Down With U.S. Senate Resolution 97, “Ethiopia Colonization Act of 2021”

 

Adwa Redux?

‘It’s not the size of the dog that determines the outcome of the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.’

‘…There are those who want to impose upon us a modernized form of colonialism. They believe we are ignorant and incapable of determining our own destiny in politics, religion or work through the ethnic fabric of our society; they believe they can divide and rule us. ‘We shall teach these hubristic juveniles what it means to be an Ethiopian…’

Ethiopia cannot be a de facto American colony by an act of the U.S. Senate!

My only message to all Ethiopians is: “FIGHT THE NEOCOLONIAL POWERS THAT BE!”

Read more below…

On May 17, 2021, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee met in secret  “Closed” session to discuss “Challenges and Opportunities for the United States in the Horn of Africa”.

In my commentary published before the secret meeting, I predicted the Committee will deliberate and act on at least 10 issues.

True to form, on May 19, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed Senate Resolution 97 at the core of which is a call for a ceasefire between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) as a first step to restoring the TPLF to power.

S. Res. 97 is a major propaganda offensive against Ethiopia intended to demoralize, dishearten and disconcert the people of Ethiopia and demonize and desecrate Ethiopia in the eyes of the world.

The fact of the matter is that the TPLF whose case the U.S. champions and coddles has long been designated a terrorist group in the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).

The TPLF is also listed as terrorist organization by the  Terror Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC).

On May 1, 2021, the Ethiopian Parliament designated the TPLF a terrorist group as a result of the sneak attack the TPLF launched on the Ethiopian Northern Command on November 3, 2021 causing untold deaths and destruction.

The sole purpose of S. Res. 97 is to pressure the Ethiopian Government to stop its law enforcement action in Tigray region and force it to negotiate power sharing with the TPLF terrorists!

That ain’t never gonna happen even if hell freezes over and the Princess of Darkness goes ice skating with the TPLF devils.

As I have previously advised Susan Rice in free verse:

Humpty Dumpty TPLF sat on a crumbling wall, (“kilil”)
Humpty Dumpty TPLF had a great fall (when it attacked the Northern Command)
All Queen Susan’s horses and President Biden’s men
Won’t be able to put Humpty Dumpty TPLF together again.

S. Res. 97 should have been titled, “Resurrect the Tigray People’s Liberation Front From Extinction Resolution”.

The TPLF is dead and gone.

Truth be told, S. Res. 97 should be christened the “Ethiopia Colonization Act of 2021”.

S. Res 97 COMMANDS

‘the immediate cessation of hostilities in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia’ ignoring the fact that the TPLF started the conflict which is the root cause of the humanitarian crisis in Tigray;

the Government of Ethiopia to ‘immediately remove Eritreans forces from Ethiopia’ ignoring the fact that the TPLF without provocation attacked Eritrea wit missiles to internationalize the conflict;

‘de-escalation of political tensions between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front’ by laughably implying equivalency;

‘swift and complete restoration of electricity, banking, telephone, and internet services throughout the Tigray Region’, (destroyed by the TPLF) which had taken place over the past several months;

‘release of all opposition leaders, supporters, and activists from detention’ which do not exist and conveniently overlooking the fact that PM Abiy Ahmed released tens of thousands of innocent Ethiopians jailed in secret prisons by the TPLF in 2018 and closed down notorious TPLF torture chambers;

because of the ‘restricted the right of several opposition political parties to peacefully assemble and organize’, ‘detention of opposition leaders’ and closure of ‘political and civil space’, the June 2021 election ‘will not meet international standards’ and should be cancelled;

‘any apprehensions of TPLF members are carried out with the least possible use of force and that the rights to which those detained are entitled under Ethiopian and international law are fully respected’ completely ignoring the fact that key TPLF leaders have surrendered in response to requests by the Ethiopian Government and grant of amnesty to TPLF fighters to return to their homes without risk of criminal prosecution;

establishment of a ‘credible and countrywide process of national dialogue and reconciliation’ and establishment of an ‘independent and transparent investigations of any alleged human rights abuses committed in the course of the conflict in the Tigray Region’ ignoring the fact that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Ethiopian Human Rights Commission have undertaken such an investigation.

What is the legal/political significance of S. Res 97?

Res 97 is a “simple resolution” which is the legislative form used in the U.S. Congress to express the “sense of the Senate”, how the Senate feels.

Res. 97 is not a “law” within the meaning of U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 7 which mandates, “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States.”

In other words, S. Res 97 is not worth the paper it is written on. Period!

What is the effect of S. Res. 97 on Ethiopia?

The effect of S. Res. 97 on Ethiopia is diddly-squat (not a damn thing).

But S. Res. 97 is the shot across the bow. Many other annoying actions will be taken by the U.S. as I have outlined in my commentary  last week.

It is part of a broader propaganda offensive intended to demoralize, dishearten and disconcert the people of Ethiopia and demonize and desecrate Ethiopia in the eyes of the world.

Suffice it to say that I was one of the grassroots leaders who toiled to get H.R. 2003 passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007.  That Resolution died in the Senate. S. R. 97 will die in oblivion.

As I have previously indicated, the U.S. has a storehouse full of dirty tricks that will be rolled out in the foreseeable future.

The crux of the matter is that the Susan Rice Cabal, including Blinken, Sullivan, Power and the rest hubristically believe they can run Ethiopia like a banana republic using the TPLF, as a dominant comprador (banda) economic and political power in Ethiopia regime using the pretext of  “humanitarian crisis” in Tigray.

America’s modern “colonialism” in Ethiopia?

In 1902, the United States passed The Philippine Organic Act with aim of  establishing civil government for the Filipinos.

The fact is that the “Organic Act” legitimized and created a juridical American colony in the Philippines which lasted for a nearly one-half century.

The Organic Act called for the “cessation of the existing insurrection in the Philippine Islands.”

S. Res. 97 in its title calls for “the Government of Ethiopia, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and other belligerents in the conflict in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia to cease all hostilities.”

The Organic Act called for the “creation of an elected Philippine Assembly after a ceasefire.”

S. Res 97 declares the “general elections in June 2021” will not “meet internationally accepted standards cannot be free and fair because of the erosion of political and civic space.” Therefore elections should be held after “cessation of all hostilities” and “national dialogue and reconciliation” with the assistance and direction of the U.S.

The Organic Act declares there can be no legitimate Philippine government without the approval of the U.S. Government.

S. Res. 97 considered in its entirety declares there can be no legitimate government in Ethiopia that does not meet the specific guidelines set for it in the resolution. In other words, only the U.S. can determine if Ethiopia has a legitimate democratic election and government.

The Organic Act prescribes the “election of a Philippine Assembly after peace had been restored completely in the country”. It also spells out how and when the people of the Philippines can establish their government, how they will hold elections, how many members of the legislature they can have and the number of sessions they can have annually.

S. Res. 97 prescribes how and when the people of Ethiopia can have their elections by establishing preconditions which include: 1) “release all opposition leaders, supporters, and activists detained on the basis of their political activity”; 2) “convening a credible and countrywide process of national dialogue and reconciliation”; and 3) “cease all hostilities, commit to a political solution for resolving existing differences”.

The Ethiopia of 2021 is not the Philippines of 1902. Ethiopia cannot be a de facto American colony by an act of the U.S. Senate!

The Italians could not subjugate Ethiopia as a colony in 1896 and 1935.

The U.S. cannot subjugate Ethiopia in 2021 to a modern form of aid cutoff/sanctions/coordinated multilateral political and economic pressure modern neocolonialism.

The TPLF is to Ethiopia as the Contras were to Nicaragua

The so-called “Contras” (la contrarrevolución) were an assembly of reactionary right-wing group of rebels the U.S. backed with money and military assistance to overthrow the Marxist Sandanista government in Nicaragua in 1979.

The Contras were notorious for their atrocities and used terrorist tactics to dislodge the Marxist Sandanistas and seize power.

The Reagan administration not only whitewashed their crimes but also covertly encouraged them to attack civilian targets and blame it on the Sandanistas.

The Reagan administration also lionized the Contras as patriots equaling the American Founders and used white propaganda to present favorable arguments supportive of the Contras.

President Ronald Reagan described the Contras as “the moral equals” of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Reagan called the contras ”our brothers” and ”freedom fighters.”

Reagan said, “We owe them our help. You know the truth about them [Contras], you know who they’re fighting and why. They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance.”

Even after Congress prohibited support for the contras, the Reagan administration covertly continued it resulting in the Iran–Contra affair prosecutions.

Today, the Biden administration treats the TPLF as the Reagan Administration treated the Contras of Nicaragua.

Susan Rice, Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Samantha Power and the rest of the Rice Crew have used white propaganda on social and coordinated disinformation with Western press-titutes and inside the beltway policy-stitutes to whitewash TPLF massacres of Northern Command soldiers and innocent civilians in Mai Cadra on November 9, 2020 and their 27-year record of gross human rights violations that are thoroughly documented in the annual U.S. human rights country reports.

After Susan Rice pulls the rug over old Uncle Joe, he too will soon rise up tottering and teetering and declare:

And we owe the TPLF our help because they have been our loyal servants for decades. You know the truth about the TPLF. You know who they’re fighting and why. They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance.

The TPLF is the equivalent of the Nicaraguan Contras in Ethiopia!

No “modern form of colonialism in Ethiopia”

The days of American imperial power dictating terms to the world have ended.

The one positive thing Donald Trump has done is to tell the world to do the heavy lifting for themselves. The U.S. will not be the world’s policeman nor will it waste its people’s tax dollars in the abyss of a rabbit hole in “s**t hole countries”.

Biden’s boys and girls are trying to restore American imperial power in the name of “humanitarianism” and “human rights.”

Nobody is fooled.

The Susan Rice-Joe Biden administration is trying to establish a “Rice-Biden Corollary” for the Horn of Africa to restore the TPLF to power.

Just like in the days of gunboat diplomacy of the early 19th century.

U.S. President James Monroe established the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823 to justify U.S, intervention in Latin America.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt asserted American police powers and the right to military intervention in Latin American internal affairs if it feels like it (Roosevelt Corollary)

That is what the Susan Rice-Joe Biden Administration is trying to do in Ethiopia today.

The fact of the matter is that “Them days of gunboat diplomacy is gone.”

The fact of the matter is that the “greatest military on Earth” has not been able to defeat a ragtag group of terrorists running around Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia or the Sahel.

In February 2021, the U.S. and the barbaric Taliban signed an agreement that called for peace talks between the terrorist Talibans and the U.S. propped Afghan government.

Today, the U.S. is hightailing it out of Afghanistan after two decades just like it did in Vietnam in 1975.

The U.S. is hightailing it out of Afghanistan after two decades, over 10 thousand Americans dead and over 50 thousand wounded and trillions of U.S. tax dollars wasted.

The number of Iraqis and Afghanis killed and wounded is in the hundreds of thousands. If the number of internally and externally displaced persons are added that number would be in the millions!

The fact of the matter is that Ethiopians know Rice and Blinken do not give a rat’s ass about Ethiopia or people dying of starvation in Tigray.

Just like Susan Rice did not give a rat’s ass about the Rwandan Genocide!

In all of his decades-long career in the U.S. foreign policy establishment, Blinken has never said a word about human rights violations or starvation in Ethiopia.

Now, Blinken is crying crocodile tears for Tigray because Princess of Darkness Susan has dubbed him, “White Knight in Shining Armor Savior of the People of Tigray.”

But Ethiopians know!

They know the  TPLF attack on the Northern Command was undertaken with the green light given by Susan Rice who was confident Biden will win the presidency.

Now, Susan Rice, Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan show up to preach negotiation and dialogue with the TPLF and as a neutral peacemaker.

Wrote the great bard in the “Merchant of Venice”:

The (She) devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

The Rice-Biden administration is energetically prosecuting and maxing out sentences for hundreds of individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Yet today, they plead special treatment for TPLF terrorists that committed heinous crimes against the Northern Command, massacres in Mai Cadra and gross human rights violations in Ethiopia for over a quarter of a century.  

Susan Rice thinks she can scare, bully and intimidate the Ethiopian Government into submission as she has done so for decades all over Africa.

Susan Rice believes she can win and crush Ethiopia and restore her beloved TPLF to power because she is confident the Forces of Darkness she has assembled (Western press-titutes, inside the beltway policy-stitutes, army of lobbyists, ragtag TPLF riffraff, etc.) could successfully unleash tornadic storms of lies, damned lies and disinformation on Ethiopia.

They believe Ethiopia could never weather the storm of  TPLF-U.S. -E.U. pressure.

But today Ethiopia remains a safe place from the gathering “storm and a shadow from the heat of neocolonial oppression”.

When the TPLF Forces of Darkness raised their swords and told PM Abiy Ahmed he is not strong enough to weather their storm supported by the U.S., he told them “But I am the storm”.

When they gasped in disbelief, he reassured them, “I am the calm in the eye of the storm.”

Today, the storm has wiped out the TPLF and the stormy skies over the Ethiopian rainbow nation have turned azure and we can see clearly over the horizon.

Neither the dead TPLF nor its Western patrons can storm the Ethiopian rainbow ever again!

Susan Rice will fail because she champions lies, damned criminals and the lost TPLF cause and has no clue the singularly distinguishing genes in all Ethiopians are audacity, tenacity and defiance!

In short, ETHIOPIANS INVICTUS!

Rice and Blinken should wake up and come to terms with the new global reality. The post-Trump global realty.

“We shall teach these hubristic juveniles what it means to be an Ethiopian…”

PM Abiy Ahmed has made Ethiopia’s position made it crystal clear:

…There are those who want to impose upon us a modernized form of colonialism. They believe we are ignorant and incapable of determining our own destiny in politics, religion or work through the ethnic fabric of our society; they believe they can divide and rule us.

We Ethiopians have always been free. We will continue to be free. We may be poor today. Tomorrow, we shall prosper and become the crown jewel of Africa. We will set an example for the world. We shall teach these hubristic juveniles what it means to be an Ethiopian…

WE GOTTA FIGHT THE NEOCOLIAL POWERS THAT BE…

My only message to all Ethiopians at home and abroad is to FIGHT THE NEOCLONIAL POWERS THAT BE.

Paraphrasing the lyrics of the Isley Brothers:

Time is truly wastin’
You gotta stand up and fight
Got so many neocolonial powers that be
Dragging us down
We try to play our Ethiopian music
They say our music is too loud
We try to talk about it
We get knocked on the ground
With all the bullshit they are bringing down.

Let’s keep on smilin’, Ethiopian Brothers and Sisters!
Cause we got no choice
We gotta fight the neocolonial powers that be
You and I got the power
Given to us by the Almighty
We are guaranteed victory
But we got to fight the neocolonial powers that be.

Fight it!

Fight the neocolonial power that be, Ethiopians!

FIGHT IT!

FIGHT THE POWER!

FIGHT THE NEOCOLONIAL POWERS THAT BE.

#FIGHTNEOCOLONIALISMINETHIOPIA,#HANDSOFFETHIOPIA,#LEAVE ETHIOPIATHEHELLALONE,