Al Mariam’s Commentaries
“Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,… [and] see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Author’s Note: I get to celebrate New Year twice every year. The first on September 11, the Ethiopian New Year. The second on January 1. In this first commentary for 2017, I aim to challenge all Ethiopians to…
Author’s Note: In July 2016, I completed my tenth year of uninterrupted Monday Commentaries (and sometimes up to 4 commentaries) a week. Some have amiably characterized my commentaries as “Monday Sermons”. My first commentary (in the form a speech), “Awakening Giant”, appeared on July 4, 2006, the 230th anniversary of the American Declaration Independence. It…
Author’s Note: In what I expect will be periodic commentaries on U.S. policy in Africa, I aim to offer unorthodox, paradigm changing, thought-provoking and controversial policy recommendations and prescriptions to the Trump Administration in its Africa, and particularly Ethiopia, policy. I expect to develop the core theses herein at great lengths in my future commentaries….
Author’s Note: This is the sixth installment in a series I have called “What Do WE Want and Do NOW?”. The serialized commentaries have three aims: 1) take stock of the impact of the recent uprisings in Ethiopia against the backdrop of the extreme repression (“state of emergency”) unleashed by the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean…
Author’s Note: This is the fifth installment in a series I have called “What Do WE Want and Do NOW?”. The serialized commentaries have three aims: 1) take stock of the impact of the recent uprisings in Ethiopia against the backdrop of the extreme repression (“state of emergency”) unleashed by the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean…
Author’s Note: This is the fourth installment in a series I have called “What Do WE Want and Do NOW?”. The serialized commentaries have three aims: 1) take stock of the impact of the recent uprisings in Ethiopia against the backdrop of the extreme repression (“state of emergency”) unleashed by the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean…
“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. For not only are we responsible for the memories of the dead, we are also responsible for what we are doing with those memories.” Elie Weisel On June 6-8 and November 1-4, 2005[1], following the parliamentary elections in May, the military, police and security forces…
Hail to the Grief (Chief) to Come!? Donald Trump is now President-elect of the United States. He was elected by the same rigged system he so vociferously complained about: “I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest.” Well, honestly, a rigged election has made Donald Trump president! On January…
For the past year, I have railed against Donald Trump in numerous blogs. But I have not said exactly why I am supporting and voting for Hillary Clinton. I support and will vote for Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016 NOT because she is the perfect presidential candidate; or because she is beyond moral reproach….
Another T-TPLF disinformation campaign Hailemariam Desalegn, the Puppet Prime Minister (PPM) of the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) yesterday announced a “significant reshuffle” of his cabinet. The reshuffle is intended to soften the blowback from the “state of emergency” the PPM declared a couple of weeks ago. The “cabinet reshuffle” is yet…
