Under the noise of Snowden, dysfunction of Congress, frantic media and lackluster personality of Obama, the War Against Terrorism is being massively ratcheted up in Africa. The French Foreign Legion was dispatched last week to the remote deserts of Mali, to support a freely elected government that is being newly challenged by rebel groups in…Continue reading
Militarism in Africa is growing fast, started almost the day Obama began his first term, and now totally out of the closet. Across the continent, successful wars – both waged from abroad and locally – are bringing stability to a continent known for its instability. News this week from probably the most troubled place on…Continue reading
Susan Rice’s performance on the Sunday Talk Shows incorrectly explaining the Benghazi attacks is a perfect example of how she has historically allowed political considerations to trump more important foreign policy or human rights considerations in Africa. She’s been acting like this for years. She seems incapable of intricate analysis and quiet diplomacy. She’s no…Continue reading
The genie is out of the hell hole, again. Sorry to burden you with another war but Goma fell, today. Rwanda’s imperial strategy worked and a man indicted for Crimes Against Humanity is in control. We’re all so terribly terribly sorry. Goma is the biggest city (300,000) in the eastern DRC Congo, where the countries…Continue reading
One of the first dinosaurs to roam earth lived in southern Africa and the discovery announced last week raises considerably Africa’s evolutionary importance. It’s common knowledge that man and his broader family of primates arose in Africa, but until now it was thought that the myriad of the earliest land life forms – particularly reptiles…Continue reading
Rwanda is beginning to boil. Genocide is not in cards, but tourism is definitely jeopardized. Last month the UN issued a report clearly implicating Rwanda in the growing conflict in neighboring Congo. Western countries on the Security Council responded with reductions of aid and other sanctions, and the situation is growing tense. The mountain gorillas…Continue reading
The UN’s actions in eastern Congo to stop the escalating war might work for the moment, but they are useless down the line without an American pivot in Rwanda. America was drawn into this mess because of the political weakness and inept statesmanship of Bill Clinton. As time accelerates off those years Clinton comes into…Continue reading
One of Africa’s most heinous arms dealers is now in a New York jail for at least 15-20 years. It’s about time. American administrations all the way back to Nixon have avoided prosecuting these terrible men, often because they used them. Viktor Bout‘s sentence doesn’t begin to bring justice to the millions killed in Liberia,…Continue reading
There is probably nowhere better on earth to see and learn about volcanoes than Hawaii. But it’s in Africa where you can risk your life to get close! And that’s the important phrase: risk your life. I’m not sure it’s either wise or appropriate no matter who you are, but right now the officials managing…Continue reading
While beating ourselves up over whether Wall Street was too big to fail, the unceremonious application of the Dodd-Frank Act has slowly stopped hundreds of thousands of gruesome murders in Africa, aborted tens of thousands of acts of rape and child kidnapping. The Act has absolutely helped to end one of Africa’s most gruesome multi-generational…Continue reading
Sporadic election violence breaking out throughout Tanzanian cities is not a harbinger of any October 31 disaster. It’s not like Kenya in 2007. Last week the most pronounced violence ever to hit Arusha town occurred when proponents of two opposing political camps tried planting their flags in the city market area. Police moved in to…Continue reading
Guess what? We won an important battle: The Wall Street reform act signed by President Obama this week regulates U.S. corporations using Coltan from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)! Reread my blog of May 10, “Evaporize Goma!” There I discussed several of the great horrors of Africa : war, corruption, child soldiers and…Continue reading
As the situation in southern Sudan stabilizes, neighboring Congo-DRC grows more unstable than ever. There is a long and fragile road to travel before next year’s independent referendum in southern Sudan which is likely to create a new and more stable country, but for the time being it looks peaceful. And so it seems that…Continue reading