By Teshome A.1    May 10, 2008

For the last few months I have been reading various commentaries written by different people regarding the cause of inflation in Ethiopia2. I appreciated the commitments and efforts of these writers who came out with different reasons based on the available information and knowledge they have on the topic. Such different argument is usually common in understanding the cause of inflation or any economic variable, because the change in the price of any particular good based on many factors opens the door for most people to express their expectation in a way they understand the economic developments in the country. It is obvious that there is no Economist who argues that his/her explanation is the only way to justify the source of inflation in Ethiopia unless he/she is a pseudo Economist. That is why I was glad to see many Ethiopians or non-Ethiopian professionals debate on the cause of inflation and its remedial measure in the country.

May 11 (Reuters) - Below are answers to some key questions about the Darfur rebel attack on Sudan’s capital.
WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?

The sound of gunfire continues on the western edge of the suburb of Omdurman, across the River Nile from Khartoum. There have been reports that the Justice and Equality Movement rebels are sending reinforcements to back up a first assault that was repelled by government troops, but sustaining a fighting force over 600 km (400 miles) from rear bases is likely to prove difficult over time. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s government has extended a curfew indefinitely, saying it wants to track down pockets of rebels in the city.

EPRDF Support Forum Denounces Amnesty International Smear Campaign on Ethiopia.

(May 8 2008)  Amnesty International seeks to attract attention by going as far as it can so that policies of those nations it is targeting are changed. In this case, Amnesty International is seeking to change the great helping hand that Ethiopia had lent Somalia at the behest of TGS. Amnesty International is also being lobbied by various groups including OLF and ONLF, so that, these terrorist groups get what they have failed to achieve through terrorism by the pressure that Amnesty International brings forth on Ethiopia. In other words, what these terrorist groups failed to achieve with the help of mad Congressmen from New Jersey is being tested by Amnesty International.

Archaeologists find Queen of Sheba's palace at Axum, Ethiopia

Hamburg, Earth Times (May 7 2008) - Archaeologists believe they have found the Queen of Sheba's palace at Axum, Ethiopia and an altar which held the most precious treasure of ancient Judaism, the Ark of the Covenant, the University of Hamburg said Wednesday. Scientists from the German city made the startling find during their spring excavation of the site over the past three months. Ethiopian tradition claims the Ark, which allegedly contained Moses' stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, was smuggled to Ethiopia by their son Menelek and is still in that country.

Finding Solace in a New Setting at EPRDF-SF  May 6, 2008
Adal Isaw-Dancing on middle age, and going back as far as my memory lane can take me with tears in my eyes, I have made it a habit, a ritual if you will, to scan the part of my brain to remember my comrades in arms and wonder all the time if I am swimming in a post traumatic syndrome of some sort. But lately, I have found that, I have no trauma of any sort. My trauma-like syndrome was induced by my own failure to substitute the comrades that I have lost with another new comrades in a new setting.  

By Mathza-The so-called highly educated, particularly those whose names are preceded by a ‘PhD’ find it difficult to measure up to him. Whatever irrational things they say and foolish steps they take are indications of inferiority complex and frustrations. In their relentless character assassinations, there are no stones they have not turned to blemish his name, condemn every thing he says and does, deny all the progress made under him, belittle his outstanding performance at the international level, and call him a stooge because of his outstanding ability to obtain international assistance based on convincing policies, plans, programs and strategies. And recently they boycotted the elections simply because they, as was evident, realized that the 2005 protest vote against EPRDF was not going to repeat.

The Connection

By Dr. Yohannes Kiros  March 15, 2000

“As they say better late than never for the Ethiopian government to show its dislike against countries by severing its diplomatic ties.

The Global Human Rights Torch Relay, scheduled to pass through 37 countries, arrived in Minnesota (MN) State on April 16 on its America leg of the ongoing relay. The torch arrived after passing through New York earlier on Sunday. The organizers of the torch relay hope to draw attention to human rights concerns in Tibet, as well as the Chinese government's persecution of the Falun Gong, Buddhists, rights advocates and others.

THE SAGA OF AFRICAN UNDERDEVELOPMENT   April 18, 2008

The Saga of African Underdevelopment examines in careful detail the economic conditions in Africa during the pre-colonial and colonial periods. The authors argue eloquently that most of the development paradigms that were used to transform African economies, under free trade imperialism or under colonial and postcolonial periods were incompatible with the African system of thought and traditional production systems or mode of production. Following this, they propose a bold development strategy to reverse the dismal economic performance of African countries in the post independence period.

By Mathza Part I

The vested interest of consumers as share holders in the associations coupled with the determination of the Addis Ababa Women’s Forum to assist the government effort of stabilizing the market augers well to efficient price monitoring. It will check elements in the bureaucracy from abusing the intervention. The cooperation of the organizations will end the role of the chain of middlemen who have been the major culprits in inflating prices of foodstuffs by manipulating prices and gobbling huge margins between the farmers and the retailers. A number of middlemen, each charging a margin, are involved before grains reach the retailers.

Corruption: The Byproduct of Greed and the "Profit Motive"
Adal Isaw  April 10, 2008

There is also the sleeping giant "profit motive" that may vitiate EPRDF’s planned objectives- the men and women who join the front not so much for the love of their people and country but for their own calculated interest. These fellow Ethiopians may end up hurting our people and country more so than others for they are shielded by many layers of organizational and some other formal covers

Ghelawdewos Araia

April 7, 2008 IDEA, Inc.

This essay will make a brief historical synopsis and analysis of the crimes perpetrated by the Italian fascists against the Ethiopian people in the 1930s. At this particular juncture, it may sound ironic to revisit the crimes against humanity committed in Ethiopia by Fascist henchmen like Marshall Pietro Badoglio and Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, but sometimes the past contends with the present especially if justice has not been served and no official apologies extended by state and/or religious leaders of the perpetrator nation.This essay is also aimed at reinforcing the Global Alliance for Ethiopia, a group of Ethiopians’ initiative in an effort to convince the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to Ethiopians as he has done to the Jews in Germany with respect to the Holocaust committed by the Nazis. As a matter of fact, one of the members of the Global Alliance for Ethiopia, Ato Kidane Alemayehu has written a letter to the Holiness Pope Benedict XVI (Vatican_Apology_to_Ethiopia.doc) but to this day no answer was given.

Government & Organized Crime, A History of Co-existence  April 8, 2008

Throughout history there has been constant struggle, but also connection between governments and organized crime. In addition, many world famous political and military leaders have been accused of running their countries like criminal organizations, for instance: Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Nicolae Ceausescu, Idi Amin Dada, Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno, Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, among others. For many top government politicians is believed to grow enormous wealth by running a kleptrocracy, a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class at the expense of the population. 

A Tour of Italian Archives on Ethiopia

By Professor Richard Pankhurst-This being Ethiopia’s Millennium Year we wonder, on our side of the world, whether our Ethiopian Millennium Committee has been able to arrange for the repatriation to Ethiopia of Dossier Fasc. 21 bis – which should have taken place in 1947-8 - or whether the question of the seventy-nine missing royal and related letters will continue to stick up the noses of friends of Ethiopia for further decades to come.

The Idea of Privatizing Land in Ethiopia: But Privatizing For Whose Benefit?  
by Tesfaye Habisso -land is different from other resources in several important respects. One of these is that it is fixed in supply. Population on the other hand is increasing in leaps and bounds. To meet this challenge, and given the country's very low industrial base and limited opportunities for non-agricultural employment pursuits, no sane government can leave the land issue to the mercy of market forces and implement private ownership of land instead of the prevailing public ownership. The former pattern of ownership will undoubtedly lead to the concentration of land in the hands of a few rich people and to the eviction and landlessness of many thousands of poor peasants in rural areas. 

Prince Rasselas, Fact or Fiction?

A Glimpse at our History – Part Two 

G. E. Gorfu- There are some discrepancies to point out in Rasselas, where Dr. Samuel Johnson used another major source of information besides James Bruce: the book by Father Jerome Lobo:  A Voyage to Abyssinia . ⁽¹⁾ Father Lobo, a Portuguese priest, had lived in Fremona, Adwa , long before Bruce. In Rasselas the prison is depicted as a wide valley surrounded by mountains and insurmountable escarpments. The opposite however, was the case.

NES (Network of Ethiopian Scholars)  and its delusional "Ideas for ending endemic governance crisis in Ethiopia" 
Adal Isaw-Endemic is a caustic word that speaks a volume whenever it is used in any order to describe that something extremely undesirable and potent is taking place. It is a word usually used to describe matters of health concern that may afflict a specific region and people, especially disease peculiar to the tropic. In this case, NES is using the word endemic to describe the lack of "good governance" in Ethiopia and have no clue as to how the word is unfitting to describe such a phenomenon.

Friday March 28, 2008@7PM

Queen of Sheba, www.qsheba.com

1594bWoodcliff Dr. N.E  Atlanta, GA 30329  404 321-1493

EVALUATING U.S. POLICY OBJECTIVES AND OPTIONS ON THE HORN OF AFRICA

Commentary with Reference to Ethiopia  March 27, 2008

By Mathza-Some of the human rights problems are intentionally perpetrated by the so-called liberation fronts (OLF, ONLF, etc.) and their likes indirectly through their support groups and individual supporters. Their history is replete with bombing hotels, buildings and transport infrastructures, assassinating government officials and supporters, harassing and killing innocent people, etc. Unlike the liberation fronts comprising the EPRDF, the ONLF insurgents kill people who do not accede to their demands for money and food. Like in Somalia , people suffer and get killed in clan confrontations as well. These atrocities are again attributed to the Ethiopian government.

Rep. Donald Payne's Animus for Ethiopians Finally Exposed
Yared Bekele Mekonnen  March 24th 2008 

If there was one central theme that seemed to run through the testimony of the senior U.S. officials called upon to testify before the committee, it was the overwhelmingly negative role that Eritrea continues to play.
In her prepared statement and in answer to questions from the senators, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer assailed Eritrea, saying its human rights record is “deplorable and is steadily declining” and accusing the regime of sponsoring instability in neighboring nations and undermining the efforts of U.N. peacekeepers along its border with Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Research Council

The Ethiopian Research Council (ERC) was founded in 1934 in Washington, D.C. by a group of Ethiopian and American professionals and scholars. The Council is the brainchild of Dr. Melaku Bayen, a surgeon, one of the twelve founding members & the guiding light of ERC strategies until his death; he was the first Ethiopian to graduate with an Medical Doctorate from an institution in the USA. The distinguished Professor William Leo Hansbury was elected as the first Director of the Ethiopian Research Council in 1934 while the suave William Steen handled the day to day affairs of the ERC as Executive Secretary demonstrating his unusually outstanding skills in administration and public relations as well as his love of Ethiopia and Ethiopian causes. Professor Hansbury's was a distinguished professor of history at Howard University, who received the coveted Haile Selassie I Prize in Literature (then the African equivalent to the European Noble Prize) in 1963. Before he died in 1965, he completed a manuscript on ancient Ethiopian history which was later published by Howard University Press in 1974 under the title Ethiopia: The Pillar of Civilization. Professor Hansbury was the founder of the African Studies Program at Howard, which later became the first Black Studies Department in the United States and the world.

Prince Rasselas, Fact of Fiction? A Glimpse at our History   March 21, 2008

G. E. Gorfu
Unlike most ancient kings and queens of the west, traditional Ethiopian kings and queens were known for the thorough knowledge of their history and of erudite scholarship in Christian Theology. Some, like Atse Zera Yaekob, Atse Naod, and Nigst Eleni, are known to have authored books.  One king, Tsadiku Yohannes, seeking truth, justice, and Christian charity, had even abdicated his throne to live out his life as a monk

March 18, 2008 Transcript

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slave owners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.

Belated Yet Very Important Revisiting the Question of Nationalism to Critique Siye Abraha and Tedros Kiros (PhD)   Adal Isaw  March 18, 2008

As Ethiopians, we have argued passionately and to no avail so far, as to what it means to be an Ethiopian. At times, the question of who is Ethiopian is foretold for others by those who know little about whom they ask a pledge from. Even those Ethiopian PhD holders of social science discipline, have erroneously define what it means to be an Ethiopian, mistaking state for nation and nation for state in a spiral unenlightened diatribe to the abyss

Looking Forward Sifting Through the Process and Doctrine of the Foreign Policy of America

Adal Isaw-The recent Senator Feingold’s hearing was not induced by narrowly organized pressure groups, but rather by a general concern about the state of affairs of East Africa as a region. It is one thing to have a hearing on Ethiopia and quite another to have a hearing on regional concern such as East Africa.

Blast on Ethiopia-Eritrea border

There has been a deadly explosion in a bus on the disputed border between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Ethiopian officials said at least seven people were killed and 10 wounded when the bus exploded in the Ethiopian-controlled town of Humera They said they believed an explosive device had been attached to the bus. The blast happened just before the United Nations Security Council met to discuss the future of the UN force stationed in the disputed border zone. The UN peacekeepers were sent eight years ago to monitor a border security zone, after the war which killed tens of thousands of people between Eritrea and Ethiopia in the late 1990s.

Ronan Farrow sends a misleading message about Ethiopia's effort to battle international terrorism and local insurgents. The article failed to study the geopolitical intricacies of the Horn of Africa and the emergence of terrorism as a weapon of proxy war by a rogue regime in the region.

Don't glamorize insurgents
Re "Ethiopia's war on its own," Opinion, Feb. 25
Ronan Farrow sends a misleading message about Ethiopia's effort to battle international terrorism and local insurgents. The article failed to study the geopolitical intricacies of the Horn of Africa and the emergence of terrorism as a weapon of proxy war by a rogue regime in the region. He quoted a single person in Kenya claiming Ethiopian security forces were responsible for human rights abuses, but the "separatist rebels" had merely carried out a few attacks. To set the record straight, as recently as last April, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, or ONLF, with the military and financial support of the Al Itahid Al Islamia and Union of Islamic Lords, massacred 74 Ethiopian and Chinese oil exploration workers inside the Somali region of Ethiopia. The separatist ONLF, in collaboration with the Al Shebeb jihadist operation, has murdered dozens of local government officials and clan leaders and targeted civilians by planting mines on roads.
The Ethiopian government acted responsibly to bring the perpetrators to justice. Peace and stability are now largely reestablished, enabling the free flow of humanitarian assistance to the Ogaden region.
The best way to check international terrorism is neither by hiding one's head in the sand nor by glamorizing insurgents and misrepresenting them as liberators.
Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie
Consul General of Ethiopia, Los Angeles

OBSERVING DEVELOPMENT IN ETHIOPIA VIA SATELLITE MAP  March 10, 2008

By Mathza- With the above brief review on development let me now move to my objective in this writing. It is to draw the attention of the Ethiopian Diaspora who have been and are being misled by the vociferous hateful and hate monger compatriots amongst them. The latter have been intentionally misinforming the former about development activities in Ethiopia . They have been warning them of the fate awaiting them if they visit their homeland. This in effect deprived Ethiopia from the much-needed Diaspora Ethiopians’ contributions to development.

Kosovo Brief March 10, 2008

Ivan Simic-In the next two years, Kosovo-Albanians will think that they have succeeded in their agenda, but they will realise they were wrong. By mid 2010, when the EU succeeds with The Helsinki Headline Goal, and when new US administration takes firm control over the United States, they will announce that various reports have shown that unilaterally declared Republic of Kosovo under international supervision is not capable of independence, and that they are recommending that Kosovo Albanians continue to negotiate their terms with the Republic of Serbia. Also, that Republic of Kosovo was a mistake, and that Kosovo needs to be a part of Serbia.

Senator Russ Feingold Leave Ethiopia Alone
Adal Isaw
March 6, 2008, The Senator seems to be prescribing the bourgeoning of his notion of democracy, instead of seeing a "...relatively stable" Ethiopia with a "growing economy and robust poverty reduction programs." In a way, Feingold is asking Ethiopians to buy an American born democracy even if that means instability and poverty laden life, where only those with the purchasing power of finished products from the western world are preferred to benefit. The Senator from Wisconsin is also trying to salvage those Ethiopian politicians who were deposed to the dust bin of history, with the hope to install yes men in Addis, in order to impede the independent revolutionary democratic movement in Ethiopia from scoring more points of progress. You may ask, why? 

Senator Feingold failed to make impartial assessment of Ethiopia.

Mekonnen Kassa

On March 3, 2008, Wisconsin Senator Feingold took the respected Senate floor to spread fear citing unconfirmed “credible accounts”, to defame the Ethiopian government, and to declare his cynical appraisal of state of affairs in Ethiopia to date as “the political crisis that has been quietly growing and deepening over the past few years may be coming to a head.” Contrary to the Senators alarmist declaration, there is abundant evidence that corroborates the bright direction Ethiopia is headed

Congressional Record Statement of Senator Russ Feingold On the Political Crisis in Ethiopia

Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the political situation in Ethiopia. The US-Ethiopian partnership is an incredibly important one – perhaps one of the more significant on the continent given not only our longstanding history but also the increasingly strategic nature of our cooperation in recent years. Ethiopia sits on the Horn of Africa – perhaps one of the roughest neighborhoods in the world, with Somalia a failed state and likely safe haven for terrorists, Eritrea an inaccessible authoritarian regime that exacerbates conflicts throughout the region, Sudan a genocidal regime, and now Kenya descending into crisis. By contrast, Ethiopia seems relatively stable with its growing economy and robust poverty reduction programs.

Send Senator Russ Feingold an email, telling him this is not to the best interest of the US, where Ethiopia is at fore-front of the struggle against Islamic Terrorists: 

Today, at the Science with Africa conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nokia Siemens Networks explained how and why groundbreaking new connectivity findings are relevant for Africa. The conference, an initiative mandated by European Parliament in Lisbon reflecting EU-Africa Summit goals, gave Nokia Siemens Networks and other global telecommunications players the opportunity to demonstrate the valuable contribution that the public-private-partnerships are making to empower developing countries.

If Barack Obama Becomes the Next President of the United States! A Comparative and International Politics Perspective.

Ghelawdewos Araia- If Barack Obama becomes the next president, can America adapt to the global changing circumstances? Given America’s political history of ‘constancy and change,’ and the ability of the nation to reinvent itself, the United States will definitely attempt to accommodate the new order rather than clash with it. The new world order that I have alluded to above is not just a multi-polar world tainted with balance of powers but it is also going to herald peaceful coexistence and cooperation among the peoples of our planet earth. In order to foster such a grandiose plan of international cooperation and cultural exchange, an Obama type of leader is the necessary prerequisite, because he has already united the American people and will bridge U. S. interests with other global interests and he is of dual heritage, American and African who can smoothly connect not just Kenya but also the entire continent of Africa with America. America needs a Barack Obama leadership in the first decade to quarter of the 21^st century, but we will have to wait and see for its fruition.

THE ETHIOPIAN VICTORY AT ADWA: MEANINGS FOR AFRICANS AND PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT IN THE DIASPORA 

Dr. GHELAWDEWOS ARAIA- March 2, 2008 - More than any moment in their history, Ethiopians must jealously guard a united and strong Ethiopia in an effort to continue the legacy of their patriotic forefathers and guarantee the national interest and security of their nation. They should never succumb to ethnic-specific issues despite the current ethnocentric politics hovering over Ethiopian communities at home and elsewhere. Unity and brotherhood among various Ethiopian nationality groups is extremely crucial, and Adwa is a constant reminder of a unified force that can virtually circumvent a negative political monster that is aimed at dismantling the organic and cohesive fabric of a given historic entity. Ethiopians have witnessed peaceful coexistence amongst themselves for millennia and they have no wish other than harmony and fraternity toward one another and toward others. It is in light of the above reality, therefore, that we must now celebrate the 110th anniversary of the victory of Adwa, and so that our subscribers appreciate in some depth and get the flavor of what Adwa was all about, we have hereby post two articles on the victory of Adwa written and presented by Dr.Ghelawdewos Araia; one in English, presented at Howard University (Washington, DC) and the Dusable Museum (Chicago) for the centennial celebration in 1996; the second, in Amharic, presented before an Ethiopian audience in Seattle for the 107th anniversary of Adwa in 2003.

Adal Isaw- National unity or nationality, based on these preceding democratic principles will inevitably breed positive contribution beyond Ethiopia’s border, fostering peace and making our volatile and instability ridden region a bit better place to reside on. And most importantly though, the international community will grow very cognizant of the fact that Ethiopia has practiced what it has preached by allowing the mosaic people of Ethiopia to self-govern themselves in manners unseen even in a developed state

Adal Isaw-  FEB. 20, 2008

As a result of having been able to protect our beloved country from the crushing jaws of European colonizers, our ancestors have managed to hand us our land with unadulterated communal ownership. Had they failed, we would have found ourselves in the mist of intricate claim and counter claim of ownership of our own land with those who happen to have the imperial paper work for it. What our ancestors paid in full with their blood should not be lost in the name of production efficiency and investment incentive-both of which that we’re achieving as we speak, without compromising our whole livelihood. It’s therefore to the best interest of the Ethiopian peoples, that the land of Ethiopia should not be allowed and considered to be a social product, saleable to the best bidder for absolute private ownership. Remember, to own land privately in absolute term amounts to owning those whose life is dependent on it.

A.G. Michael, Canada- Unfortunately, the present day chauvinists do not appear to get it. Their stupidity is always revealed through their behavior of interpreting the Tigraian civility as a sign of weakness and fear. They should have read the history of Woyane I, the first Tigaian revolution that humiliated and forced Emperor Haile Selassie to seek help from a foreign power. In 1943, when Tigrai was nearly to be administered fully by its sons and daughters, Haile Selassie begged for help of the British Empire.

G. E. Gorfu- Many Ethiopians are so foolish as to join these political schemers and operatives, and even give their monetary support, while some of the elites leading the legislation of HR Bills are outright traitors in the payroll of Egypt’s Mubarak and Eritrea’s Issayas. What a dastardly and heinous act! Is that what your motherland deserves? Is that how you repay the poor peasant who worked hard, tilled, and sweated to get you educated? How sad!

Yaw Davis Director of the Pan African Technical Association (www.pataus.org) will be giving a slide
show and lecture on "3000 years of Ethiopian History from the Queen of Sheba to Haile Selassie".
On Sunday February 17 6pm - 8pm
Sankofa Bookstore
2714 Georgia Ave NW
Washington, DC.
Through words and photographs, Yaw takes the audience on a 3 millennium journey starting from 985 B.C. (the
visit to King Solomon by the Queen of Sheba) to Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE...TORONTO, CANADA...FEB. 14, 2008
ANNOUNCING THE LAUNCH OF THE WORLDS
LARGEST ONLINE TRAVEL RESOURCE!

THE GE’EZ FIDEL AND THE MILLENNIUM  February 13, 2008

By Mathza-The observations and suggestions on the fidel below are from a layman in the script and Ethiopic languages. I have no doubt that the linguists and those who designed the Ge’ez software have considered these among many other possibilities and changes. My second objective in writing this brief piece is, therefore, to prompt Ethiopian linguists and Ge’ez software designers to educate us about the history and development of the fidel and its incorporation in the cyber world. For example, what is the origin of the fidel? How does it relate to other Semetic scripts? What did the original fidel look like? When were the vowels added? How did the fidel expand to its present form, apparently, accommodating many new sounds? How many groups were and are involved in developing software for the fidel? At what stage is the development of the soft ware? Has a standardized software been agreed upon? 

There's been no contest like it
 Michael Tomasky, editor of Guardian America-Ever since those days and weeks in late 2006 when this longest of presidential campaigns began to assume form, commentators have been reaching back into history to find the most apt and dramatic comparison to insert into that evergreen sentence of American punditry, the one that begins "Not since..."

Alfred Nobel: Controversial Man, Controversial Awards

 Ivan Simic  Belgrade, Serbia-Alfred Nobel was a pacifist, which is highly contradictory, since he invented dynamite which had enormous use in many wars, but also in industry. Furthermore, he owned a company named Bofos, which was a major weapons manufacturer. Bofos was founded in 1873, but it originates from the iron and steel mill called Boofors, established in 1646.

It is the Water, Stupid!

G.  E. Gorfu-The amount in question, $400 million US, a small fry in the scheme of such projects, is for a loan negotiated with the US financial giant, JP Morgan Chase. Unlike coal, diesel, or nuclear power, hydro-electric plants are among the cleanest and most environmentally friendly.  So, where is the beef? What concerns could they be expressing? Could it be the environmental concerns of Egypt ? What a shameful travesty of justice, truth and fairness!What I am interested in here, however, is to ask my fellow Ethiopian Moslem brothers and sisters what they think of this long standing policy of Egypt against our mother land.  Is there any justification for it? Has Ethiopia ever wronged or harmed Egypt in any way that our country should forever be hampered in its development, and impoverished?

UN’s Ethiopia-Eritrea force at risk
By Harvey Morris at the United Nations January 29 2008 22:49 
Ethiopia lost its access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after a 30-year insurgency. Eritrea’s leaders fear its larger neighbor intends to re-establish its supremacy in the Horn by fostering the emergence of a more pliable regime in Asmara. ”We believe the government in Asmara is well aware of our capabilities and another invasion would lead to their downfall,” Mr Meles told the Ethiopian parliament late last year.

Top Ten Mistakes Leaders (or Managers) Make January 24 2008

Compiled by Tesfaye Habisso-Making mistakes and erring from time to time in itself is not a bad thing. How else can we learn if we are not allowed to a mistake or two? People who learn from mistakes are those who remember them and ensure that they never repeat their failed effort again—good wisdom. And there are those that keep repeating the same mistakes, never learning. The crucial issue here is not about the one or two mistakes that a leader can or will make. But it is about a pattern of operation or a way he or she always does things.

New World Order Evolving  January 24 2008
Ivan Simic-When we talk about New World Order we can say that everything is about hegemony and dominance of stronger countries over others. If we look back through history we can recount various attempts of several countries to create a New World Order or some sort of dominance among countries. Some of these attempts was led by great warriors such as, Alexander the Great (Macedonian Empire), Julius Caesar (Roman Empire), Genghis Khan (Mongol Empire), Napoleon Bonaparte (French Empire), Adolf Hitler, among others. From this we can see that every attempt to rule the world was needles and devastating.

Five More Years!  January 23, 2008

G. E. Gorfu-There are some of us, therefore, who would like to see you lead your party to victory in the next election, appoint a capable successor, and within one year of your fourth term, bow out gracefully, in dignity and honor, to be a backbencher in the Ethiopian Federal Parliament. That would put your name as the first in Ethiopian history to do this, and a give you a far greater stature as a true Statesman. That would usher in a historic trend of genuine democracy in our country, a trend for which Ethiopia is waiting and longing for.

Seeye Abraha:  The Transformative Personality in Ethiopian Politics. January 22, 2008

By Bereket Kiros

No political journey is easy; Seeye’s journey is no exception either. He is giving us alternative views and approaches: a challenge to opposition parties and the EPRDF on how to achieve a democratic Ethiopia through peaceful political processes. He introduced a set of analytical tools and frameworks that show how to navigate on the an chartered and risky political sea of our Ethiopia. He laid the basis of a modern political process through reconciliation and understanding of our political and cultural diversity. Seeye agonized over formulating his answer on such long-lasting crucial errors of judgment dealing with Eritrea. He said that it was an eye opening experience for him. Regrettably, EPRDF has again committed another costly mistake because the war was stopped half way. The Algiers Agreement was signed without concrete base and not in the best national interest of Ethiopia. The ruling party EPRDF made a strong case that poverty as a number one enemy. However, the problem of poverty will not be solved if there is political instability. ... 

We stand in unison For a Common Denominator

By: Union of Tigreans in North America (U.T.N.A)

Recently, the Tigray Disabled Veterans Association (T.D.V.A) delegation that toured the US and Canada, returned home safely registering a resonating triumph and exuding the deepest love and sympathy from the Tigray community and friends in North America The sojourn of the T.D.V.A delegation was unparalleled in its capacity and outcome attracting and magnetizing a huge audience in all the cities it set its legs on.

ETHIOPIA: The Case Against State Funding of Political Parties                                                 

Terrorism and War: Parallels, Differences and Suffering  January 20, 2008

Ivan Simic- Terrorism, on the other hand has been described as the threat of violence, or other harmful act committed for political or ideological goals. The main goals of terrorists are to spread fear among the world population and get global attention for their actions in order to accomplish their goals. Almost every country and organization have different definitions for terrorism, therefore, it is still impossible to give an official one. Up to now, the United Nations has not accepted, nor given definition for terrorism.

[Paper Submitted for the Emergency Meeting, Afrikan Unity of Harlem, Inc, 19 January 2008]

Bay Area residents send medical gear to their native Ethiopia
Anastasia Ustinova, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 16, 2008- World Family collaborates with the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia and has received about $260,000 from the Clinton Foundation. Edward Wood, who oversees projects in Africa for the foundation, estimates more than 2,000 medical centers and hospitals in Ethiopia still need medical equipment.

A New Paradigm in Ethiopian Politics: A discussion on what Ethiopians can do at this historical juncture to bring about change in Ethiopia
Ghelawdewos Araia    January 14 2008-How can this paradigm of epistemology be attained though? The advanced segment of Ethiopian learned men and women (intellectuals and professionals) could make enormous contribution if they are willing to do so and if conditions in Ethiopia are favorable and permissive. These educators must be open and receptive as well as focused and hard driven, and they can’t afford to exhibit non-committal silence in the middle of their endeavor.

Hegemony  January 14, 2007

Ivan Simic-Hegemony results in the empowerment of certain cultural beliefs, values, and practices to the submersion and partial exclusion of others. Hegemony influences the perspective of mainstream history, as history is written by the victors for a congruent readership. History has it that hegemony has been played since time immemorial; we may recall the dominance of Persian, Roman, Mongol, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, German, Chinese, Russian, French, British Empire, amongst others.

Ethiopia plans to build more power plants
Bloomberg. ADDIS ABABA. Ethiopia may build as many as nine hydropower plants over the next 10 years, making electricity rather than coffee the Horn of Africa nation’s biggest export. "There is a deficit around our neighbors," Mekuria Lemma, head of the programme planning department at the state owned Ethiopian Electric Power Co., said on Thursday in an interview in the capital, Addis Ababa. "If we are successful in doing this, power will be our biggest export."

By Tecola W. Hagos-This presentation of Seye clarified who Seye Abraha really is. In a way it separated the myth from the reality of Seye. Very often, I have heard very many Ethiopians mostly former Derg officials and collaborators (no surprise here) alleging that Seye is a narrow minded ethnicist and chauvinist who is full of arrogance. I must say that with that single speech he has successfully demolished such myths with the reality of his passionate expression of his love of Ethiopia and his enlightened and firm convictions on the value of reconciliation and understanding. In fact, Seye puts us all to shame by not holding grudges against those who inflicted tremendous pain and suffering on him and his family members.....

Seeye Abraha, Ethiopia’s National Treasure, speaks Truth to Power: An outline of Seeye’s New Thinking. By Tedros Kiros, PhD    January 7, 2007

The details of his everyday life as he described them to various individuals in the last four days reminded me of George Orwell’s, 1984, particularly Winston, the main character that the regime criminalized and kept in check through meticulous observation, and through the minute observation, sought to inhibit his movements, his dreams and his ideals.  Mr.’ Seeye is also subjected to the same harsh reality. F