Brooding Cynyc
The long time home of the original Brooding Cynyc © offering unique views, insightful, provocative cultural, political and social commentary, observations and opinions with a focus on issues from current events including, homeland security, terrorism, and law enforcement often from a decidedly New York-centric perspective. Cynical (sometimes caustic), sarcastic humor and satire from the "Nothing is sacred" perspective. All opinions are welcome.
MANHUNT: THE REALITIES
PA. STATE TROOPER KILLER AND "JIHADI JOHN":
TWO FUGITIVES WORLDS APART
PRESENT SIMILAR CHALLENGES
Cpl. Bryon Dickson (right) was killed in the September 12 ambush
Trooper Alex Douglass (left) was wounded and released
from the hospital today.
TAGS: PENNSYLVANIA STATE TROOPERS AMBUSHED, SUSPECT FUGITIVE,
ERIC FREIN DOMESTIC TERRORIST, JIHADI JOHN. IS BEHEADING AMERICAN HOSTAGES,
EXTREMIST TERRORISTS, TERRORIST ALL HAVE SIMILAR GOAL - INCITE FEAR,
TAKE THE GLOVES OFF
UPDATED Sunday October 19, 2014
(Friday October 17, 2014 Pennsylvania State Police Barracks, Blooming Grove, PA) This densely wooded, sparsely populated rural corner of Northeast Pennsylvania is where as the 11 o’clock PM shift change on September 12 was underway at the Pennsylvania State Police Barracks here, a lone gunman concealed by the cloak of darkness, ambushed two Pennsylvania State Troopers killing one, critically injuring the other. The gunman slipped back into the heavy hilly, timbered terrain from which he had emerged briefly enough to conduct his cowardly act. State Police Officer Cpl. Bryon Dickson was killed instantly while Trooper Alex Douglass was severely wounded and was transported to a hospital in Scranton.
Within 48 hours of the ambush a suspect was identified. Eric Matthew Frein, 31, who had until recently resided with his parents in a small community in Pike County. Their exact address is being withheld from the public for security and privacy purposes. Frein, a self-taught and extremely experienced survivalist, is also an accomplished marksman. His father, a retired US Army Officer said of his son’s shooting skills, “He never misses”. Frein has also been a member of a “military simulation unit”. Friends and associates have said that his particular “unit” assumes the role of Eastern European soldiers. Some who know him have told the Police during interviews that Frein may have adopted the persona of a simulated character as his own. Whatever the case may be, he remains an extremely dangerous fugitive on the run and has evaded capture for 36 days despite the substantial forces brought to bear to apprehend him.
Friends and relatives of the suspect say that he has long expressed a deep-seated hatred of “The Police” and had spoken on occasion of “acting out” in some way. Some expressed more surprise than others after learning that Eric Frein was the primary – only – suspect. That he is thus far able to elude the dozens of law enforcement agents with their infrared, night vision and heat seeking technology, tracking hounds, helicopter surveillance and as some have reported, drone aircraft, speaks loud and clearly about the challenges of apprehending a man in an environment where he is most comfortable and confident. For some this may appear to represent a lack of skills or some measure of ineptitude among all the State and local police officers. That is not the case. A man determined to not be found can be a cunning, intelligent, adaptable, elusive prey. Trooper Alex Douglass was released from the hospital earlier today while; according to the authorities Frein remains loose. By their estimations they say he is within a five square mile box of rugged forested territory.
Several weeks ago some of the searches happened upon a make-shift campsite Frein had recently used. They found empty cans of tuna fish, some ammunition and a note providing the details of the ambush that could only be known by the perpetrator. Authorities have also stated without any details that Frein is “taunting” the police by leaving written messages in his wake for his pursuers to find. Likely it will only be by sheer luck or by Frein making a mistake that he will be captured anytime soon. Winter is fast approaching the Pocono Valley and obviously Frein prepared well for a protracted manhunt.
Perhaps the public has misconceptions about certain aspects of law enforcement based on the entertainment provided by dramatic TV crime series, police procedurals, and other forms of media. While forensics science has become increasingly advanced and sophisticated, much of police work is what it always has been. Yes, some of the equipment provides the police with great advantages but all the new science and technology available will never be able to replace “shoe leather detecting”, the nuts and bolts of tracking down leads and contacts, of gathering and analyzing information. In this particular case, the suspect has the upper hand in many ways. Eric Rudolph, the 1996 “Olympics Bomber” who had also bombed several abortion clinics throughout the south east remained a fugitive for five years before his apprehension. He made the mistake of sneaking into a small town during the night in search of food and a local Sheriff’s Deputy nabbed him. It was Rudolph’s mistake that lead to his capture not any police work involved.
“JIHADI JOHN”
Jihadi John with American journalist James Foley
shortly before Foley’s gruesome death
While the current Ebola crisis has driven him from the front pages of newspapers and lead stories on the TV news, the Islamic State (IS aka ISIL, ISIS) leader known as Jihadi John is also a highly sought fugitive. For whatever reason the man they are calling by this childish name, either chose or was appointed by others to be the spokesman for IS. He first entered the American conscience as he delivered his threats against America while by his side knelt a captured westerner. Eventually, those videos began to include footage capturing actual beheadings. Even some of the most experienced law enforcement and intelligence agents who viewed these videos were horrified by their brutality. As a means to authenticate whether or not the video clips depicted “real” decapitations required the CIA and FBI to seek other expertise such as Forensic Pathologists and some of the most experienced Homicide Detectives to view the clips and assess them within the area of their expertise. The “full length” videos which, for obvious reasons will never be shown to the public, did confirm that those individuals posed in the kneeling position wearing orange jumpsuits had in fact been beheaded. Due to the appearance of everyone else in these videos – they were all dressed identically as Jihadi John – it remains an open question that the actual decapitator has been Jihadi John himself. Decapitation by knife or sword is a horribly messy undertaking and it has been theorized that Jihadi John makes the video with the victim at his side, the tape stops rolling while another member of IS, indistinguishable from Jihadi John steps in and does the actual beheading. Afterwards Jihadi John continues his harangue with the head of the decapitated hostage placed on their own backs. Obviously this barbarism is intended to shock and repulse Americans and, in that regard, it has been effective. But why mention Jihadi John and Eric Frein in the same discussion? Just to provide a reality check.
THE REALITIES OF A MANHUNT
The annals of law enforcement are replete with the stories of famous and infamous manhunts; tales of highly sought criminals who lived in “plain sight” without being recognized. But, there are also some remarkable accounts of “high value” fugitives being captured or killed by law enforcement. The most recent of these amazing tales is the one detailing the 10 year efforts to locate Osama bin Laden who was killed by members of Navy Seal Team 6 at his fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011. Yes, it took 10 years and the combined efforts of the entire intelligence community, our military and other assets ultimately prevailed.
Despite that far flung success it is unrealistic to believe as British Prime Minister Cameron and the American President Obama have vowed, to find and capture Jihadi John. Given the difficulties in locating and capturing Eric Frein, a man most likely confined to a tight square of forest, where some of those law enforcement officers involved in the search might themselves hunt and fish illustrates, Jihadi John’s ultimate demise might come by way of a well-timed laser guided missile. Collateral damage will not be an issue just as has not been for many of the other terrorists and their leaders we have killed from afar.
In a criminal setting here in America, our constitutional and criminal law dictate what methods may be used to capture a fugitive. Since over 97% of murders in the United States are committed by a person(s) known by the victim(s), the investigation is often just connecting the dots, running down known associates and compelling witnesses and other to cooperate with the police. Those arrested and indicted on a murder or homicide charge are afforded an ironclad bulwark of constitutional and civil rights; that is our way. Where we or rather our government has gone astray is in maintaining the ideal that we can capture and “bring terrorists to justice”. Yes, our principles and system of jurisprudence is nothing if not noble. Even when that nobility has jeopardized our own interests we have not ever resorted to the tactics and methods of our adversaries; we have not, no matter what some on the liberal Left side of the political spectrum think, devolved into a brutal police state, an oppressive military or anything other than what we have stood for since 1776.
It was the early autumn of 1998 and President Bill Clinton was in the White House. Just weeks before two American embassies, one in Kenya, the other in Tanzania, had been bombed by al Qaeda. The CIA and NSA had located Osama bin Laden then living in central Afghanistan. The military presented President Clinton with some options to kill the terrorist leader and it was decided that Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from naval ships at sea would be aimed at bin Laden’s encampment. Almost at the last minute satellite imagery revealed the presence of a swing set at the encampment indicating that bin Laden had his extended family with him that included up to 100 children. The missile strike was scrapped and bin Laden lived another day. He would go on to be responsible for the attacks on our soil on September 11, 2001. This account demonstrates one of the most profound differences between those who oppose us and seek to do us harm on a massive scale. The most vicious of those we fight, extremist groups such as IS, al Qaeda and its affiliates and groups practicing the most strict translation of Sharia law, have no qualms in committing gross atrocities, genocide, kidnapping and mass rape even on their fellow Muslims. We in the west have a hard time comprehending these facts of life but, we cannot ignore them any longer.
Individuals like Eric Frein and Jihadi John, by their own actions, have forfeited any kind of rights regarding capture and punishment. Frein, a cop killing domestic terrorist and Jihadi John, an Islamic extremist both practice variants of the same trade. For far too long many in the world have taken advantage of our legal restraint, our nobility. We, as a nation have always been gracious, if not magnanimous in victory; never an occupying force although we had ample opportunity to do so. After the bloody World War II the United States rebuilt the nations we had soundly defeated. There is true nobility in that. We treat or captured “enemy combatants” in very humane and decent conditions and manner.
Perhaps it is time we take off the proverbial gloves and go bare knuckles. Our adversaries only understand force and violence; half assed measures, tempered responses should not cripple our efforts abroad nor should political correctness paralyze law enforcement domestically.
UPDATE Sunday October 19, 2014: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/pa-police-spot-eric-frein-carrying-rifle-covered-mud-article-1.1979017
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/wounded-pennsylvania-state-trooper-released-hospital-search-killer-continues-article-1.1977842
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/10/penn_trooper_shooting_suspect_eric_frein_left_letter_detailing_ambush.html
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/10/eric_frein_manhunt_possible_si.html
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/26547252/suspect-identified-in-deadly-pa-state-trooper-ambush-at-barracks
http://www.wtae.com/news/search-continues-to-state-trooper-shooting-suspect/28148006
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLICE_BARRACKS_SHOOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/30/police-in-hunt-for-pennsylvania-trooper-ambush-suspect-find-pipe-bombs/
Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2014 © All Rights Reserved
Posted by Brooding Cynyc at 5:28 AM 1 comment:
Labels: Beheadings, Domestic Terrorism, Eric Frein Sought, ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State Threat, Jihadi John, Pennsylvania State Troopers ambushed
Blog Action Day 2014: INEQUALITY
The Brooding Cynyx are proud to participate for the third
consecutive year in the annual
This year’s topic is “Inequality” and it seems even more appropriate
a topic given some of the realities of today.
(Thursday October 16, 2014, NY, NY, USA) Inequalities abound; they have come to define these first 13 years of the 21st century but they have long been with us. The crises of the rampant scarcity of clean water, global hunger, gapping disparities in the quality of life from one country to the next are simply too big to ignore. Our world today is an intricately woven tapestry with each strand of yarn connected to several others and so on.
In our world rife with bloodshed, oppression, warfare and a host of other ills, if they could all be summed up in a single word, that word is “inequality”. The world of today is so complexly interconnected in every way that all the inequalities are all well-known, documented, and reported in the media. Inequality comes in many guises and insidious forms just as it comes in grossly obvious manifestations. Inequality between groups is at the root, the very core of so much that ails our world that it is often overlooked, it is the grinding tectonic force often obscured by the dense curtain of geopolitics, international commerce and finance, in a Darwinian conflict that have exceeds that between the “haves and have not’s”.
In America talk of inequality these days is a debate about wealth and how it is consolidated in just one percent of the population. Calls for a “distribution of wealth” represents a facet of this truth that is more an enigma than a problem seeking solution. Here, too, we have deep seated racial inequalities that remain a stain on the soul of America despite over 70 years of efforts to eradicate this disparity.
But then we cast our eyes outward, beyond the shores of our America and learn what true inequality is; the scale and scope of it is enormous and leaves no corner of the globe unaffected. Some of the most profound inequalities are masked by ethnic and religious animosities some that originated in antiquity. Oppression is a weapon used to reinforce inequality. Whether it is the grotesque oppression of the Palestinians by the Israelis, the genocidal practices of warring factions in Iraq and Syria where small, ancient Christian sects are being threatened with extinction, or the bloody civil wars that have ravaged some of the most remote swathes of Africa, where ever there is oppression there is inequality.
As we seek to understand the genesis of some of this venomous hatred, an event arises that, at least for the moment, changes the topic and serves as a stark reminder of not only our interconnectedness and inequality, by also the depths of both.
From some of the deepest, darkest corners of sub-Saharan, western Africa, an ancient nemesis has emerged and emerged with a vengeance. The worst outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD), (formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) is blazing a trail of horrific death from Guinea, Liberia and through parts of Sierra Leone. The death toll is reportedly approaching 5,000 but due to the remoteness of some of the impacted villages and a public health infrastructure that is for all intents and purposes non-existent, the mortality rate is climbing while any opportunity to employ the tried and true tactics of “locate, isolate, quarantine and treat” has long since passed. The reasons for this are many and varied; some the result of the conditions and circumstances within these countries, others, may be traced back to an initially tepid response by the international health care agencies including the World Health Organization (WHO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). The corrupt practices in those countries have at times impeded getting donated supplies meant for the outbreak sites have been stolen by tin pot despots and local thugs demanding ransom. In an outbreak of this nature to say time is of the essence is a cruel understatement. Reports of overrun jungle clinics, a scarcity of even the most basic medical supplies and rotting virus-laden corpses in the streets while those able to flee are running in fear from their native towns and villages racing away from a virus they may have already contracted but has yet to show its tell-tale symptoms.
As we are finding out viruses do not respect borders; they have no nationalistic loyalty. Their primary function is to replicate within a host and do lethal, fatal damage and move on to the next person. However, the Ebola outbreak serves to underscore some of the most pervasive and disturbing inequalities among people today. Over one billion of our fellow world citizens have no access to clean potable water or hygienic sewer system. Almost as many barely make enough to sustain their families and, as a consequence a billion people are malnourished and susceptible to infections. In some “Third World” “developing” countries upwards of 27% of new born children die within the first four years of life from simple Pneumonia and diarrhea while millions more succumb to relatively benign pathogens that children in the western world easily shrug off. Polio and malaria remain at epidemic proportions in Africa and the Asian subcontinent while they have been virtually vanquished from the United States. The saddest element of many of these inequalities is that there are relatively cost effective fixes available. What is lacking is the political will of the western world. The United Nations proves its profound uselessness when it comes to seriously addressing inequalities as do the former colonial powers who exploited the natural resources and people of many African countries for centuries.
Inequality is the direct result of prejudice; of the “divide and conquer” mindset that becomes a self-perpetuating organism that grows more malignant over time. My religion is the “true” religion; my ethnicity is superior to yours. These thoughts are at the very core of some of the worst inequalities.
There is an enigmatic component to inequality in that it appears that by our birth right, by simply being born into the environment that we are determines our fate. How is it in a world with so much wealth that so many people long for clean water and reliable sources of food? If anything these questions have assumed a greater sense of urgency now that our interconnectedness defines our world. We are all truly related, the “six degrees of separation” principal is alive and well. If we have any doubts about this, the current Ebola crisis is stark proof. A man returning from a visit to Monrovia who had contracted the virus during his visit home found himself in a medical emergency within 40 hours of his arrival to his home in Dallas Texas. The “Jet Set” reality of epidemiology cannot be ignored. We can no longer say “well this or that is happening ‘over there’”; that defies today’s reality and logic.
What are the answers? They may not be readily available but they are there and yes, they all require a commitment of money and resources. We, all the western “developed” countries have a responsibility, an obligation, to our fellow global citizens.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/10/ebola-outbreak-killing-70-percent-victims-20141014132345720164.htm
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/World/2014/10/16/Worst-Ebola-outbreak-on-record-tests-global-response/
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/distribution-map.html
http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/hghr/online/forgotten-killers-pneumonia-and-diarrhea-prevalence-in-third-world-countries/
http://kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/the-global-malaria-epidemic/
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/epidemiology-prevention-and-control-of-malaria-in-endemic-areas
https://www.dosomething.org/actnow/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-world-hunger
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-crisis/
http://thewaterproject.org/water_scarcity
Posted by Brooding Cynyc at 1:34 PM No comments:
Labels: Billions without Clean Water, Dire Needs, Philosophical Opinion, Subjective Observation, World Hunger
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From Theodore Roosevelt - US President, First NYPD Commissioner :
'It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.'


Paris, Ile De France, France
Impressiveness /
Tourism Crowd Level
Not available at this time
Time/money value
Not worth it
Tourism level
Never Safe
Generally Safe
----- Type related ratings: ----
Stressful
Very chill
Well protected
Attraction Overview | Pictures
The "City of light" is undoubtedly one of the world's most beautiful and fascinating cities - you could spend a lifetime here and not see everything that Paris has to offer. An easy day trip from Paris is to the Palace of Versailles, one of Europe's most spectacular and largest royal homes. Versailles is about a 30 minute train ride from the center of the city.
King Louis XIV – the "Sun King" - commissioned the palace in 1668 as well as the spacious and beautiful gardens. At one time, almost 2200 men were employed on its construction, which took almost fifty years. The small town of Versailles became the unofficial capital city of the Kingdom of France in 1682, when Louis XIV decided to transfer his court to Versailles. All subsequent French monarchs lived there until the revolution.
At the height of its power, the Palace at Versailles was well known for its lavish banquets, parties and entertainment. It's estimated that around 3000 people lived at Versailles, which was perhaps necessary as one of the many duties of the servants was to hold the ermine robe of the king!
Versailles remained a royal residence until 1789 when a mob marched on the palace and forced the king and queen - Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette - to return to Paris. The turbulent events that followed became known as the French revolution. There were even calls to demolish Versailles - fortunately, this was prevented by then king Louis-Philippe, who turned it into a museum, using much of his own money.
To visit Versailles today is to enter a world of splendor and excess - the entire palace is decorated with marble, stone, gold leaf and wood carvings. The first floor of Versailles contained the elegant main bedrooms and other rooms; while the private rooms of the king and queen overlooked the inner courtyard, known as the Marble Courtyard.
There are some highlights of Versailles that shouldn't be missed – a good place to start any visit is the six bedroom suites known as the Grands Appartements. As with everything else at Versailles - each bedroom is magnificently decorated and each one is named after a painting on the ceilings.
The state rooms were dedicated to Olympian figures and in one of these rooms - the Hercules Salon - you can see the largest and most ornate fireplace in the entire palace, carved from a single slab of marble. The body of Louis XIV was put on display in the Hercules Salon after his death in 1715.
The famous Hall of Mirrors recently underwent a huge restoration project in 2006 – the largest cultural sponsorship program ever undertaken in France. The hall, with its 17 great mirrors facing the windows, is probably the best known room in Versailles, and measures an impressive 236 feet from end to end.
The Hall of Mirrors was designed by Mansart in 1678 and was originally designed to be used as a conference room. It's also seen more than its fair share of history – this is where the treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, after the end of World War I. And the German Empire was proclaimed there in 1871.
The clock room at Versailles contains a famous astronomical clock, which took 20 years to construct. It's a good opportunity to set your watch – the clock is supposedly designed to accurately keep time until the year 9999! Mozart performed in this room for the royal family on several occasions, while he was only 7 years old.
There are two separate smaller buildings in the grounds, known as the Grand and Petit Trianons. The Petit Trianon boasts some ornately decorated woodwork, while in contrast, the Grand Trianon is constructed from lovely pink and white marble. Guests visiting Versailles would often use the buildings as lodging houses.
Marie Antoinette also supposedly used them as a peaceful retreat from the somewhat hectic palace life. And more recently, other important people have enjoyed the lavishly furnished houses - President Nixon once slept in the Grand Trianon on a state visit to France.
The gardens at Versailles, designed by the Royal gardener Andre le Notre are almost as spectacular as the palace and are so large they can be toured by train or horse-drawn carriage. The gardens make a great place for a picnic lunch – and to escape the crowds of visitors. Look for the delightful fountains – a reminder of the more than 1000 fountains that could be found during the palace's heyday.
One of the highlights is a mile long Grand Canal - oriented to catch the rays of the setting sun, where King Louis would enjoy gondola rides. And the Royal Stables have been recently renovated and are once again open to the public. The huge stables once were home to 600 of the king's horses – today they are home to 20 beautiful Lusitanian horses from Portugal.
One thing that strikes visitors is the total symmetry of the gardens – everything was carefully designed and laid out along a main axis. Trees were carefully pruned for effect and flower beds close to the palace were placed so as to be visible from the upper floors. Completing the overall effect are two ornamental pools surrounded by sculptures representing French rivers.
Frequent programs of classical music take place in the gardens during the summer. But a spectacle not to be missed is the event called the "Dreams of the Sun" which occurs occasionally. These festive presentations feature fireworks and music, as well as 200 actors dressed in period costume. And as a memorable finale to your visit, be sure to linger at Versailles until around dusk when the palace is beautifully floodlit.
Versailles remains one of the most popular attractions in Europe. During the 18th century, its style influenced many other European homes and palaces. A visit here will transport you back to the days of Louis XIV and give you a unique insight into French history.
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Indian Politicians
Submitted by Neuron on Sat, 2009-02-21 00:24
Freedom-Fighters of India
Ramaswamy Venkataraman(Tamil: ராமசுவாமி வெங்கட்ராமன்) (December 4, 1910 – January 27, 2009) was an Indian lawyer, freedom-fighter and politician who served as an Union minister and as the 8th President of India.
Submitted by Neuron on Wed, 2009-02-18 01:27
Minister for External Affairs of India
Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (born December 11, 1935, West Bengal, India) is the Minister for External Affairs of India in the Manmohan Singh-led Government of India. A prominent leader of the Indian National Congress in the 14th Lok Sabha, he is known to be a competent party apparatchik, "a prominent Gandhi family loyalist who did not win a popular election until 2004".
Finance Ministers of India
Yashwant Sinha (born November 6, 1937, Patna) is an Indian politician and a former finance minister of India (1990-1991 under PM Chandra Shekhar. and March 1998 - July 2002 under PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee) and foreign minister (July 2002 - May 2004) in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet. He is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
P. Chidambaram
Union Minister of Home Affairs of India
Palaniappan Chidambaram (Tamil: பழனியப்பன் சிதம்பரம்) (born 16th September, 1945) is an Indian politician and present Union Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of India. He is among the most prominent cabinet ministers of the ruling-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) union government led by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Submitted by Neuron on Thu, 2009-02-12 02:39
Member of Lok Sabha
Union Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Industry
Shri Kamal Nath (born 18 November 1946) is an Indian politician and the current Union Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Industry. He is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India.
K. R. Narayanan
Presidents of India
Tenth President of India
Kocheril Raman Narayanan (Malayalam: കോച്ചേരില് രാമന് നാരായണന്) (October 27, 1920 — November 9, 2005), also known as K. R. Narayanan, was the tenth President of the Republic of India. He is the first Dalit and the only Malayali to have been President.
Submitted by Neuron on Tue, 2009-02-10 23:20
First Vice President of India
Indian Philosopher
Vice Presidents of India
Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, OM (Telugu:సర్వేపల్లి రాధాకృష్ణ, Tamil: சர்வேபள்ளி ராதாகிருஷ்ணன்), (5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), was an Indian philosopher and statesman.
Phoolan Devi
Submitted by Neuron on Mon, 2009-02-09 01:10
Indian dacoit
Phoolan Devi (Phūlan Devī) (August 10, 1963 – July 25, 2001), popularly known as "The Bandit Queen", was an Indian dacoit, who later turned politician. She created a great furore across India during her period as bandit.
Vishwanath Pratap Singh
10th Prime Minister of India
Prime Ministers of India
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (Hindi: विश्वनाथ प्रताप सिंह) (25 June 1931 - 27 November 2008) was the 10th Prime Minister of the Republic of India.


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January 16, 2020 January 16, 2020 Lawrence Africa, Belt and Road Initiative, China, China Africa Research Initiative, Deborah Brautigam, debt, debt trap, development, economic growth, economic wealth, extractive industries, Infrastructure, SAIS, technol;ogy, US
Courtesy of Global Research
It is as clear as day and night, the difference between China’s approach to Africa and that of the United States. There is no equivalence. Historically, China has viewed African nations as part of the developing sector from which China emerged. This has contributed to China’s distinct attitude to partnering with African nations in promoting economic growth. Over the last two decades especially, the ties between China and Africa have grown stronger, with Africa’s East Coast materializing as an integral part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The US has not always dismissed the importance of contributing to Africa’s growth. President John Kennedy, following in the footsteps of President Franklin Roosevelt, was a strong opponent of colonial subjugation of Africa. President Kennedy, as US Senator advocated Africa’s liberation movement, and as US President supported President Kwame Nkrumah’s plans to construct the hydro-electric dam and bauxite smelting complex on Ghana’s Volta River. By the end of the 1960s the US had lost its optimism and vision for the world, adopting in its place, a British inspired cynical “geo-political” doctrine.
Geo-politics divides the world into two categories; winners and losers in a zero sum game. Today’s unfounded attacks against China’s involvement in Africa, alleging that China is deliberately entrapping nations into debt and stealing their natural resources flows from this perverted world view. Chinese President, Xi Jinping promotes a different philosophy; it’s called “win-win.”
Building, Not Extracting
Unlike British Imperialist Cecil Rhodes, and degenerates like King Leopold II, China is not raping Africa for its resources. Since Royal Dutch Shell discovered oil in southern Nigeria in 1956, the West has focused its investment chiefly in oil and gas-i.e. hydrocarbon extractive industries. China in recent decades has become the leading nation in financing and building infrastructure in Africa. It is well known that investment in extractive industries do not expand the economy nor provide a large amount of jobs. However, it does yield large streams of revenue. China has chosen a different business mode; one more beneficial to the African people.
According to McKinsey consulting company’s publication, Dance of the lions and the dragons, released in June 2017, China in 2015 financed $21 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Africa. That is three times the combined total of France, Japan, Germany, and India. US financing of infrastructure in Africa was too minimal to even mention. Detailed in the same document, China’s export and import trade with Africa is quantified as $188 billion in 2015, compared to the US at $53 billion. Deloitte’s 2017 Africa Construction Trends, further documents China’s role in expanding Africa’s infrastructure. As of June 2017, China was only second to African governments in funding large infrastructure projects, 15.5% and 27.1% respectively. The US was listed at 3%, the UK and France at 2%. When it comes to who actually builds these projects the figures are more shocking; China constructed over one quarter or 28.1% of these projects, the US 3.3%, and the UK 2.3%.
Infrastructure Is Essential
Infrastructure is critical for every economy to expand, grow and develop. Africa’s deplorable lack of infrastructure is literally killing its people. There is no more crucial single element of economy that must be addressed for African nations to develop. Infrastructure adds value to the entire economy by augmenting the productive capability of every farmer and worker. More capital intense economies will be affected by technologically advanced infrastructure platforms.
The history of humankind demonstrates that progress of civilizations emanates from the realization of scientific discoveries transmitted through more efficacious technologies. Infrastructure reflecting more advanced machinery is a primary means of transferring technology (science) to the economic production process.
There is nothing wrong with African nations using their resources for collateral or payment of loans for infrastructure. Wealth is not the monetary value of natural resources extracted from the earth. Economic wealth is understood to be that which contributes to the increase of the power of society to provide the material wellbeing of its citizens and their posterity. Infrastructure performs that function.
China’s contribution to building new railroads in Africa, replacing century old British and French antiquated rail lines, and constructing new hydro-electric dams, and ports, is precisely what African nations need to develop. China is providing indispensable assistance; the US and Europe are not. An experienced former US ambassador to Africa told me bluntly; the US stopped investing in infrastructure in Africa in the early 1970s. Sadly, today, the US continues to repeatedly proclaim, “we don’t build infrastructure.”
Debt-Trap or Claptrap?
In her latest paper, A critical look at Chinese ‘debt-trap’ diplomacy: the rise of a meme, Deborah Brautigam, China-Africa scholar and Director of the China-Africa Research Initiative-(CARI) at SAIS*, puts a nail in the coffin regarding false accusations of China deliberately entrapping African nations through debt.
She writes: “…for over a decade Western politicians and pundits have warned that China is a rogue donor with regard to its finance, is a new colonialist, and a predatory and pernicious lender that snares vulnerable states in a debt trap leveraging its loans in order to have its way with weak victims.”
Brautigam responds to these allegations by asking: “However, does evidence exist for this kind of debt leverage?” Then she answers: “It [SAIS database] has information on about more than 1000 loans and, so far, in Africa, we have not seen any examples where we would say the Chinese deliberatively entangled another country in debt, and then used that debt to extract unfair or strategic advantages of some kind in Africa, including ‘asset seizures’.” (emphasis added)
With the population of 55 African nations projected to reach 2.4 billion in the next three decades, the continent needs trillions of dollars in new infrastructure. Presently, the US is more concerned in countering China in Africa, than developing Africa. Many African leaders are hopeful the US will establish a more robust economic relationship with their nations. As has been the case with previous administrations, the lack of vision, and adherence to “geo-politics” is preventing the US from engaging with Africa in a win-win relationship. This can and should change.
*Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in the economic development policy of Africa for 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com
January 13, 2020 Lawrence Africa, Bonifica, Infrastructure, Italy, Lake Chad, Lake Chad Basin, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Lega Party, Marcello Vichi, Nigeria, President Buhari, Senator Iwobi, Transaqua
Transaqua is a transformative agro-industrial water project that would refurbish the shrinking Lake Chad to its 1963 size of 25,000 square kilometers. Transaqua envisions transferring water from the super wet Congo Riven Basin to the super dry Lake Chad Basin via a 2,4000 kilometer canal connecting to the Chari River. This would produce an economic renaissance of the entire region, thus affecting many nations, and in truth, the whole African continent.
The news reported below on the renewed commitment by the Italian government to fund a feasibility study for Transaqua, an inter-basin water project to reverse the shrinking of Lake chad, is good news for all of Africa. Italy has made available 1.5 million Euros ($1.8 million dollars) for the feasibility study. The Italian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lake Chad Basin Commission-(LCBC) regarding this study. It is now up to the LCBC to formulate the contract procedure and award the contract to begin the long overdue analysis of the viability of Transaqua. It is in the interest of all African nation, especially those the Lake Chad Basin to encourage the LCBC to move forward. The failure to act on Transaqua decades ago, when it was first proposed, has been costly; more costly then than the multi-billion dollar price tag of the project itself. The destruction of North-East Nigeria and the tens of thousands of lives lost, could have been prevented if Transaqua had been built. We cannot afford to wait; the LCBC should take appropriate action.
According to E.I.R., the New Budget Law in Italy Provides Funding for Feasibility Study on Transaqua. Following an amendment introduced by Sen.Toni Iwobi of the Lega Party, the Italian government included in its 2021 budget bill, the funding of a feasibility study for the Transaqua water transfer project in Africa. The bill was passed in the Senate on Dec. 16, 2019. Although the allocation of €1.5 million had already been pledged by the Italian government in a 2018 joint memorandum with the Italy and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), procedures have been blocked under the current pro-malthusian Environment Minister.
The amendment, which was endorsed by the head of the Lega in the Senate, Massimiliano Romeo, states: “To implement Art. 6 of the Memorandum signed by the [Italian] Ministry for Environment, Sea and Territory Protection and by the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the feasibility study for the ‘Transaqua Project’ is co-financed with EU1.5 million for the year 2021 through the Fund for Extraordinary Interventions aimed at relaunching dialogue and cooperation with African countries and other countries of primary importance for migratory movements.”
Making the commitment to Transaqua a state law in Italy represents a definite qualitative improvement over the simple memorandum of understanding, even if the date of 2021 does not reflect the urgency of the matter.
Senator Iwobi has proudly publicized the development on his website and Facebook page, including a video in which he shows the location of Lake Chad and why the Transaqua project is so important. Shortly after his election in March 2018, EIR had contacted the senator, who is of Nigerian origin, to brief him on the project, which he immediately endorsed, saying “those who are against this project are against Africa.”
Transaqua is not merely a water-transfer scheme, but an integrated water, transport, hydroelectric and agro-industrial infrastructure project which, as African scholars have correctly judged, will provide the engine for the recovery of the entire economy of the Central African region. The Schiller Institute and EIR have campaigned internationally for its implementation, together with the Italian engineering company Bonifica which developed it in the 1970s under the leadership of Eng. Marcello Vichi.
Thanks to their efforts, combined with the impact of China’s Belt and Road policy in Africa, the LCBC member countries adopted it at a February 2018 International Conference on Lake Chad in Abuja, Nigeria. Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, enthusiastically supports Transaqua, and is campaigning for a donors’ conference to raise $50 billion to build the infrastructure.
For full background on Transaqua read my interview from June 2019, following he successful Abuja conference to Save Lake Chad.
Interview With Lawrence Freeman: The Tim e is Now For TRANSAQUA-to Save Lake Chad and Transform Africa
January 8, 2020 January 8, 2020 Lawrence Abiy Ahmed, Adwa, Amhara, common good, common humanity, constitution, economic growth, EPRDF, Ethiopia, Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ethnicity, Homo Sapiens, Medemer, nationalism, Oromo, Prosperity Party, Sidama, Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Front, synergy, Tigray
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has embarked on a bold effort to transform the political terrain of Ethiopia while simultaneously launching new economic reforms. The creation of the new Ethiopian Prosperity Party (PP) replaces the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front-(EPRDF), founded in 1988. Dissolving the reigning EPRDF and fashioning a new national party, or what some refer to as a Pan-Ethiopian party, is a courageous and daring move, essential for Ethiopia’s future. This emerging nation of over 105 million people, already a leader in economic development, is now embarking on a challenging path to create de novo a national party.
The EPRDF, which had governed Ethiopia since May 1991, was composed of four Regional States, plus the cities of Addis Ababa (the capital), and Dire Dawa. The four regional parties are: the Tigray People’s Liberation Front-(TPLF); the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization-(OPDO) (renamed early this year as Oromo Democratic Party-(ODP); the Amhara National Democratic Movement-(ANDM), (renamed early this year as Amhara Democratic Party-(ADP); and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement-(SEPDM), (a coalition of the 56 ethnic groups).
The EPRDF was fashioned to address Ethiopia’s earlier history of dictatorial and monarchical rule. The designers of the governing party believed that acknowledging ethnic identity, which was not recognized for centuries, would solve the tensions of that time. Recent conflicts in Ethiopia have shown this arrangement to be ineffective.
Of the four parties that comprised the EPRDF, only the TPLF has refused to join the new PP. Already the governing parties representing 5 regions, which were not members of the EPRDF, but were recognized as allies of the EPRDF have joined the PP in preparation for May 2020 elections. They are: 1) Afar National Democratic Party (ANDP); 2) Benishangul-Gumuz Democratic Party (BDP); 3) Somali Democratic Party (SDP); 4) Gambela People’s Democratic Movement (GPDM); and 5) Harari National League (HNL). The PP will be inclusive, intending to represent all communities, inviting Tigrayans, who live in and outside the region to join. The PP program will have Amharic as its working language as per the constitution. However, Afan Oromo, Tigrigna, Somali and Afar will also be the working languages of the new PP.
Prime Minister Abiy’s founding of the PP on December 1, just six months before Ethiopia’s national elections, is fraught with personal risks for the new Prime Minister. However, this endeavor is bursting with the potential to transform politics and social relations in Ethiopian society. Ethiopia has a splendid history thousands of years old, rich with a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds. The PP is intended to harmonize the diversity of the nation with a national non-ethnic based party.
Chair Persons of the eight parties who also represent eight Regions as governing parties worked under the umbrella of the EPRDF coalition signed a document for the establishment of Prosperity Party. Photo Credit OPM
Nationalism: Not Ethnic Nationalism
A sovereign nation-state is not a mosaic of diverse groups competing with each other for control of the government or pursuing administration posts to obtain economic and financial rewards. A sovereign nation should have a national identity and a mission orientation for its people; all its people, regardless of ethnic heritage. Contributing to the distinctive identity of Ethiopia was its military defeat of the Italian Empire in the battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896. Consequently, this victory, uniquely allowed Ethiopia to remain free from colonialism. Although this triumph occurred over one century ago, it is part of the psychological composition of the identity of all Ethiopians; whether they are conscious of its effects or not. Ethiopia’s decades’ long determination to develop from a disadvantaged nation to an aspiring lower middle-income nation with nascent light manufacturing industry is another feature of Ethiopia’s national identity.
Professed ethnonationalism errs in that it attempts to substitute the demands, often for legitimate needs, of one particular group above the interests of all the citizens. A nation-state cannot survive in a Hobbesian war of all against each other to obtain the most goodies for “my people.” Dare we forget the horrors of the ethnically driven tragic Biafran war in Nigeria from 1967-1970, and how geographic-ethnic distinctions have determined every unhealthy aspect of political and social life in Nigeria today?
Recriminations from the past are no excuse for actions today. Decisions concerning the best strategy for securing the future of Ethiopia must be based on how that policy will benefit the well-being of all citizens.
Medemer and Synergy
In his acceptance speech for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Prime Minister Abiy spoke of the philosophy of the Medemer.
He said: “Medemer, an Amharic word, signifies synergy, convergence, and teamwork for a common destiny. Medemer is a homegrown idea that is reflected in our political, social, and economic life. I’d like to think of ‘Medemer’ as a social compact for Ethiopians to build a just, egalitarian, democratic, and humane society by pulling together our resources for our collective survival and prosperity…At its core, Medemer is a covenant of peace that seeks unity in our common humanity.” One could appropriately, add for the “common good” of humankind.
Our “common humanity” exists in all of us. We are all born in the image of the Creator. All human beings are universally related by our endowed powers of creative mentation, more commonly known as reason. What distinguishes all human beings from the animal species is our mental power to discover new scientific and cultural principles embedded in our universe. All of us homo sapiens, regardless of where we were born, or any physical characteristics, are substantially more alike than we are different. Therefore, our needs, desires, and aspirations in life are similar. All human beings not only share a common interest to enhance our lives, but we also share a desire for a better future for our posterity. There is no class of superior people, who have more rights than others due to privileges of birth, religion, or skin color. Each of us are placed here on earth to contribute to the common good of our common humanity using our individual talents.
If we accept synergy to mean cooperation and collaboration to achieve an enhanced effect, then let us act synergistically to ensure a prosperous Ethiopia that provides for all its citizens.
The Constitution and Sidama
Inherent problems of the 1995 Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia are evident in the November 2019 referendum conferring autonomy to Sidama. Ethiopia’s constitution stipulates that with this lawful vote, the people of Sidama, the fifth largest ethnic group, will become the tenth ethnic regional state. Eight of the existing nine regional states are governed by the dominant ethnic group of that geographical region. However, the Sidama people reside in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region–(SNNPR), where many other small ethnic groups (around 56) also exist.
The Preamble of Ethiopia’s Constitution properly emphasizes the conception of a united nation with a common purpose and goal for all its people. It deliberates on “advancing our economic and social development,” “common interest….and the emergence of a common outlook,” and “to live as one economic community.” Article 14 resonates with the US Constitution, stating: “Every person has the inviolable right to life the security of person and liberty.” The same principle is echoed in Article 43 of the Constitution: The Right to Development. “The basic aim of development activities shall be to enhance the capacity of citizens for development and to meet their basic needs.”
The drawback to the Constitution begins in Article 8:Sovereignty of the People, where sovereign powers are divided up between “Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia.” This is an obvious compromise to ethnicity. In truth; there is only one Ethiopian people and only one Ethiopian nation. The divisions in Ethiopian society are made explicit in Article39: “Every Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia has an unconditional right to self-determination, including the right of secession……the right to a full measure of self-government…” This separation of Ethiopians into multiple groups, outlined in the Constitution, is the seed for the tensions gripping Ethiopia today.
In the aftermath of the Sidama referendum, Ethiopia potentially faces a conundrum. Will other ethnic minorities now choose to follow the same path as Sidama in calling for autonomy as delineated in the Constitution? It appears so. In addition to Sidama Zone*, which is now claiming to be the 10th state, there are other Zones in the Southern Region that want to follow the same route to statehood. To quote William Shakespeare, “there’s the rub.” Clearly the Ethiopian Constitution, despite the best intentions, has proven to be unsuccessful in governing this multi-ethnic nation.
The Challenging Course Ahead
The emergence of a national party such as the PP can commence the process of uniting the nation by moving away from a society where ethnic interests are placed above the welfare of the nation. Ultimately the problematic features of the Ethiopian Constitution will have to be revisited. Not to address this thorny issue will allow instigators to use ethnicity to disrupt what is most necessary for Ethiopia to move forward; a healthy process of dialogue and debate on the future of Ethiopia.
This discourse should include a discussion by the Ethiopian people on changing the structure of ethnic-based parties. For example, Ghana’s Constitution stipulates that “Every political party shall have a national character, and membership shall not be based on ethnic, religious, regional or other sectional divisions.” That no political party shall be formed “(a) on ethnic, gender, religion regional, professional or other sectional divisions; or (b) which uses words, slogans or symbols which could arouse ethnic, gender, religious, regional professional or other sectional divisions.”
The lack of vibrant Ethiopian nationalism creates a fertile environment for those who want to manipulate misplaced ethnic passions. The danger presents itself during times of social or economic stress, when the population’s frustrations can be channeled along ethnic fault lines, manipulating Ethiopians to act against their true self-interest: progress for the nation of Ethiopia. Opportunistic ringleaders will attempt to misdirect the population against each other via competing ethnicities, instead of uniting society behind a national policy. A policy of economic growth that includes a strategy to generate employment opportunities for the millions of youth preparing to enter the workforce is in the vital interests of all citizens.
Of course, it will take time for people to shed their desire to control policy making through ethnic-based parties. It is an existential moment for Ethiopia, and a national grounded PP is a needed first step. It should be understood, that a sovereign nation, whose national mission is to promote the general welfare of its people does not require the elimination of historical cultures. On the contrary, the uniqueness and beauty of each ethnic culture can be synergistically woven into an elevated national character that transcends ethnicity.
*Zone is the middle tire next to the regional state in the governing structure that is also formed under ethnic lines the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR).
January 5, 2020 January 5, 2020 Lawrence Africa, Belt and Road Initiative, China, David Shinn, Djibouti, Doraleh Port, Ethiopia, Infrastructure, Internet infrastructure, Kenya, prosper-Africa, Railroads, Somalia, US
In the article below you can read about China’s strategic investment in making Djibouti’s port a major port in Africa and the Middle East. The West can criticize as much as it likes, but China, not the US and Europe, is building vitally needed infrastructure in Africa. Without infrastructure Africa will not develop and progress. U.S policy known as “Prosper Africa” is cynical joke.
In strategic Djibouti, a microcosm of China’s growing foothold in Africa
By Max Bearak
DJIBOUTI — Above ground in this tiny but strategically located country, signs of China’s presence are everywhere.
Chinese entities have financed and built Africa’s biggest port, a railway to Ethiopia and the country’s first overseas naval base here. Under the sea, they are building a cable that will transmit data across a region that spans from Kenya to Yemen. The cable will connect to an Internet hub housing servers mostly run by China’s state-owned telecom companies.
Beijing’s extensive investments in Djibouti are a microcosm of how China has rapidly gained a strategic foothold across the continent. Western countries, including Africa’s former colonizers, for decades have used hefty aid packages to leverage trade and security deals, but Chinese-financed projects have brought huge infrastructural development in less than a generation.
The construction is fueled mostly by lending from China’s state-run banks. Spindles of Chinese-paved roads have unfurled across the continent, along with huge bridges, new airports, dams and power plants as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 152-country Belt and Road Initiative.
Overall, Chinese companies have invested twice as much money between 2014 and 2018 in African countries as American companies, spending $72.2 billion, according to an analysis by Ernst & Young.
“The Chinese are thinking far into the long-term in Djibouti and Africa in general,” said David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia who was also the State Department’s desk officer for Djibouti as far back as the late 1960s. “Djibouti is one node in an economic chain that stretches across the northern rim of the Indian Ocean, from ports in Cambodia to Sri Lanka to Pakistan. They have a grand, strategic plan. We don’t.”
In Djibouti, that strategic plan is all the more evident because of the country’s location at the entrance to the Red Sea, where about 10 percent of oil exports and 20 percent of commercial goods pass through the narrow strait right off Djibouti’s coast on their way to and from the Suez Canal.
That location has made it a crucial way-point for undersea cables, which transmit data between continents. China’s investment in Internet infrastructure here comes as the region surrounding Djibouti is just starting to come online, including some places that are entirely reliant on Djibouti as a transit point for data transmission…
“Yes, our debt to China is 71% of our GDP, but we needed that infrastructure,” Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, Djibouti’s foreign affairs minister, said in a phone interview on the sidelines of a meeting in New York earlier this month, where Djibouti was pushing to gain a non permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
“It was quite natural that we raise our partnership with China. Neither Europe nor America were ready to build the infrastructure we needed. We’re projecting our country into the future and looking after the well-being of our people. Even the United States has trillions of dollars in debt to China, you know,” Youssouf said.
The most significant investment China has made in Djibouti is Doraleh Port, Africa’s biggest and deepest. As with Internet through the data center, a full 90 percent of landlocked Ethiopia’s imports now transit Djibouti, giving the minuscule country, with a population of less than a million, leverage over its gigantic, 100-million-strong neighbor.
December 28, 2019 Lawrence Africa, China, desalination, development, Egypt, energy, Ethiopia, fresh water, Ghana, isotopes, Nigeria, nuclear energy, Rosatom, Russia, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, SMR, Sudan, technol;ogy, Uganda
Image credit: IAEA
In the next decade, beginning on January 1, 2020, African nations must pursue nuclear energy. This is necessary to provide energy to the continent, which is suffering from a huge deficit in electricity, but nuclear technology has many additional benefits to African economies. This includes creating large amounts of potable water. With nuclear power plants along the Mediterranean and Red Sea, the equivalent of a “second Nile River” from desalination through nuclear powered desalination would transform the nations of the Nile Basin. Constructing Small Modular Nuclear Reactors-SMRs (see below) in every African nation would be a important first step towards ending poverty and industrializing the continent. Let me bluntly state: without abundant, low cost energy, Africa will not develop, and its people will suffer. Energizing Africa is not an option, it is a life and death necessity!
{Sustainable Times} published a valuable article on December 23, 2019: Can Nuclear Unlock Africa’s Development?
“Combining renewables with nuclear power, however, makes the task of powering Africa’s growing economies more viable – not to mention the other useful and often overlooked aspects that nuclear can contribute to development. Although South Africa is the only country on the continent currently operating a nuclear power plant, the technology is being increasingly considered by African leaders. For example, works are set to begin on a new 4.8GW plant in El Dabaa Egypt next year, which is being developed by Russia’s Rosatom.
“Other countries including Ethiopia, Zambia, Nigeria and Ghana also have memorandums of understanding with Rosatom that pave the way for nuclear development. South Korea are also looking to invest in the continent’s energy industry, while Chinese nuclear firms have entered into agreements with Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. Energy is a key driver for development. In Ghana, for example, nuclear is seen as the obvious way to provide reliable energy for bauxite refineries which would increase jobs and export capacity.
Technology beyond electricity
“But nuclear technology provides more than just energy: many advanced nuclear designs produce high-temperature process heat for uses in desalination plants, chemical production and even district heating systems. These subsidiary features would allow nuclear technology to benefit society beyond the generation of electricity – and potentially accelerating its deployment.
“Nuclear technologies are already being used in agriculture, for example, where isotopes and radiation techniques are harnessed to combat pests and diseases or to increase livestock and crop production. For instance, farmers in Benin have increased their maize yields by 50 percent, while simultaneously reducing the amount of fertiliser used by 70 percent, thanks to the deployment of nuclear-derived nitrogen-fixation methods – the same techniques that are allowing Maasai farmers in Kenya to double vegetable crop yields with half the irrigation of traditional methods.
“By contrast, nuclear desalination could use the excess heat from new reactor designs like Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) to produce thermal and electrical energy without emitting greenhouse gases, which then transforms seawater into freshwater. While capital costs for nuclear plants are initially high, fuel costs are low and stable: a doubling in the price of uranium would result in only a five percent increase in the total cost of energy generation. In contrast, an equivalent increase in oil would cause freshwater production costs to surge by 70 percent.”
Read: Can Nuclear Unlock Africa’s Development?
Progress for Small Modular Reactors
by Nancy Spannaus — December 13, 2019
December 13, 2019—There’s some real good news for the U.S. economy today. NuScale, an Oregon company that is developing a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), has passed the next stage of review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cross-section of NuScale small modular reactor (world nuclear news)
As this blog has reported before, the mass development of nuclear power is a critical component to bringing the productivity of the U.S. economy out of the doldrums, and thus bringing us into a new era of prosperity. High-speed rail, modernized water systems, the space program, and many other components of an economic recovery program depend upon generating huge amounts of electricity that are way beyond our current capacity. Nuclear represents a leap in productivity that will allow us to get there, as well as a step on the way to the development of thermonuclear fusion.
NuScale’s design for an SMR has now gone through four phases of review. It still has to go through stages 5 and 6. According to the company’s press release, the Oregon-based company is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as other companies. It has received support from Congress.
As I outlined in a post approximately one year ago, the promise of SMRs lies not only in their safety design, but in the fact that the United States still has the industrial capacity to produce them assembly-line fashion. Over the past 40 years, the heavy industrial capability for producing a standard-sized nuclear reactor (measured in hundreds of megawatts or over 1000) has been dismantled. But a small reactor of 12 to 50 megawatts could be produced in assembly-line fashion, and provide a flexible means of providing power outside major urban areas, including hard-to-reach regions.
The United States is not the only country working on SMRs, and some in the industry are seeking to motivate investment in NuScale on the basis of “beating the competition.” Such peaceful competition has a huge positive payoff for the human race, and can only be encouraged. Thus NuScale’s progress with the NRC is most welcome news.
The NuScale press release can be read in full here.
December 24, 2019 January 6, 2020 Lawrence ADB, Africa, AFRICOM, Angola, Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, China, Deborah Brautigam, debt trap, Deng Xiaoping, Djibouti, IMF, Infrastructure, John Bolton, Johns Hopkins
(Courtesy of Quartz Africa)
Deborah Brautigam, an expert on China-Africa relations, exposes the fraud of China’s debt-trap diplomacy in her report: A Critical look at Chinese ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ Brautigam, who is director of the Johns Hopkins Center for China-Africa Research Initiative, writes unequivocally that there is no evidence of an intentional effort to trap African nations into owing debt to China. China is not manipulating African nations in an attempt to control their resources. Ironically this is what the Western institutions did to African nations following their independence from colonialism. Whether out of ignorance and/or prejudice, Africans and Westerners have been repeating unfounded propaganda that China is the new colonizer of Africa. It is time to finally end this malicious mantra.
“The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies curates a database on Chinese lending to Africa (Brautigam & Hwang, 2016). It has information on about more than 1000 loans and, so far, in Africa, we have not seen any examples where we would say the Chinese deliberately entangled another country in debt, and then used that debt to extract unfair or strategic advantages of some kind in Africa, including ‘asset seizures’. Angola, for example, has borrowed a huge amount from China. Of course, many of these loans are backed by Angola’s oil exports, but this is a commercial transaction. China is not getting huge strategic advantage in that relationship. Similarly, others have examined Chinese lending elsewhere in the world – some 3000 cases – and while some projects have been cancelled or renegotiated, none, aside from the single port in Sri Lanka, has been used to support the idea that the Chinese are seizing strategic assets when countries run into trouble with loan repayment (Kratz, Feng, & Wright, 2019).
The evidence so far, including the Sri Lankan case, shows that the drumbeat of alarm about Chinese banks’ funding of infrastructure across the BRI and beyond is overblown. In a study we conducted using our data on Chinese lending and African debt distress through 2017, China was a major player in only three low-income African countries that were considered by the IMF to be debt distressed or on the verge of debt distress (Eom, Brautigam, & Benabdallah, 2018). A similar country-by-country analysis that included use of our data shows that the Chinese are, by and large, not the major player in African debt distress (Jubilee Debt Campaign, 2018). Therefore, the role of China in African debt distress was limited when one remembers that there are 54 countries in Africa.”
Read: A Critical look at Chinese ‘debt-trap diplomacy’
December 22, 2019 January 6, 2020 Lawrence Africa, China, economic growth, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite, Nigeria, nuclear energy, Russia, Rwanda, science, space exploration, technol;ogy, Uganda
Ethiopia’s satellite orbiting the earth. (courtesy of africanexponent.com)
Space exploration is an essential driver of economic growth. Mankind’s discovery of new physical principles of the universe leads to the creation of new technologies, which transform economies to higher levels of production of physical wealth. It is science and assimilating new technologies like fission and fusion energy that are the engines of real economic growth; not money or stock values. Exploration of space stimulates the mind and breeds optimism.
“Ethiopia’s first satellite was sent into space on Friday, a landmark achievement for the ambitious country that also caps a banner year for Africa’s involvement in space.
“A Chinese Long March 4B rocket hoisted the first Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS-1) aloft from the Taiyuan space base in northern China.
“Scores of Ethiopian and Chinese officials and scientists gathered at the Entoto Observatory and Research Centre outside the capital, Addis Ababa, early Friday to watch a live broadcast.
“The 70-kilogramme (154-pound) satellite was developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology with the help of 21 Ethiopian scientists, according to the specialist website africanews.space…
“For us as a society, we are valuing this launch as something which lifts our national pride,” Paulos said.
“You know, this is a very poor country. Many in the younger generation don’t have big hopes of reaching space. But today we are giving this generation hope, helping this generation to think big and have self-esteem.”
Read: Ethiopia Celebrates Launch of First Satellite
Nuclear Energy is Necessary for Africa’s Growth
Russia’s Rosatom already is building a $29 billion nuclear plant complex for Egypt, and the company is also helping Nigeria, Uganda, the Republic of Congo, and Rwanda establish nuclear facilities. The El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in Egypt will have four VVER-1200 reactors, or water-water energetic reactors, which are Russian-designed Generation III+ reactors. Russia is financing 85% of the project with a loan of about $25 billion to Egypt, and Egypt is paying the remaining 15% over a period of 13 years, wrote Darrell Proctor in Power on Dec. 2.
Africa’s only current operating nuclear power plant is the 1.8 GW Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, north of Cape Town, which is owned and operated by Eskom, South Africa’s power utility. The plant recently had its operational period extended for another 20 years from 2024 when it was originally supposed to be decommissioned.
African nations are trying to increase their power generation capacity on a continent that has long struggled to sustain reliable power. The International Energy Agency recently reported that 57% of Africa’s population still does not have easy access to electricity, and those with access to power deal with frequent power outages.
African nations desperately need nuclear power for their survival. Without access to plentiful energy, people will die and nations will not develop.
December 17, 2019 January 6, 2020 Lawrence Abiy Ahmed, African, Amharic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Horn of Africa, Medemer, Nobel Peace Prize, peace, synergy, war
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed Ali receives the the Nobel Peace Price on December 10, 2019. (Courtesy of allthingsethiopia.com)
In his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize of 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed discusses the importance of the philosophy of the Medemer in achieving peace in the Horn of Africa. Prime Minister Abiy is applying the philosophy of the Medemer in transforming Ethiopia.
“This humanity I speak of, is within all of us. We can cultivate and share it with others if we choose to remove our masks of pride and arrogance. When our love for humanity outgrows our appreciation of human vanity then the world will know peace. Ultimately, peace requires an enduring vision. And my vision of peace is rooted in the philosophy of Medemer.
“Medemer, an Amharic word, signifies synergy, convergence, and teamwork for a common destiny. Medemer is a homegrown idea that is reflected in our political, social, and economic life. I like to think of “Medemer” as a social compact for Ethiopians to build a just, egalitarian, democratic, and humane society by pulling together our resources for our collective survival and prosperity.
“In practice, Medemer is about using the best of our past to build a new society and a new civic culture that thrives on tolerance, understanding, and civility. At its core, Medemer is a covenant of peace that seeks unity in our common humanity.
“It pursues peace by practicing the values of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and inclusion.”
Read: PM Abiy’s Acceptance Speech of the Nobel Peace Prize
December 12, 2019 December 12, 2019 Lawrence America, Belt and Road Initiative, CGTN, China, deep-state, Democrats, establishment, impeachment, Infrastructure, President Trump, Russia, Russia-gate, US, US Constitution
U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (1st R) speaks at a news conference to announce articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., December 10, 2019. /Xinhua Photo
On the week that the Judiciary Committee is determined to vote for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, CGTN published my analysis on the invalidity of this impeachment process.
Trump, impeachment, and the future of the U.S.
Lawrence Freeman, December 11, 2019
“This week the Judiciary Committee concludes the impeachment proceedings against Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States. This committee, controlled by the Democrats, is likely to approve articles of impeachment within the week.
“It is anticipated that the majority Democratic Party in the House of Representatives will vote for impeachment before the Christmas Holiday break.
“Therefore, it is quite possible that when the Congress returns to Washington. D.C. in January, the first order of business will be a trial of President Trump in the U.S. Senate. Thus, America, and indeed the world, will begin the new year of 2020 with a dangerous strategic destabilization caused by a weakening of the U.S. Presidency. Regardless of the outcome, this course of events bodes ill for the future of our U.S.
“For me, a lifelong Democrat, who has been involved in American politics for over half a century, this impeachment process, driven by the leadership of the Democratic Party, is not legitimate. Removing a U.S. President, elected by the American voters is the most serious and extreme measure allowed under the U.S. Constitution.
“A President should not be removed from office without overwhelming and provable evidence, that she or he is endangering the security and existence of the U.S. No such evidence has been provided. I fear for my country when a partisan majority has the power to remove a President between national elections (as was the case of the impeachment of President Clinton, which I also opposed).”
Clash over foreign policy
“Once you get past the headlines of Russia-gate, followed by allegations of obstruction of justice, and now, the so-called quid quo pro in Ukraine; examine the real underlying issue of conflict between President Trump and the establishment. He disagrees with Washington’s anti-Russia policy…”
Read the entire article: Trump. Impeachment, and the Future of the US
December 8, 2019 January 5, 2020 Lawrence African Diaspora, African Union, Arikana Chihombori-Quao, Moussa Faki Mahamat
Former Ambassador from the African Union to the US, Arikana Chihombori-Quao with Lawrence Freeman. December 5, 2019
You can read in the press release below the rebuttal by Ambassador Arikana Chihombori-Quao to the allegations against her by the African Union.
“In summary, I took a virtually unknown Mission that had been relegated to a Protocol Office and turned it into a vibrant well-respected Mission, not only in Washington DC but around the world. I accomplished all this with limited staff…and very limited resources. I worked tirelessly, an average of sixteen-eighteen-hour days, seven days a week during my tenure. I attended as many meetings and events as I could promoting Africa and the African Union not only in the United States of America but also in other parts of the Americas. I realized that this is what it took to bring awareness to the people of an entity that was otherwise unknown.”
Read: Press Release and Rebuttal by HE Ambassador Chihombori Quao


1/16/13: Iovine: It'll be "guys who know music and culture" who create viable music streaming
Beats chief Iovine says he was pushing Steve Jobs for an Apple streaming service
Posted by: Paul Maloney
Issue Date: January 16, 2013 - 12:25pm
Beats Electronics CEO (and Universal Music exec and record industry legend) Jimmy Iovine thinks that when it comes to creating a music service that fans will embrace, the tech guys don't stand a chance.
"I was shocked at how culturally inept most consumer electronics companies are... You can build Facebook, you can build YouTube, you can build Twitter — you can be a tech company and do that," he told AllThingsDigital's Peter Kafka at CES. "Subscription [music] needs a programmer. It needs culture. And tech guys can’t do that. They don’t even know who to hire. They’re utilities."
Obviously, Iovine has faith that his company, with "guys who know music and culture" like himself, Dr. Dre, and Trent Reznor at the helm, is far more suited to creating the killer streaming music experience.
"[Other music subscription] companies, these services, all lack curation... There’s no curation. That’s what we did as a record label, we curated," he said. "We are heavy on curation, and we believe it’s a combination of human and math... Right now, somebody’s giving you 12 million songs, and you give them your credit card, and they tell you 'good luck.' You need to have some kind of help. I’m going to offer you a guide... a trusted voice, and it’s going to be really good."
Interestingly, Iovine says he'd long been trying to push the late Apple founder Steve Jobs towards creating a streaming music subscription service.
"He wasn’t keen on it right away. [Beats co-founder] Luke Wood and I spent about three years trying to talk him into it... He didn’t want to pay the record companies enough. He felt that they would come down, eventually... I think in the end Steve was feeling it, but the economics... he wanted to pay the labels [for subscriptions], but [the fees were] not going to be acceptable to them."
At CES, Iovine and his company named former Yahoo! Music and Topspin CEO Ian Rogers (RAIN coverage here) CEO of Beats' music subscription service, codenamed "Daisy" (which will likely be a repurposed MOG, which Beats owns). More on Daisy in RAIN here.
Read the AllThingsDigital interview with Beats' Iovine here.
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Rhapsody's Irwin says Pandora's, Spotify's "freemium" approach won't work
Rhapsody Intl. president Jon Irwin told Inc. magazine he doesn't think Pandora's and Spotify's "freemium" model (that's when a basic version of a service is available free, but a subscription is charged for the full-feature version) is the way to go.
Inc. reports Irwin believes Spotify's (and Pandora's) strategy is to "build a big name and a big user base by giving away the store, then do an IPO and leave the shareholders to figure out if the service can make money." He says his company's strategy is in building partnerships with automakers, mobile providers, and consumer electronics manufacturers (which, of course, Spotify and Pandora have done with wider success). Rhapsody did, in fact, launch its app for the Roku set-top device this week (more here).
Spotify has 5 million paying subscribers, plus 15 million more who use the service free. Pandora says in December it had 67.1 million "active listeners" (the vast majority of whom listen free). Rhapsody, which doesn't offer free usage, has 1 million paying customers.
Irwin reportedly revealed to GigaOm his company's plans to expand into 16 more European countries (see RAIN here) in the coming months (Rhapsody is available in the UK and Germany under the Napster brand name).
Read more from Inc. here.
Cox creates $250M fund to exclusively back board member's startups
Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Cox Media and Cox Communications, has announced its launch of a $250 million investment fund to back "directly and exclusively in companies created by" board member and serial entrepreneur Tripp Rackley.
According to TechCrunch, "Rackley has a track record in building tech startups that have had successful exits. The most notable ones have been in the enterprise sector, specifically in financial services — nFront, now part of Intuit; and Firethorn, now part of Qualcomm."
Experience, a Rackley startup, is the partnership's first investment. It's a mobile app sporting event or concert attendees can use to upgrade their seats. TechCrunch suggests this may be a clue that the new fund could "be dedicated to startups that are in some way adjacent to the media business for which Cox is already known."
Read TechCrunch here, and the Cox press release here.