It’s been a hectic holiday week filled with visitors. I’ve had to cancel some events as I was hit last weekend by some nasty flu-bug and sending it on to the coast with my loved ones didn’t seem like a very neighbourly thing to do. <\/p>\n
I’m days behind in my reading. A quick search just now failed to find articles that reveal specific details about the illegality of the Georgia vote or how widespread the fraud. I could be missing a lot, but I get the impression interest in such facts fell off the radar once Shevardnadze resigned.<\/p>\n
Just some additional links and thoughts that continue to nag me.<\/p>\n
More than a few of these articles I’ve glanced at this morning are characterising the U.S. role in this as supportive of the opposition from the very beginning of their vote-rigging accusations. Yet as the Financial Times correctly reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n In Azerbaijan, the US acted more decisively, quickly congratulating Ilham Aliyev as the new president even as his security forces were arresting the opposition, and after independent observers had criticised the polls.<\/p><\/div>\n Mark MacKinnon, on Nov. 26, reported<\/a> in detail about the role George Soros’ funding played and his relationship with Mikhail Saakashvili which goes back at least to 2000. <\/p>\n In the eyes of Mr. Soros’s employees, it was all done in the name of building democracy. Laura Silber, a senior policy adviser at Open Society, said the foundation sponsored the exchange because “some of the experiences are very translatable” between Georgia and Serbia. In Georgia’s current political climate, she said, “it looks more charged than it is.”<\/p><\/div>\n How can it be determined if George Soros supported the ‘truth’ or took advantage of the situation with a carefully planned media blitz unless all of the votes are gone over by an independent auditor? <\/p>\n It doesn’t bode well for the image of the U.S. that the same interest in fair elections wasn’t taken when Azerbaijan’s fraudulent vote and suppression of the opposition occurred, because the results of that<\/i> election favoured U.S. interests.<\/p>\n And it casts doubt about any future voting in Georgia, if as the reports I’m reading are true, the Bush administration will be ‘helping’ during the next election.<\/p>\n Will Katherine Harris be in charge?<\/p>\n AntiWar Blog’s Nebojsa Malic<\/a> has more interesting links and questions about the situation.<\/p>\n I’m heading back to my sick bed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been a hectic holiday week filled with visitors. I’ve had to cancel some events as I was hit last weekend by some nasty flu-bug and sending it on to the coast with my loved ones didn’t seem like a … Continue reading