Follow-up on Honduras

Mark Goldberg points out that despite striking similarities in event in Honduras and Niger, the governments reactions to the coup are starkly different and, Niger isn't really being reported on

But there are some striking similarities between the unfolding situations in Honduras and Niger. To wit:

Country A) Elected President wants to serve beyond the limits of his constitutionally mandated term. Country B) Elected President wants to serve beyond the limits of his constitutionally mandated term.

Country A) Elected President wants to hold a referendum to change the constitution Country B) Elected President wants to hold a referendum to change the constitution

Country A) Supreme Court decides this is not legal. Country B) Supreme Court decides this is not legal.

Here, however, is where the similarities seem to end.

Country A) The military, backed by opposition leaders, ousts the president.

Country B) The president declares a state of emergency, dissolves the supreme court and arrests the main opposition leader.

A, is of course, Honduras. B is Niger, where aformentioned opposition leader accused President Mamadou Tandja of carrying out the equivalent of a coup. And, it would appear, President Tandja is coming under fire from both the European Union and Economic Community of West African States, both of which have cautioned Tandja over his proposed term-extension. The African Union may also pile on when it meets in Libya for a summit today.

In Niger, the military has so far stayed neutral. But is this the sort of case where the military can act as an check on the power of the president and as a guarantor of the constitution?

In a lot of ways this is getting at the same point I was making earlier about the events in Honduras having precedent in Turkey.