Al Mariam’s Commentaries

What do Gayle Smith, Wendy Sherman and Susan Rice have in common? This past Thursday, Gayle Smith who is currently Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director at the National Security Council directed by  Susan Rice, had her confirmation hearing to become the next Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. It was…

Today, June 15, 2015, is the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta Libertatum or the Great Charter of English Liberties. On that date, King John of England affixed his seal on the Magna Carta and formally accepted the principle of the rule of law, specific and sweeping limitations on his royal power. In place of my…

Today, Dennis Hastert, the former Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1999-2007) and lobbyist appears in U.S. federal court for arraignment (enter a plea of guilty or not guilty) on charges that he broke federal law by withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and lying about the use of the money…

              What do you get when you cross a thugocracy with democracy? A thugmocracy. When thugs are “elected” to political office, they become thugmocrats. Naturally, “elected” thugmocrats run   thugmocracies. If democracy is a government of the people, by the people for the people, a thugmocracy is a government of…

Echoes of deceit On May 24, 2015, Ethiopia had an “election”. On May 27, 2015, the Associated Press reported that “early results” of ballot counts showed the ruling Thugtatorship of the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (T-TPLF) had won 100 percent of 442 parliamentary seats. Is there any doubt they will win the remaining 105 seats?…

            Congratulations are in order to the T-TPLF for winning a hard fought thuglection! “Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.” But not in T-TPLF’s Ethiopia! Poor Ethiopia is condemned to wear the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (T-TPLF) diaper for…

        Why are the T-TPLF gods of FEAR, TERROR AND DREAD afraid of their own shadows in 2015? On May 24, 2015, a “parliamentary election” is scheduled in Ethiopia. “Election” as in rigged. Five years ago on May 23, 2010, the ruling Thugtatorship of the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (T-TPLF) “won” that…

[This commentary first appeared on The Hill.] President Obama visited Ghana in 2009 and told Parliament, “History is on the side of brave Africans.”  He warned Africa’s strongmen, “History is not with those who use coups or change Constitutions to stay in power.” He declared to the world, “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions.”…