been suspended from the case and faces a disciplinary session.

Abdel Rahman al-Lahem told the BBC Arabic Service that the sentence was in violation of Islamic law:

"My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates the pertinent international conventions," he said.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Saudi gang rape sentence 'unjust'

Last Tuesday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican — the first audience ever by the head of the Catholic Church with a Saudi monarch. The Saudi king gave the pope two gifts: a golden sword studded with jewels, and a gold and silver statue depicting a palm tree and a man riding a camel.

The BBC reported that the pope “admired the statue but merely touched the sword.” I think it is a great thing these two men met, and that King Abdullah came bearing gifts. But what would have really caught my attention — and the world’s — would have been if King Abdullah had presented the pope with something truly daring: a visa.

Democracy’s Root: Diversity - New York Times

Serving soldiers horrifically injured in the Iraq and Afghan conflicts have been refused permission to join today's main Remembrance Day parade, prompting angry accusations that the government is 'ashamed' to have them seen in public.

Jamie Cooper, 19, the youngest Briton seriously injured in Basra, had hoped to join the march past at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. He is one of a number of young soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan the Royal British Legion had wanted to include in Britain's centrepiece remembrance ceremony.

utterly outragous

Cenotaph ban on wounded war heroes | UK News | The Observer

As we struggle to make sense of the current political crisis in Pakistan, it's useful to think back nearly 30 years to the wave of protests that toppled the shah of Iran and culminated in the Islamic Republic -- a revolutionary earthquake whose tremors are still shaking the Middle East.

The shah was America's friend, just like Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. He was our staunch ally against the bogeyman of that time, the Soviet Union, just as Musharraf has been America's partner in fighting al-Qaeda. The shah ignored America's admonitions to clean up his undemocratic regime, just as Musharraf has. And as the shah's troubles deepened, the United States hoped that moderate opposition leaders would keep the country safe from Muslim zealots, just as we are now hoping in Pakistan.

David Ignatius - In Pakistan, Echoes of Iran - washingtonpost.com