Incarnate Trump

Incarnate Trump

People think I’m nuts when comparing Trump politics in America to Zuma politics in South Africa, but I’m not cracked yet.

Zuma (Trump) is currently in the 4th day of a trial/inquiry into all his wrongdoings before he was ousted (impeached) in the 3rd year of his second term. The same will happen to Trump. Even if you don’t believe that African spirits grace us with foretelling, it’s worth your while to see what a mostly duped megalomaniac can do to a country and the party cajoled into supporting him.

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Stripped Away

Stripped Away

When the cat’s away, the mice will play… If you’ve used the popular Breckenridge siding for your house or renovation, you’re a part of a horribly malicious global scheme run by the Chinese, facilitated by the American wood companies Roseburg, Evergreen and Cornerstone, and given a wink and a nod by the Trump administration.

As a result Gabon has lost much of its precious rainforest, the very rare okoumé (Aucoumea klaineana) timber in particular.

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Bad Democracy

Bad Democracy

Africa as my lifeway’s platform for roughly 5 months annually during the troubled times of the last few years has radically changed my view of democracy.

Last week Rwanda celebrated the first quarter century in possibly a thousand years without a mass genocide. The Sudanese Army fired on the Sudanese secret service last night to protect opponents of the government.

The avowed communist state of Ethiopia last year implemented a series of human rights protections that may be the most progressive on earth. All of these stellar human rights’ accomplishments were in totally undemocratic regimes.

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Compassion Collapses

Compassion Collapses

The saddest thing to watch as the world’s political systems deteriorate is the barbaric resurgence of child labor in Africa.

There are many causes, but the single-most critical one is that America no longer regulates how multinational corporations get the precious rare earths mined in the eastern DRC.

Recent reports by both Foreign Policy Magazine and the New York Times reveal that like a lightning-fast barracuda who waits patiently in its cave until just the right time, Erik Prince of Blackwater has begun the strike.

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Testing Transparency

Testing Transparency

Africans ought not worry as much as they do about yesterday’s annual publication by Transparency Intentional listing the world’s countries by their level of corruption.

I’m sorry I had to wait for our unexpected political nightmare to come to this realization: but TI’s report is as corrupt as any of the countries it evaluates. The report is an annual self-congratulations among white Europeans.

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Christmas in The Congo

Christmas in The Congo

Another major war begins soon in Africa. It will begin shortly after the democratic mockery scheduled for December 23, when the powers in Kinshasa are “re-elected” and the heavily armed militias particularly in Kivu in the east try to secede.

Who cares? Well I know it’s been difficult to muster your attention for Yemen, but let me put it this way. Use a smartphone? Have an xBox? Then you’re directly responsible for this looming human calamity.

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State Capture

State Capture

“State Capture.” No, that’s not a Russian transliteration or a jeopardy clue for the boardgame, Risk. It’s a South African English phrase describing the nefarious control that mobsters, international arms dealers and flagitious politicians held over the South African Republic for 9 years.

The great State Capture public hearings began yesterday. The Zondo Commission (similis Mueller Commission) wants to prove that the former president, Jacob Zuma and his family, sold out their country for personal gain. Sound familiar, Yanks?

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Kenya Corruption

Kenya Corruption

Kenya tries too hard to be western. It even started to reign in widespread corruption, trying to achieve that fine line that western countries manage between corruption and lobbying.

But the last two years have been seen the most enormous setbacks. Kenya has slipped to 143 of 180 countries ranked by clean government by Transparency International. I think I know why: You can try to be western but if you don’t know all the tricks you’ll get hoisted by your own petard.

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No New Zim

No New Zim

“Worse than under Mugabe,” the principle opposition spokesman told London’s Guardian newspaper this morning.

Four days after a hopeful election that inspired the world, Zimbabwe has returned to its dark cave. Masked groups move through the country abducting known opposition supporters.

Persons on the streets are tortured and beaten. There’s not much more to report. Zimbabwe has retreated from the outside world. Outsiders dare not visit.

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Post Zoo Trauma

Post Zoo Trauma

postzumaJacob Zuma and Donald Trump have been compared to one another by many whose blogs get more readership than mine: Trevor Noah, for one.

The course Zuma’s life is taking following his resignation in disgrace I think is near exactly what will happen to Trump in America.

South Africans suffered Jacob Zuma as president for nine years, a year less than the full two terms. No one thought he’d make it into the second term… (So, like here?) He resigned in disgrace to avoid what would have been South African impeachment. The country rocked in joy, but four months later the smiles are wearing thin. Zuma’s damage was more than any imagined, and the country is starting to scream pain.

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Tiptoe in The Tulips

Tiptoe in The Tulips

usugandaCollusion? Vengeance? Contrariness? Or just stupidity?

These four questions, which hover over practically every action by high American officials today, are perfectly illustrated with an example in Uganda. Following citings for massive bribery issued by New York prosecutors against Uganda’s foreign minister, the Trump administration holds high-level meetings with the accused to praise him.

Collusion? Vengeance? Contrariness? Or just stupidity?

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End of What?

End of What?

africawhatisitAnything happen this year?

Sorry. Perhaps a poor attempt for just a bit of relief. End-of-the-year analyses are coming out. I sit in a little world of Africa news and things, but I expect all the little worlds feel the same thing I do: the universe is tanking. Now if you’re sitting at a big desk on Wall Street you see it otherwise, because the rich world is doing just fine. But time’s have changed. The world is starting to move as one, and how Africa or Taipei or the Ukraine or Latvia goes, so eventually does the whole world, even eventually the rich.

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Two Doth Tango

Two Doth Tango

donttellThere are multiple ways to distort news. One of the most effective is to get rid of the person who gathers it. It’s a harsher step than simply bellowing out untruths like Fox News but the latter often foreshadows the former.

Two weeks ago journalist Azory Gwanda was kidnapped and hasn’t been seen since. He was a reporter for a Swahili-language Tanzanian media company that was often critical of the current president, John Magufuli.

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