Al Mariam’s Commentaries
[Author’s Note: This post first appeared in Ethiomedia on April 12, 2008 as an “editorial” without a byline. (Ethiomedia Editor’s Note – Ethiomedia will offer periodic editorial commentary on the role of the press, media and the vital necessity of free expression in sustaining democratic dialogue in Ethiopia.] Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all…
Author’s Note: This post first appeared in Ethiomedia on April 7, 2008 as an “editorial” without a byline. (Ethioemdia Editor’s Note – Ethiomedia will offer periodic editorial commentary on the role of the press, media and the vital necessity of free expression in sustaining democratic dialogue in Ethiopia) “The voice of the people is the…
Editorial Grab this! Ethiomedia | March 31, 2008 [Originally appeared in Ethiomedia] http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/grab_this.html Amb. Samuel “Oh! what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” Such was the recent interview given to WAMU radio host Kojo Nnamdi by Meles Zenawi’s Ambassador to the U.S., Samuel Assefa. After some chit-chat about Ethiopia’s contribution…
Editorial Ethiomedia Editorial | March 24, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/scapegoats_and_thieves.html The scenario is becoming all too familiar in Ethiopia. Whenever fraud, abuse, waste, mismanagement, incompetence, malfeasance and corruption are detected or made public, the regime corrals a few scapegoats and throws them in jail. Just recently, there was a story about gold bars that just walked out…
[Author’s Note: This post first appeared in Ethiomedia on March 17, 2008 as an “editorial” without a byline. (Ethiomedia Editor’s Note – Ethiomedia will offer periodic editorial commentary on the role of the press, media and the vital necessity of free expression in sustaining democratic dialogue in Ethiopia.] http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/all_that_glitters_is_gold.html “All that glitters is not gold,”…
Editorial Ethiomedia | March 10, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/ethiomedia_031008.html A few days ago, Senator Russ Feingold, Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Africa, gave a speech in the U.S. Senate saying the Horn of Africa is on the horns of a dilemma. He explained the Horn is “one of the roughest neighborhoods in the world” complete with a failed…
Editorial Ethiomedia | March 3, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/sister_cities.html Lately, news of a proposed sister cities program with Addis Ababa has been buzzing in the Ethiopian community in Oakland, California. This program, backed by the top diplomatic representatives of the Meles regime in the U.S., apparently upstaged another similar private effort from Oakland with the city of…
“Charity begins at home,” goes the old saying. But with the Zenawi regime, it is, “No good deed will go unpunished.” The so-called “Charities and Societies Draft Proclamation No. 00/2007” [hereinafter “Proclamation”] currently under review by the Ethiopian “parliament” is one mean-spirited and uncharitable edict masquerading as a legislative measure. It is an understatement to…
Editorial Ethiomedia | February 19, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/the_ethiopianization_of_kenya.html Mr. Kofi Annan tried to resolve the crisis (AFP) A few days ago the New York Times reported that Kenya is in the “throes of ethnic segregation.” Following the highly disputed presidential elections there, hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced, resulting in a massive flight…
Originally appeared: Ethiomedia Editorial | February 10, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/access/why_editorial.html Human rights activists Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie – Years in prison “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Faking justice is warping justice. After languishing in prison for two years and a kangaroo trial, on December 26, 2007, Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demessie were found “guilty”. Nobody…
