Monthly Review compares the Ukranian and Iranian "color revolutions", both involving allegations of vote-rigging but one successful and one not .... depending on how you define success:
Eighty-five percent of Ukrainians in May told Gallup they disapprove of the job performance of their country's leadership, up from 75% in 2008 and 73% in 2007. The 4% of Ukrainians who approve is not only the lowest rating Gallup has ever measured in former Soviet countries, but also the lowest in the world.
The fiscal year 2009 funding for the "democracy-promotion" programs targeting Iran is $65 million:
"The $65 million for Iran is equal to roughly one-third of the FY 2009 funding allocated for the entire sub-Saharan African region, excluding Sudan" (David Price, "Global Democracy Promotion: Seven Lessons for the New Administration," The Washington Quarterly, January 2009).
In fact most of the "color revolutions" -- modelled on the US incitement in Serbia, as in the Ukraine -- have turned to pooh. Remember Georgia's "Rose Revolution" led to the overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze and replacing him with Mikhail Saakashvili? Here's the latest news...
An influential group of Georgian opposition leaders has mounted a blistering political campaign against U.S.-backed President Mikheil Saakashvili, accusing his government of running an autocratic regime that tramples human rights and stifles democracy.
Great.
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