The Battle for Straight Time

As you newspaper readers and news watchers may (or may not) be aware, the political situation here is a little sketchy right now. The government is in a time of transition, leading up to elections in January. On saturday the party in power was supposed to hand over power to a caretaker government, so they can't influence decisions taken about the election. However, the person they chose to head up the caretaker government is not acceptable to the opposition parties. This person lives near my neighborhood, and all day Saturday there were violent demonstrations in the area, to exhibit this man's unacceptability.

Yesterday the current president was sworn in to be the Chief of the caretaker government. Surprisingly, the opposition party has not rejected him outright. "They" tell me it is because if there is more violence, the army will be called out to keep peace, something no one wants.

There is a fragile peace over the city now that will settle if the Chief appoints neutral people to key posts in the transitional system. However, if he appoints his own people, the city will once again erupt.
For more up-to-date information, check the Daily Star link over to the upper right.

I have not left my neighborhood since Friday. I drift between the office and my flat, busy with work things, and preparing for grad school applications. My supervisors call every couple of hours with updates on "the country situation." My workshop next week in the north of the country will probably get canceled, but we are waiting to see what the situation looks like before completely giving up hope.