Elections are a much simpler process in a single-party system. Of course. As the president, you designate who you want to succeed to you, and “boom”, you’re done.
You’re allowed to designate your brother (as in the case of Raul Castro), your son (as Bashar Al-Asad in Syria) or even yourself for eternity (as the “Eternal President of the Republic” in North Korea).
In those cases, elections (if any …) are quite straight-forward. Declare who will replace you, have people vote for your protégé (or imprisoned as independent lawyers and judges in Pakistan during the 2008 elections, or killed as some political opponents in Guatemala for the 2007 elections, …), and you’re done. Continue reading ‘Russia’s edge over the U.S. primaries: the single-party system’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Squash is my preferred sport. It’s a complete burst of energy, it needs agility, strength, endurance, perseverance, and A LOT OF FUEL to burn. The average rally is of 7 to 12 seconds for a normal / pro player, and the average distance is around 1,000 meters/yards per game. I usually play 8 to 12 games in a 90 minutes period. On average, the active part of the game is around 55%. So bottom line, I sprint like crazy for 50mn and cover a distance of 8km to 12km (5 to 7.5 miles) in that period.
Continue reading ‘Barack and Hillary should play squash’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Homosexual sodomy rocks the Holy Land ! Shlomo Benizri, a Knesset (Israeli parliament) politician and member of the Shas Party, seems to think so: he blamed the parliament laxism towards gays for 6 earthquakes that rocked the region in the last 3 months. The Shas party is said to be ultra-orthodox, close to Hasidic Judaism and supporting the Great Israel.
Continue reading ‘“Criminalised” homosexuality ?’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Happy Birthday My Dear Blog ! I installed you 2 months ago, and I started writing regularly (1 post a day on average, which is a good start) exactly a month ago.
In terms of traffic, you received a good response as a baby blog, I guess (any feedback would be great !!). Since mid-january, a month and a half ago, 2,000 people came to read what you had to show, and browsed almost 4,000 of your pages ! Well, I won’t lie to you, my dear blog: as I write this post, I see 1,995 uniques and 3,797 pageviews. People stay a few minutes reading your posts, and browse almost 2 pages on average !
Continue reading ‘Happy BDay Blog !! What should I do with you now ??’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
I was away last week-end for four days, and look what happens when I’m gone !
The Pakistani legislative elections last Monday were a key turn in Pakistan (officially the “Islamic Republic of Pakistan”) politics as President General Pervez Musharraf saw his government falling to the opposition. Cooperation with the U.S. highly in question …. As a reminder, Musharraf didn’t win the presidency through traditional elections, but launched a coup d’Etat in October 1999. Musharraf has been working closely with the U.S. against terrorism, as Pakistan has a border with Afghanistan and Iran.
Continue reading ‘So I leave for 4 days and look what happens !’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Yes, it’s true: I did it. I spent the week end in an all-inclusive resort in Dominican Republic (Iberostar Bavaro).
Me, Laurent Kretz. The backpacker guy who swore he would never do such a thing. The guy who slept in Laos villages on the Chinese border for $0.50 a night watching kids smoke opium with their grandparents (album here). The guy who experienced the 14 centuries old Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, Syria (album, wikipedia). The adventurous backpacker who climbed the cliffs of the Kawah Ijen volcano with the sulfur-carriers on Java, Indonesia (album, wikipedia). To name a few.
Continue reading ‘Yes, it’s true: I did it.’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Doing some sorting in my mailbox, I stumbled upon an article by John Heilemann I read more than three years ago: Journey to the Center of Google.
Continue reading ‘Google’s Story: from college to wall street benches’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Yesterday, during the “Potomac Tuesday“, we saw Barack Obama pass Hillary Clinton again in the race to the nomination at the Democratic convention.
Continue reading ‘1,312 delegates to go !’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Half a billion in advertising
The subject of the candidates’ campaigns finance and budgets have been discussed a lot recently. I decided to dig a little deeper, checking the previous elections as well as the ratios to their success (or failures …). Here is the spreadsheet I created.
Continue reading ‘A $572M absurdity: the presidential campaigns fundraising’
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
