Friday 29 April 2011
Thursday 28 April 2011
Monday 25 April 2011
Sunday 24 April 2011
Friday 22 April 2011
Who Owns the World?
By Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky in Amsterdam (13-03-2011)
Noam Chomsky in Amsterdam (13-03-2011)
Military bases R U.S. Or so it seems. After the invasion of 2003, the Pentagon promptly started constructing a series of monster bases in occupied Iraq, the size of small American towns and with most of the amenities of home. These were for a projected garrison of 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. troops that top officials of the Bush administration initially anticipated would be free to hang out in that country for an armed eternity. In the end, hundreds of bases were built. (And now, hundreds have been closed down or handed over to the Iraqis and in some cases looted). With present U.S. troop strength at about 47,000 (not counting mercenaries) and falling, American officials are now practically pleading with an Iraqi government moving ever closer to the Iranians to let some American forces remain at a few giant bases beyond the official end-of-2011 withdrawal date.
Meanwhile, post-2003, the U.S. went on a base-building (or expanding) spree in the Persian Gulf, digging in and enlarging facilities in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, “home” to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. In that island kingdom, an Obama administration preaching “democracy” elsewhere has stood by in the face of a fierce Bahraini-Saudi campaign of repression against a majority Shiite movement for greater freedom. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the State Department decided to build a modern ziggurat in Iraq and so oversaw the construction of the largest “embassy” on Earth in Baghdad, a regional citadel-cum-command post meant to house thousands of “diplomats” and their armed minders. It is now constructing a similar facility in Islamabad, Pakistan, while expanding a third in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In fact, in the years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the Pentagon, as Nick Turse reported for this site, went on a veritable base-building bender in that country, constructing at least 400 of them, ranging from micro-outposts to monster spreads like the Bagram and Kandahar air bases, complete with gyms, PXs, Internet cafes, and fast-food outlets. Now, in the tenth year of a disastrous war, the Obama administration is evidently frantically negotiating to make at least some of these permanently ours after the much-vaunted departure of American “combat” troops in 2014. As in Iraq, American officials carefully avoid the word “permanent.” (In 2003, the Pentagon dubbed the Iraqi bases “enduring camps,” and this February Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered the following description of the Afghan situation: “In no way should our enduring commitment be misunderstood as a desire by America or our allies to occupy Afghanistan against the will of its people... We do not seek any permanent American military bases in their country.”)
And yet, despite all the bases built in the Greater Middle East and all the firepower on them, the U.S. has found itself, embarrassingly enough, dealing with a region spinning ever more rapidly out of its control. Perhaps, remembering our similarly giant base complexes in Vietnam -- the pyramids of their day -- and their postwar fate, U.S. officials have simply decided to shun "permanent" as a reasonable precaution against reality. After all, what’s permanent? Not us. Consider, for instance, the comments of the remarkable Noam Chomsky, author of Hopes and Prospects, in a post adapted from a recent talk in Amsterdam on the subject of what in this world is too big to fail.
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Monday 18 April 2011
Friday 15 April 2011
Ethiopians protested against Woyane planned meeting in Denver
The Ethiopian Diaspora population in Denver is estimated at about 25 000. Until April 10, 2011 there used to be an entrenched view which suggested that Denver is a strong hold of the TPLF. This time TPLF took cover. It flew individuals from other ethnic groups. Out of the four individuals on the stage, only one was from Tigrai. He was the finance minister of the Tigrai regional government. The delegation was officially led by Berhan Hailu. Berhan was a Minister of Information during the 2005 election crisis in which about 200 were killed, 800 wounded and 40 000 were imprisoned. He was also on a related portfolio during the other massacres. He was instrumental in suppressing the horrendous crimes of Meles Zenawi.
Berhan and his delegation were received at the airport by about 8 people. He arrived on Friday April 8, 2011 at about 1PM. Abraha Belay of Denver, member of the now defunct EDU, and the self styled leader of a group that calls itself Ethiopian people community of Colorado, welcomed Berhan at the airport. Ayalew Mesfin, better known for his songs at old Police Orchestra, helped Abraha in welcoming Berhan.
Sources indicated that Arkabe Ekubai, a TPLF veteran known for fighting for the separation of Eritrea, visited Denver prior to the arrival of Berhan. Arkabe left for Los Angeles before the arrival of Berhan. A TPLF diplomat from the Woyanne Embassy in Washington was busy during the week. Using political funds, he tried to mobilize the Tigrean community in Denver. Though disproportionately high at the meeting, the vast majority of Tigreans in Denver were prudent. They did not attend the meeting. In fact many of them were helping the pro democracy forces with information.
TPLF's agents tried to distribute fliers. Pro-democracy forces responded quickly. They created a network to counter TPLF's latest offensive in Denver. The network succeeded in raising key questions at the meeting hall, and conducting a noisy four hours long successful protest demonstration at the entrance of the Red Lion Hotel, 4040 Quebec Street, Denver, Colorado. The Oromo and Ogaden brothers and sisters showed brave resistance. Other group of Ethiopian preferred to disguise themselves and tried to enter the meeting hall. It worked. Key organizers entered into the meeting hall without much difficulty.
At the entrance security personnel was asking for an "invitation paper". A number of Ethiopians presented "the invitation paper" without difficulty. Pro democracy forces from the Tigrean community managed to get as many copies as need to let their non Tigrean brothers and sisters enter the meeting hall. Nonetheless, known pro democracy activists were turned away by TPLF's agents. An Eritrean taxi driver (raised in Gondar) by the name of Fetseme, and Mulugeta Berhe and Semere were the main agents of TPLF in town. At the registration, they were informing the security who should get in and who should not be allowed to come into the meeting hall.
The capacity of the hall was about 500. The number of hired workers and those who had a name tag was about 28. At the entrance there were about 10 security workers. About 40 individuals were standing near the walls. On photograph they look like participants. They were forcing individuals to were their hats. The hats were forcefully distributed. Of the 500 seats there were many vacant seats throughout the meeting. At 4:00 PM, there were no more than 380 people in the hall. This figure includes the members of Berhan's delegation and the organizers. Hence, (380/20 000) x100%= 1.9%. This is less than two percent of the Ethiopian Diaspora in Denver. his is in spite ofTPLF's propaganda, budget, control, psychological pressure through (land, visa, figure prints, taxes, passport renewals, etc.). In conclusion more than 98% of Ethiopians in Denver were not interested in listening to TPLF's propaganda.
The meeting was scheduled to start at 1PM. It started one and half hours late. Before the meeting they were showing a video that was prepared by Walta Information Center (some call it Walta Disinformation Center). When Berhan's delegation went to the podium at about 2:35, the reception was cold. Perhaps shaken by the cold reception and the noisy demonstration outside the meeting hall, Berhan opened the meeting with a broken voice at about 2:40 PM. At about 2:45 an activist raised his hand and asked clarity about the agenda of the day. He requested Berhan to start the meeting with a prayer for those who were massacred during the 2005 election. The individual who asked the question was a member of an election observation team in 2005. He was also one of the organizers of the televised pre-election debates between Seyoum Mesfin (Ex Foreign Minister and now Ambassador to China) and Dr Berhanu Nega, now the chairperson of Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice.
Berhan showed no respect for the dead. He sarcastically said"may be we will pray after the meeting", and continued with his speech. At about 2:45 three security forces came and removed the person who asked the prayer question. They confiscated his camera. He was thrown out of the hall. Berhan condoned the removal and continued with his speech. The meeting became more tense than it was at the beginning. Another pro democracy was also forced to leave the hall as she was verbally abused by one of the organizers, and her camera was also taken away. At about 3:15 another person raised his hand and asked a question. He was also thrown out. Berhan went through the power point document and spoke for about an hour. The presentation was unexciting. The statistics was largely manufactured. He tried to capture the attention of the audience by raising the dam project on the Nile. All things considered, Berhan was a bad salesman for the Meles Zenawi's Millennium Bond.
Despite the fact the meeting was exclusive, tense, controlled and orchestrated for propaganda, a number of individuals were able to raise penetrating questions. Berhan was guided by TPLF's agents who were standing and sitting in strategic place so that he gives time to selected individuals. In spite of this interesting questions started coming. Democracy, election, corruption, police brutality, inequality, land lease, land speculation, citizenship rights and documentation, port, eviction, Egypt, taxes, environment, human rights, and defense and security matters were raised. Berhan struggled to answer. His colleagues tried to help him, bud did worse than him. One individual referred to them as the "pumpkin delegation".
The noisy protest demonstration that started at about 12:30 PM ended at 5:30 PM. Women and children participated. The noise at times was heard in the meeting hall. Those who were unhappy with the manner in which the meeting was conducted started leaving the hall at about 4:00 PM. At about 5:30PM Abraha wanted to divert the focus of the meeting. He told Berhan that he wants to buy the millennium bond. The meeting ended at about 6:00 with a so called declaration. The audience had no input whatsoever on the content of the declaration. The overzealous hotel security asked us to use the back door (store and fire exit) to get out of the building. On Tuesday, April 12 at about 11:30 the TPLF agent from the embassy together with the finance minister of Tigrai left Denver for Las Vegas. Berhan left Denver for Washington DC on the same day.
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Thursday 7 April 2011
Woyane officials in USA to lure and steal Diasporas
Here is the some of the Wayane official (Arkebe Equbaye) arriving in this country (San Jose International Airport, CA USA) for their upcoming propaganda event to convince and confuse the Ethiopian Diaspora. As we all know in this coming weeks and month Weyane plan to make a stop in about 12 major cities to talk to Ethiopian Diasporas about “how to invest in Ethiopia” and to encourage us into investing there while they (Wayane official) opening offshore account, buying up property and investing oversea. Don’t ask me where they got the money to do so? We all know the answer to that…. To come to my point is that ……if Ethiopia is not good for them to invest…… why should we? Most of all we should not invest in Ethiopia based on this major factor that Ethiopia is a country without any forum of democracy. Then one may ask how would you want us to invest our hard earn money in such place?The truth is this regime is broke and has no money, since it very much survival is based on the mercy of donor nation and as funds dry up given the rcurrent global economy crises they have turn their attention into trying to confuse and steal Diasporas hard earning money. WE SHOUL SAY NO, NO NO, NO, AND NO TO Wayane!
THIS PICTUR WAS taken by our contributor at San Jose International Airport there is more related pictures and video to come.
Victory to Ethiopian people!
EPRPYL (Ethiopian People Revolutionary Party Youth League)
Wednesday 6 April 2011
Tuesday 5 April 2011
STOP THE REPRESSION IN DJIBOUTI
April 5/2011
The president of Djibouti, Omar Gelleh, has changed the Constitution to be able to run for a third term election on April 8 and, in the process, has intensified the repression unleashed against the people. Jean Paul Noel Abdi, chairman of the Djibouti Human Rights Association, is charged and in prison while dozen others are being tortured for staging protest demonstrations.
On February 18, Djiboutian people staged a massive protest demonstration. Among those arrested on February 18 were three leaders of political opposition parties, who were detained for a day. The government has initiated judicial inquiries for sedition against the three, but has not brought charges against them. More than 100 people rounded up that day were charged with assault ("atteintes à l'intégrité physique ou psychique de la personne") and demonstrating without a permit. Here is a report by an international human rights body:
“About 80 were brought to court on February 27. After the judge dismissed 40 cases, proceedings were recessed and the justice minister, Mohammed Barkat Abdillahi, removed the judge and replaced him. Defense lawyers told Human Rights Watch that the new judge then promptly convicted 25 defendants and sentenced them to prison. Two require medical attention but have been denied access to doctors. Others remain incarcerated. According to the Ligue Djiboutienne des Droits Humains (LDDH), Djibouti's main human rights organization, these detainees are among a total of 71 political prisoners in Djibouti. The opposition had planned demonstrations every Friday until the election. However, there was no demonstration on February 25, as there was a heavy police presence at the stadium plaza, the site of previous protests, and the street leading to it. On March 3, the Interior Minister Yacin Elmi Bouh denied a permit to hold a demonstration the next day, The political opposition parties, claiming that the Guelleh administration had made it impossible to conduct a fair election, chose not to nominate candidates for the presidential election, effectively boycotting it. The government used that decision as an excuse to deny permits for rallies in front of opposition headquarters on March 25. Even though the rallies were designed to call attention to what the opposition considers objectionable policies rather than to support a candidate, the Interior Ministry said that only parties fielding candidates could hold public meetings during the two-week election cycle. The blanket ban on demonstrations contravenes article 15 of the Djiboutian constitution, which protects the rights to freedom of expression. It also violates articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Gelleh is facing a serious insurgency challenge by FRUD in the North and a popular protest in the country as a whole. He is trying to overcome this by repression and torture and massive rape of women as a counter insurgency tool. This should also be condemned as the time of Gelleh has passed—the message is: Gelleh go away!
Demonistrations in Sudan
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| Sudanese anti-riot police dispersing demonstrators in downtown Khartoum (FILE PHOTO) |
A string of small anti-government protests in north Sudan over the last two month have failed to gain enough traction and were swiftly squashed by the police supported by members of the country’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) who arrested dozens of activists.
Eye-witnessed told Sudan Tribune that anti-riot police units intervened to break up clashes that erupted on Monday at Khartoum University’s main campus between students calling for regime-change and those loyal to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
Video footages released by anti-government groups on the social-networking website Facebook have shown a handful of students clapping their hands and chanting anti-government slogans as they marched towards the main gate of Khartoum University campus in downtown Khartoum.
According to ST’s witnesses, NCP-affiliated students attacked the protesting students with metal rods as state security agents arrested and beat 20 students, some of whom sustained injuries, the sources added.
Students allied with the NCP are normally supplied with light weapons and can often act with impunity to squelch any anti-government activities in Sudanese universities.
Meanwhile, hundreds of jobless university graduates demonstrated for nearly two hours in Al-Fula town in the country’s flashpoint region of Kordofan against lack of employment opportunities.
Eye witnesses reported that the police had tried to break up the demonstrators using tear gas and batons but the protestors clashed with police who eventually had to allow the protest to proceed.
The oil-producing region of Kordofan is highly volatile and dominated in part by the well-armed Arab nomadic tribe of Messiriya which was used as a proxy militia by Khartoum during the years of civil war with south Sudan which voted to secede from the north in a referendum this month.
Monday 4 April 2011
Saturday 2 April 2011
Friday 1 April 2011
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