By Dr. Aklog Birara, former Senior Advisor at the World Bank
The invisible new “Cold War” is imbedded in development policies, plans and implementation. African scholars and opinion makers spend a great deal of time and energy debating, comparing, contrasting, and critiquing the Asia and Pacific development model led by China and the Western model led by the USA. The debate is healthy. But what ultimately matters are the value-added policies, programs, investment portfolios and infrastructure. A disconnected Africa cannot develop fast.
Dr. Aklog Birara, former senior adviser to the World Bank
Colonialism by a different name is still the same. Having been forced to cede their colonial territories, colonialists and emerging imperialists designed new, sophisticated, and seemingly pro-African development, pro-free market, pro-human rights protocols, and pro-modernization instruments that bolstered the continued extraction and rent-seeking of financial and natural resources from Africa.
France and the national elites which it encouraged and created, still dominate Francophone Africa. Anglophone Africa is dominated by the United Kingdom and the domestic elites it trained, educated, and deployed.
Surely, wouldn’t a massive infusion of aid into Africa be pouring money down a rat hole? Isn't this the mistake that was made in the past–enormous generosity by the rich countries only to see it wasted on misconceived projects, bad economic management, or siphoned away into war and corruption, as is evident in Zimbabwe, Congo, and Somalia right now?
By Ocaya p’Ocure, Social and political commentator in Uppsala.
Upon initiating debates about Swedish NATO membership, skepticism spread. In Sweden, we had just got a new government and a new Prime Minister, and the omicron variant of COVID-19 threatened Christmas celebrations. Four weeks later on January 1st, 2022, Foreign Minister Ann Linde responded in a parliamentary debate by reiterating previous positions on dialogue with the population within the Social Democrats party. She also talked about opportunities for in-depth cooperation with NATO debates. Well, the NATO issue is now being debated extensively within the Swedish Social Democratic Party, at dinner tables and intensively throughout the country.
Jonathan Power, weekly columnist on foreign affairs
In 2017 the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) released a report which for the first time explicitly named US military forces in the field and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives in secret prisons as possible war crimes culprits for their alleged use of torture and rape. Because the American soldiers were based in Afghanistan, which is an ICC member, the ICC in theory has broad jurisdiction over crimes committed by combatants on Afghan soil.
By Dr. Aklog Birara, Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Tigray, War, USA
I had argued that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s repeated reference and attribution to and use of the historically flawed geopolitical and regional boundary term “Western Tigray”. Such a narrative is a “de-facto” recognition of the contested claim of the right by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to incorporate forcibly annexed Amhara lands into Greater Tigray. Tragically for Ethiopia, this policy will reinforce violence and cause more bloodshed.
By Jonathan Power, a weekly columnist on Foreign Affairs
The Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 and withdrew, exhausted and demoralized, 10 years later. In Moscow a joke had long circulated: “Why are we still in Afghanistan?” Answer: “We are still looking for the people who invited us”.
The same is true for the Americans and NATO who are now moving through the exit door. They came to obliterate Al-Qaeda after 9/11, 2001.
Our last issue was dedicated to change which comes with happiness, uncertainty, and sadness. This issue is dedicated to learning lessons from history. The just concluded Tokyo Olympics was fairly successful despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no massive infection of athletes and no boycotts and no massive doping scandals. Thanks to lesson learned from past experiences. However, it is regrettable that there is still some doping among athletes as well as corruption within the International Olympic Organization (IOC).