Kuwait's parliament passed a law on Monday granting women the right to vote and run in elections, for the first time in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state.Although, apparently, it is too late for women to register and run for office in the next election.
Kuwaiti women lining the podium burst into cheers when parliament speaker Jassim al-Khorafi said the legislation had been passed by a majority of the all-male parliament to grant full suffrage to women.
"We made it. This is history," said prominent activist Roula al-Dashti. "Our target is the parliamentary polls in 2007. I'm starting my campaign from today," she told reporters.
There were 35 in favor, 23 against, and one abstention on the vote that had met fierce resistance from Islamists and other MPs.
This is a step in the right direction for the Middle East.
Does anybody think this sort of thing would be happening if Saddam were still in power?
Mark's Remarks
Answer to Matt's closing question: Sean Penn, and the rest of the vile Film Actors Guild (go see Team America, leave the kids at home, but go see it to understand).
Also, to show the further progress of the Middle East, here is an interesting excerpt from groundbreaking blog Iraq the Model:
What is interesting is that Iraq witnessed no demonstration at all, not even a single statement of denoencemnet from anyone although Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya kept running updates on this subject almost every news-hour and have always talked about the descretion incident as if it were confirmed news.
If this is to indicate anything I think it indicvates that Iraqis are more concerned about their own lives than they're about the "issues" of the Islamic world's dignity and more important (and here I see our community approaching a turning point) is that people are giving the media less credit than they used to do.
Now, if we could only convince some in THIS country to do the same.....
Sadly, however, not all is going well...The crisis in Uzbekistan is growing more dire...
However, it looks like having toppled Saddam and putting pressure is working in Syria, if only a little at a time....
Beset by U.S. attempts to isolate his country and facing popular expectations of change, Syrian President Bashar Assad will move to begin legalizing political parties, purge the ruling Baath Party, sponsor free municipal elections in 2007 and formally endorse a market economy, according to officials, diplomats and analysts.
Of course, this isn't being reporting beyond passing articles by the MSM, because it would further highlight the success of the Bush White House in foreign policy. And, it would continue to make Newsweek look bad....
Hey Mikey Isikoff, would you like some rope?
