Posted on 02/07/2012 3:32:01 PM PST by bruinbirdman
The Maldives' first democratically-elected president resigned on Tuesday following a coup attempt by police officers and army troops to plunge the tropical island paradise into turmoil.
President Mohamed Nasheed announced he was standing down in a televised press conference in the capital Male in which he said he was not willing to use force against protesters or call in a foreign power to prop up his government.
He stood down after protesters were joined by police believed to be loyal to the country's autocratic former president Abdul Gayoom.
The unrest appeared to be confined to Male and Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said no British tourists or visitors had been affected by the upheaval.
Observers said his removal amounted to a coup by supporters of former President Abdul Gayoom who ruled the islands for 30 years until his defeat in the 2008 elections.
Vice-president Waheed Hassan Manik was sworn in to replace him amid rumours of splits between the police and the army over who should be president.
Pressure on Mr Nasheed has been building since mid January when he ordered the arrest of a senior judge who resisted his attempts to reform the country's judiciary, which he suspected remained loyal to former Mr Gayoom.
Protests in the capital Male had remained relatively small until they were joined by groups of police yesterday morning. They attacked the headquarters of the Maldivian National Defence Force on the capital's Republic Square but stopped when up to 70 troops were allowed to join the rebel officers.
The protesters and police then seized the state broadcaster and renamed it TVM – as it was known during Mr Gayoom's time in office. Shows from a private station owned by an anti-government MP were broadcast along with slogans in support of the former
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I believe we just opened a military base there, for staging UAV ISR counter-piracy & Al Qaeda missions...?
Puzzling....
"Originally the Maldivians were Buddhists who converted to Sunni Islam in the mid-12th century. Sunni Islam is now the only accepted religion, though there are small numbers of others" (LINK)Having noticed that, I searched for an alternate new source and found that in "Graft, politics, militant Islam shake Indian Ocean island" (LINK) which included these excerpts:
Nasheed's opponents have adopted a hardline style of political Islam to savage his religious credentials.The Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP), run by the urbane former attorney general Hassan Saeed, issued a pamphlet accusing Nasheed of attempting to undermine Islam by bringing in Christianity, establishing diplomatic relations with Israel and of doing business with Jewish businessmen.
"It was a critique of the government's religious policy, and it must be read in that context," Saeed told Reuters in his law office near the Male port.
"Our main problem is the business relationships with Jews of Nasheed and members of his cabinet."
But while the political fray goes on with all eyes on the 2013 presidential election, Maldivian intelligence officers and Western officials say hardline Salafist and Wahabist groups are gaining political ground in the more distant atolls and making a beachhead in Male.
"It's potentially a tropical Afghanistan. The same forces that gave rise to the Taliban are there -- the drugs, the corruption and the behavior of the political class," a Colombo-based Western ambassador who is responsible for the Maldives told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Yes, I think the Maldive government just a little while ago tried to impose strict Muslim rules on the whole country. They closed down a bunch of resorts and spas, I think.
The “attempts to reform the country’s judiciary” that are spoken of were attempts to impose extremist Muslim rules on everybody.
A so-called “autocratic president” is much better than a religious fanatic, although you would never know it from reading articles in our Orwellian press.
The joys of islamic rule!
This article must be some kind of misprint or mistake. I’m relatively certain that Maldives is under about 10 feet of water by now.
Newt prefers to call them “Non-Rotarians” ...
The article I linked in my post included this:
"Pressure from Islamist parties prompted the government to briefly shut down all hotel spas in January, before realizing they may be killing the golden tourism goose of the Maldivian economy, which is believed to account for two-thirds of gross domestic product".But the people must not know that the "Arab Spring" their government and media has sold them is really a "Jihadi Winter."
Many on a theme/party-line our Orwellian press and goverments seem most interested in (their Global Warming scam):
"Times Atlas To Print New World Map Without Tuvalu, Maldives, Manhattan etc"
"Maldives Raising Sea Level Fraud"
"Maldives’ president all wet on sea level"
"Maldives cabinet holds underwater meeting"
"Maldives Cabinet Meets Below Waves to Highlight Climate Change Threat (scuba meeting)"
Of those that were on Islam, most seem related to tourism issues:
"Christmas theme at Maldives restaurant sparks protests"
"COUPLE CALLED 'SWINES' AND 'INFIDELS' IN MALDIVES WEDDING"
"Blondes-Only Resort Planned for the Maldives"
So you're saying the deposed Pres is an Islamist, and the rebellion was against Islamism?
Unfortunately, in majority Muslim countries, being pro-Islam, or pretending to be pro-Islam, is a good way to get yourself elected. All of these states have authoritarian leaders regardless, because Islam, unlike Christianity, does not teach the concept of free will. Allah commands, you obey. And Allah is whimsical. He does whatever he feels like doing.
Anyway, a lot of modern Muslim states have gotten semi-secularized. But a good way for ambitious leaders outside the government to overthrow the current regime is to appeal to the popular desire for a purer Islamic government.
There is scarcely such a thing as freedom fighters in an Islamic state, other than a few foreign-educated children of privilege, who don’t stand a chance of actually gaining power, but who get interviewed by Western TV reporters. And I don’t know how many of the leaders are really true Muslim believers. But Islam is basically designed for people who want to seize and hold power. Because that’s what Mohammed invented it for in the first place.
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