By Alemayehu G. Mariam The Audacity of Corruption: Illinois Style Corruption here, corruption there, corruption everywhere! It seems the worldwide business of corruption is recession-proof. Last week, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested on charges that he peddled the Senate seat held by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder. The foul-mouthed and self-indulgent governor…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam Donkeys, Liars and War Criminals What a difference two years make! In December 2006, Zenawi invaded Somalia to save it from the “terrorist axis of evil” — Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and the Islamic Courts Union. In January 2007, he reassured the world, “We will be out of Somalia in a…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam Thief! Thief! Catch the election thief! The Constitutional Court of Thailand caught a boatload of election thieves last week. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his six-party governing coalition were convicted of theft of the December 2007 elections. They were found guilty of vote buying, vote rigging, conspiracies to defraud voters and…
Alemayehu G. Mariam Lipstick and Fingernail Polish In July, 2008, the Zenawi regime commissioned an official report on riot control entitled “Modernizing Internal Security in Ethiopia”[1]. That report, prepared by retired British Colonel Michael Dewars, made “recommendations designed to create a modern security force that will function effectively by using strategies designed to pre-empt civil…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam Best Hope of Earth In the first American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson declared to a “candid world” that “when in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world…: Tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam It’s Time to Cut and Run! In mid-July 2006, Zenawi sent his troops to Somalia to prop up the so-called transitional government in Baidoa. By late December, 2006 his tanks rolled into Mogadishu to dislodge the “government” of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and crush the “Talibanic” Al Shabaab. Zenawi justified…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam NGOs as the New “Whipping Boys”? If you can’t feed your people, bite the hands that feed them. That seems to be the metaphysics (first principles that define reality) of the Zenawi regime. Oxfam, Save the Children, Food for the Hungry International, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, Medecins Sans…
By Alemayehu G. Mariam Modernizing savagery? This past week an official report on riot control entitled “Modernizing Internal Security in Ethiopia” was posted online.[1] The report, prepared for the ruling regime in Ethiopia in July 2008 by retired British colonel Michael Dewars, summarizes findings and recommendations of an “assessment” study completed under the auspices of…
