"Of all people, why Aman?"

This was a quote from a taxi driver by the Associated Press after the execution of Aman Andom and other officials of the Haile Selassie government in the last week of November 1974. I am glad I was not old enough to understand the barbarism that ravaged Ethiopia in the mid 70s. My heart cries out for Aman, the other officials who were executed with him in that fateful week and all the rest (both Ethiopian and Eritrean) whose lives were brutally cut short in the aftermath of that killing orgy.

Merry _________ !

Merry Christmas!

Durban Blues

Two years ago in Copenhagen, Denmark these same beggars and climate change alarmists were almost successful in their attempt to extort a 100 billion dollars a year, to paraphrase Rep. Ron Paul, from the poor people in the rich nations and give it to the rich people in the poor nations. They failed then, but they did not give up. They kept trying at it in Cancun, Mexico last year and in Durban, South Africa again this year. It looks like they are now resigned to the fact that their extortion scheme will not work. Ah, the sweet smell of reality!

How Ethiopians felt in 2007

The World Values Survey offers an interesting snapshot on how Ethiopians felt on various social and political issues in 2007. It confirms the view of many that the current government is deeply unpopular and that Ethiopia is a deeply conservative society in many ways. In 2007, Ethiopia was a place where about 7 in 10 of its citizens did not have confidence in the justice system. Less than 4 out of 10 people felt the same way in Ghana. The table below shows how confident Ethiopians felt about their government as compared to Ghanians:

Selected countries/samples: Ethiopía [2007], Ghana [2007]
		Country
Weight		Ghana	Ethiopia
Confidence: The Government	A great deal	29.70%	7.90%
	Quite a lot	41.60%	18.50%
	Not very much	22.50%	48.10%
	None at all	6.20%	25.50%
	Total	1522 (100%)	1360 (100%)
Source: Values Surveys Databank

It looks like the survey was done in Addis Ababa and, as such, it probably is not a representative sample for the whole country. Nevertheless, I found it to be very informative and I hope you do, too.

Kismaayo or bust!

Kenya thinks it has learned from Ethiopia's Somalia mis-adventure of 2007-2009. Good luck!

Using game theory to predict Ethiopia's future government

Using game theory, a mathematical approach used to studying strategic interactions, the guy in this video correctly predicted in 2008 that Iran will not develop weapons-grade nuclear capability in two years time. Have you wondered if game theory can be used to predict whether or not there will be a new government in Ethiopia, say, in two years time? Perhaps Ethiopians should consult with this guy to calculate the chances.

Europe and China

The BBC has an insightful article by Ian Morris, a Stanford University historian, on the reversal of roles between Europe and China in the past century.

In October 1911, China rose up in revolution. Four months later the last emperor had fallen and European moneymen were flocking to Beijing, eager to finance the bankrupt new republic.

In October 2011, another European moneyman headed for Beijing. But Klaus Regling, head of the European Financial Stability Facility, did not go there to lend to China. He was there to borrow, asking China to save Europe from economic disaster.

Morris ends his article by suggesting that Europe should avoid the mistake the Chinese made a century ago by not taking loans from China to finance its debts. But the most revealing part of his article was a quote from Jin Liqun, the supervising chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund. He quotes Liqun as saying:

"If you look at the troubles which happened in European countries, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn out welfare society... The labour laws induce sloth, indolence, rather than hard working."

Now, if this is not a wake up call for Europe, I do not know what is. I just hope that America will learn from the mistakes of the Europeans and move quickly to downsize the welfare state!

Simply Sowell

Thomas Sowell on the 2009 stimulus that was supposed to have created or "saved" 3 million jobs. We need a heavy dose of Thomas Sowell and economists like him in times like these.

Kiira EV

It seems this electric vehicle is a covered up golf cart with some additions, but it is a good start nonetheless...

Quantum levitation

Superconductivity. Quantum physics. Fascinating stuff, eh. Here is the physics behind this phenomenon.

My new Ethiopian flag

The Ethiopian flag is boring and badly needs a remake. Not only the flag is boring, the color combination is hideous. That is why I do not adorn this blog with the green, yellow and red tricolors. I have a feeling there will be a new Ethiopian flag in the not too distant future. So, let me get a head start with my suggestion for a new Ethiopian flag. There is no concept behind the design. The color choices are simply based on the colors for the banner of this blog. The bull's eye in the middle (with the dreaded tricolor) is meant to signify a connection to the past. There you have it. Did I mention that the Ethiopian flag is boring?

Why is the US sending its troops to Uganda now?

President Obama announced last week that he is sending "a small number of combat-equipped US forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield." His statement said the decision to send troops will further US national security interests and has the blessing of Congress.

Well, fine. But why send the troops now? The law the President sited was passed by Congress on May 24, 2010, and it required that the President submit a strategy to deal with the so-called Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to Congress "not later that 180 days after the enactment" of the law. The President took 508 days to inform Congress of his strategy. It is understood that the Executive branch of the US government usually wants to keep the Legislative branch at bay when it comes to foreign policy matters. But this dynamics doesn't seems to explain why it took so long, since this particular law was not controversial and had strong bipartisan support.

The LRA has been terrorizing villagers in northern Uganda and neighboring countries for more than two decades. Sure, LRA is a menace that must be confronted. But the current dictator of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, is just as much to blame for the rise and continued existence of the LRA as the LRA itself. Museveni, who came to power using the barrel of the gun, has been in power since 1986. He has used his guns liberally to stay in power and to also project his power in the central African region.

So, why did this conflict, ugly as it is, suddenly rise to to the level of affecting US national security interests after all these years of killings? Could it be because of Uganda's newly found oil wealth? That is my strong suspicion. If that is the case, then the Obama Administration should stop the pretense and clearly state the connection. Yes, indeed, securing oil fields is in the interest of US national security and that is not something the US should be shy about.

The humanitarian side of this conflict is a genuine one, and the US government and many NGOs have already been making an effort to solve the conflict. However, I don't think the humanitarian side of the conflict by itself warrants the involvement of US troops. A much better approach to protect US national security in the region would have been for the US to pressure the long standing dictator of Uganda to step down.

Write in C - A tribute to Dennis Ritchie

A Nobel prize for economics worthy of your attention

Ethiopia: The 4th Largest Slave Exporting Country

Yes, you read it correctly. Ethiopia was the 4th largest exporter of slaves from Africa in the 500 years between 1400 and 1900, and that's considered a conservative estimate. According to a research paper titled "The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades" written in 2008 by Nathan Nunn, a Harvard University professor, nearly one and a half million Ethiopians, 1,447,455 to be exact, were sold into slavery and exported. Only Angola, Nigeria and Ghana in Africa had exported more. Just about all Ethiopian slaves were taken to Egypt and areas under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

Nunn's paper explores whether or not there is a causal relationship between the level of economic performance by contemporary African countries and the level of slavery that took place in those countries. His study shows that there is, indeed, an adverse correlation (see the graph below). His data for the paper comes mainly from Ralph Austen's work which you can find here. I think Nunn is on to something important and his observations should be given due attention.

I ran into Nunn's paper while searching the internet for slavery in Ethiopia after reading the story of Bisho Jarsa (picture below) a few weeks ago on BBC online. In that story the BBC relates Bisho's journey which began in 1887 when she was sold into slavery for a pittance of grain. Lucky for her, she was rescued by the British navy on the waters of the Red Sea where she was being taken by Arab slave traders to Jeddah in the Arabian peninsula. The British took her to Aden in Yemen where they handed her over to be taken care of by missionaries of the Scottish Free Church. She eventually ended up and made a life for herself in South Africa.

Bisho could have been my great-grandmother. Maybe yours, too. Bisho was lucky. Millions of others weren't. The story of the one and a half million Ethiopians who were sold into slavery between the years 1400 and 1900 is just a small portion of that sad and ugly legacy of our ancestors. Some of our ancestors, mine for sure, owned slaves while others, like the Jabartis, specialized in the slave trade. They were not, however, alone in this ugly legacy. Slavery is hardly a unique phenomenon to Ethiopia or Africa. It is a curse on the whole of humanity.

My online search for slavery in Ethiopia suggests that it has not gotten the kind of attention that it deserves from scholars. For example, I can't find a single book which is dedicated to the topic of slavery in Ethiopia. It may be out there but I have not yet found it. There are plenty of references available though, Richard Pankhurst's works being a good example. Another scholar that I found who had attempted to give an in-depth look to the issue of slavery in Ethiopia is Teshale Tibebu, a professor at Temple University. In his book, "The Making of Modern Ethiopia: 1896-1974," Tibebu devotes a whole chapter to the topic which is worthwhile your reading time.

I am Eskinder Nega

I am Eskinder Nega. I am not one person. I am eighty million strong. I will let one of my voices speak for me because today I am locked up in Makelawi prison. Those who are in power in Ethiopia have tried to silence my voice. They want to shut me up by locking me up. They don't want me to be heard. They are afraid of the truth I speak out. They think by putting me in solitary confinement they will destroy my hopes and dreams. As you can see, that is an impossible task. I am but a reflection of my people.

I am the echo of their voice. I am a proud father. I am a husband. I am a friend. I am a journalist. I am not now nor have I ever been a terrorist; but I am now and have on previous occasions been a victim of state terrorism and victim of a judicial system that works only for its creators.

I am Youcef Nadarkhani

"I will be a hummingbird" - Wangari Maathai, RIP

Informative Interview with Dima Negewo

Obamanomics is almost dead

Here are two short articles that succinctly explain why Obamanomics has not worked. Enjoy!

Solyndra, the logical endpoint of Obamanomics

The bankruptcy of solar-panel maker Solyndra neatly encapsulates the economic, political and intellectual bankruptcy of Barack Obama's Big Idea. It was the president’s intention back in 2009 to begin centrally reorganizing the U.S. economy around the supposed climate-change crisis.

To what end? Well, Obama claimed his election would mark "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." But that was just the cover story. At its core, Obamanomics is about the top-down redistribution of wealth and income. Government spending on various “green” subsidies and programs, along with a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions, would enrich key Democrat constituencies: lawyers, public sector unions, academia and non-profits.

Oh, and Wall Street, too.

Kiss of Debt for the Flagging U.S. Economy

Why can't the economy grow? It's the debt, stupid.

That is the reminder from the Federal Reserve's quarterly data dump. Added up, household, business and government debt now amounts to some $36.5 trillion, a new nominal record. And that figure excludes the government's unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security.

This debt overhang remains a key problem for the U.S. economy because it limits growth drivers like consumer spending. Consumers who still face big mortgage payments and credit-card bills have less flexibility to increase spending on goods and services, which in turn keeps a lid on job growth.