THE DAUNTING DANGER OF DONALD M PAYNE’S TUMULTUOUS POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Adal Isaw

It’s high time again here in America, where the amalgamation of every imaginable issue of political resentment is being woven into a braid of chauvinistic chain-with the help of a mad Congressman from New Jersey. It’s high time again for all chauvinist ideologues to overtly and covertly resent the idea of being lead by an Ethiopian of a Tigrean origin-with the blessing of Donald M Payne. As a result, the maxim of beatifying the dead (King Haile Selassie) and glorifying the symbols of anathema (Mengistu & Hailu shawol) has come again full circle.Politics has become meaty, and most of the calculating vegans have ceased to eschew all forms
of meaty politics, especially, when it’s marinated with heavily sprinkled ‘spice’ of anti TigreanPeople Liberation Front (TPLF).Much like seventeen years ago, the dump bell has rung cacophonously for the start of a political discourse of hate and resentment at any cost. And in this over a decade old drama of political play, foes of the Ethiopian people are gathering to act out in the halls of a foreign
country, venting their hate toward an astute Ethiopian prime minister and his political party-the EPRDF-with the help of Donald M Payne.These hate monggering not-so-much-like-Ethiopian crowds (most of whom are legally foreigners who had willfully abrogated their allegiance to Ethiopia by raising their right hands and swear...) are not really being lead by Birhanu Nega (Tibebe of the EPRP/A), nor are they
lead by Hailu Shawol (Big Cat of Fascist Derg), but instead, by Congressman Donald M Paynean old brother who would have been tarnished by Malcolm X as what Malcolm likes to label his kind-not in kind words... for being cowardly and obsequiously compliant. A coward that failed to stand for his people voting right in his backyard while he’s in a position to do so, for one, because of an obsessive compulsive syndrome that propels his soul to become contentious toward Meles Zenawi- a valorous fighter who is also one of the founding fathers of the NEW ETHIOPIA.Donald’s obsession has another pathological extension that which allows him to twist that
which is real into an aberrant singular dimension. He sees peace and stability in the soul of ICU,despite ICU’s declaration of Jihad on Ethiopia at least on two veritable occasions. Donald still argues that Ethiopia has wronged ICU. He sees ICU’s plan of “Greater Somalia” as a benign political issue that Ethiopia should give no serious attention to. Donald reasons that Ethiopia can live with a threat to its territorial integrity so long as the EPRDF is amenable to his notion of
what democracy and security ought to be. Indeed, his obsession is mainly centered on “curbing” the EPRDF to his singular way of how things should be in Ethiopia-especially in matters of democratic endeavors and national security concerns. As a result, Donald is standing in sharp contrast relative to Ethiopia’s struggle to democratize itself in its own way, and on its pivotal interest to keep its territorial integrity as is. In a way, call it naively or inadvertently, Donald is
advocating for the attenuation of the unified power that a Democratic Republic of Ethiopia may have in the future, by adhering to the wishes of the few but vocal Ethiopian Diaspora, OLF,ONLF, “CUD,” and the Eritrean dictatorial state.
Donald is going to far- a little to far for comfort: to put it in a pedestrian way. On the September 18, 2007, issue of New York Times, the mad Congressman from New Jersey joined Ted Dagne in praising and appraising a megalomaniac from Eritrea. The Congressman in about two lines on a New York Time’s page is claiming that Eritrea is being cornered by the US policy makers for the wrong reason. Reading between the lines, it’s not that hard to deduce that there seems to be a co-ordinated effort by Ted and Donald to shift blame on Ethiopia for Eritrea’s predicament- paving a dangerous path for a tumultuous political discourse.The advent of this tumultuous political discourse didn’t happen by accident, but rather, as a result of a very active political role that the EPRDF is still playing. In the center is Meles
Zenawi- a genius Ethiopian of the TPLF, who is also the leader of the EPRDF. From its
inception on, the EPRDF has inundated itself with so many active and bold political roles, such as, the creation of KILIL as a political unit- time and time again by openly calling for a political discourse and constructive counter discourse.
Those who had a counter argument to make have so far failed to cogently rebuke the idea of KILIL-the superstructure that have created nine autonomous political units. Ethiopia is now in a very strong foundation of unity than it was in it’s recent history, since most of the people that make Ethiopia have come to realize that they are on equal footing-worthy enough of protecting.The megalomania in Eritrea is threatened by this newly found strength and sees his ambition of having a fragmented Ethiopia next door disappearing. Both OLF and ONLF are uneasy watching in a slow but steady motion-the creation of a stronger Democratic Republic of Ethiopia- a Republic that will inevitably make the question of cessation an obsolete and counter productive political agenda.Nevertheless, an active political role always begets criticism. Normally, criticism comes either in constructive or destructive form. The nature of any particular criticism may change in tone and accentuation with time-tittering on the verge of treason at times. It’s for this apparent reason then, that the destructive criticism of the Diaspora in America and some of the so-called delegates from back home, has morphed into TREASONOUS one. The path for the treasonous act of the opposition is being paved by the tumultuous political discourse of Donald M Payne. For example, Dr. Birhanu is tittering and dancing around a treasonous circle,every time he opens his mouth repeating what a sectarian “journalist” and Donald M Payne are claiming is happening in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.Birhanu is aware of the very fact that our Defense Forces are in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia on a mission to safeguard the territorial integrity of our country. He is also aware of the fact that our Defense Forces are very disciplined and top of the line professionals in what they do. Donald M Payne has tried to depict our Defense Forces in a very different light. He has openly compared Somalia to Darfur to create a template to depict our gallant and disciplined Defense Forces as though they are the JenJewit militia from Ethiopia. With this futile attempt of Donald M Payne in his mind, Birhanu nevertheless is giving lectures in America, alluding that our gallant forces are ransacking the Ethiopian people at will in the Ogaden region. If Birhanu is trying to win a favor from ONLF, he should come out and say it loud as he indirectly did in the creation of AFD. A political venture by any Ethiopian opposition entity with an inclination to undermine the territorial integrity of Ethiopia, by collaborating with the sworn enemies and foreign entities of Ethiopia (including Donald M Payne) for political expediency is tantamount to only one thing: treason. Treason is a willful act that transcends the scope of what we may dab as egregiously wrong headed political strategy- born from the paradigm of “the end always justifies the means” doctrine of self-important people.
Ethiopia is in a state of war with Eritrea, OLF, ONLF, and hence, any explicit and
implicit co-operation with the state of Eritrea, OLF, and ONLF, for any apparent reason should be a treasonous offense. Any Ethiopian, or an entity of Ethiopian origin, should not be in a position to create a relationship with any foreign entity, especially, for the purpose of impeding the economic and national security interest of Ethiopia.
The definition of Ethiopia’s economic and national security interest at this juncture in time, should solely be given by the democratically elected and internationally recognized government of Ethiopia-the EPRDF. Neither Donald M Payne nor the US cannot and should not let to assert any compelling interest otherwise. And for this reason, Ethiopia should vehemently and continuously make it obvious that it will never accept HR2003. HR2003 is the weapon that Eritrea, OLF, ONLF, “CUD” of the many colors, and all other enemies of Ethiopia are eager to
seize.
After all, HR2003 is spearheaded by a mad Congressman from New Jersey who tacitly
and at times overtly appraises ICU, the megalomania in Eritrea, OLF, and ONLF- as peaceful entities-worthy enough for consideration to a democratic front. Furthermore, Donald seems to have developed an obsession of marring our Defense Forces and our premier any time he gets a chance-making himself a sectarian instrument of conflict rather than a disinterested broker of understanding. Donald is merely on a path of a tumultuous political discourse giving life to
treasonous opposition elements-brazen enough to swap Ethiopia’s integrity for political expediency. At this juncture in time, and for at least a decade or so, it’s only the EPRDF which is crafty and resolute enough to prevail over Ethiopia’s sworn enemies- the evidence for this preceding presupposition resides within the actions and inactions of the many colors of “CUD.”

Haile Gebrselassie breaks marathon world record in Berlin

Reuters
BERLIN - Haile Gebrselassie broke the marathon world record Sunday, winning the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 26 seconds. The 34-year-old Ethiopian was 29 seconds faster than the four-year-old mark of 2:04:55 set by Kenya's Paul Tergat, on the German capital's flat and fast course where six world records have been set. Gete Wami, also from Ethiopia, defended her title in the women's race in 2:23:17. ..The win helped him forget the torment of having to drop out of April's star-studded London Marathon, when he had breathing problems after about 30 kilometers (19 miles). Later, he was diagnosed with allergies. "That was very sad. I could not sleep at all the night after that and this experience still follows me until today," Gebrselassie said.

Climate change

Firms are coming under increasing pressure to say more about global warming

EARLIER this year an outfit called the Carbon Disclosure Project sent letters to 2,400 big firms around the world, asking them what they were doing about climate change and how big their emissions of greenhouse gases were. The inquiry presumably carried some weight, since it was signed by 315 institutional investors, with roughly $40 trillion at their disposal. The resulting report, the fifth of its kind, which will be published on September 24th, suggests that ever more firms are taking climate change seriously, and a growing number are trying to measure emissions. “The gap between climate concern and action continues to narrow,” it concludes.
But not everyone is happy with the pace of change. On September 18th a group of investors and NGOs petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission, America's stockmarket regulator, to clarify whether firms had an obligation under existing rules to disclose how climate change might affect them. The petitioners, who include officials from 11 American state governments, argue that firms should be telling investors more because both global warming, and regulations designed to curb it, could have a “material” (ie, big) impact on profits.
Mario Cuomo, New York's attorney-general, agrees. Two days earlier he began an investigation of five American energy firms he suspects of withholding information from shareholders about the risks associated with plans to build carbon-intensive coal-fired power plants, despite the likelihood of emissions curbs. Activists have also been asking companies how they will cope with climate change: 43 resolutions were introduced to the shareholders' meetings of American firms this year, according to the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a coalition of green investors. A motion calling for Exxon Mobil, an American oil giant, to set targets for emissions cuts, won the approval of 31% of shareholders. Faced with a similar proposal, managers at ConocoPhillips, another oil firm, agreed to set targets and to back a law to limit America's emissions. You could call it a change in the weather.

China’s New Economic Model

Joseph E. Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel laureate in economics. His latest book is Making Globalization Work.


Joseph E. StiglitzChina’s success since it began its transition to a market economy has been based on adaptable strategies and policies: as each set of problems are solved, new problems arise, for which new policies and strategies must be devised. This process includes social innovation . China recognized that it could not simply transfer economic institutions that had worked in other countries; at the least, what succeeded elsewhere had to be adapted to the unique problems confronting China.
Today, China is discussing a “new economic model.” Of course, the old economic model has been a resounding success, producing almost 10% annual growth for 30 years and lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty. The changes are apparent not only in the statistics, but even more so in the faces of the people that one sees around the country.
I recently visited a remote Dong village in the mountains of Quizho, one of China’s poorest provinces, miles away from the nearest paved road; yet it had electricity, and with electricity had come not just television, but the internet. While some rising incomes came from remittances from family members who had migrated to coastal cities, the farmers, too, were better off, with new crops and better seeds: the government was selling, on credit, high-grade seeds with a guaranteed rate of germination.
China knows that it must change if it is to have sustainable growth. At every level, there is a consciousness of environmental limits and the realization that the resource-intensive consumption patterns now accepted in the United States would be a disaster for China – and for the world. As an increasing share of China’s population moves to cities, those cities will have to be made livable, which will require careful planning, including public transportation systems and parks.
Equally interesting, China is attempting to move away from the export-led growth strategy that it and other East Asian countries have pursued. That strategy supported technology transfer, helping to close the knowledge gap and rapidly improving the quality of manufactured goods. Export-led growth meant that China could produce without worrying about developing the domestic market.
But a global backlash has already developed. Even countries seemingly committed to competitive markets don’t like being beaten at their own game, and often trump up charges of “unfair competition.” More importantly, even if markets are not fully saturated in many areas, it will be hard to maintain double-digit growth rates for exports.
So something has to change. China has been engaged in what might be called “vendor finance,” providing the money that helps finance the huge US fiscal and trade deficits, allowing Americans to buy more goods than they sell. But this is a peculiar arrangement: a relatively poor country is helping to finance America’s War on Iraq, as well as a massive tax cut for the richest people in the world’s richest country, while huge needs at home imply ample room for expansion of both consumption and investment.
In fact, to meet the challenge of restructuring China’s economy away from exports and resource-intensive goods, China must stimulate consumption. While the rest of the world struggles to raise savings, China, with a savings rate in excess of 40%, struggles to get its people to consume more.
Providing better social services (public health care, education, and nation-wide retirement programs) would reduce the need for “precautionary” savings. More access to finance for small and medium sized businesses would help, too. And “green taxes” – such as on carbon emissions – would shift consumption patterns while discouraging energy-intensive exports.
As China moves away from export-led growth, it will have to look for new sources of dynamism in its growing entrepreneurial ranks, which requires a commitment to creating an independent innovation system. China has long invested heavily in higher education and technology; now it is striving to create world-class institutions.
But if China wants a dynamic innovation system, it should resist pressure by Western governments to adopt the kind of unbalanced intellectual property laws that are being demanded. Instead, it should pursue a “balanced” intellectual property regime: because knowledge itself is the most important input in the production of knowledge, a badly designed intellectual property regime can stifle innovation – as has been the case in America in some areas.
Western technological innovation has focused too little on reducing the adverse environmental impact of growth, and too much on saving labor – something that China has in abundance. So it makes sense for China to focus its scientific prowess on new technologies that use fewer resources. But it is important to have an innovation system (including an intellectual property regime) that ensures that advances in knowledge are widely used. That may require innovative approaches, quite different from intellectual property regimes based on privatization and monopolization of knowledge, with the high prices and restricted benefits that follow.
Too many people think of economics as a zero-sum game, and that China’s success is coming at the expense of the rest of the world. Yes, China’s rapid growth poses challenges to the West. Competition will force some to work harder, to become more efficient, or to accept lower profits.
But economics is really a positive-sum game. An increasingly prosperous China has not only expanded imports from other countries, but is also providing goods that have kept prices lower in the West, despite sharply higher oil prices in recent years. This downward pressure on prices has allowed Western central banks to follow expansionary monetary policies, underpinning higher employment and growth.
We should all hope that China’s new economic model succeeds. If it does, all of us will have much to gain.

New Test Asks What 'American' Means

By JULIA PRESTON
Patrick Henry and Francis Scott Key are out, but Susan B. Anthony and Nancy Pelosi are in. The White House was cut, but New York and Sept. 11 made the list.
Federal immigration authorities yesterday unveiled 100 new questions immigrants will have to study to pass a civics test to become naturalized American citizens.
David McNew, Getty Images As one of the qualifications to become a citizen, immigrants must answer 6 of 10 questions correctly. Click through the photos to try 10 of them on the list of 100. First question: Who is in charge of the executive branch?
The redesign of the test, the first since it was created in 1986 as a standardized examination, follows years of criticism in which conservatives said the test was too easy and immigrant advocates said it was too hard.
The new questions did little to quell that debate among many immigrant groups, who complained that the citizenship test would become even more daunting. Conservatives seemed to be more satisfied.
Bush administration officials said the new test was part of their effort to move forward on the hotly disputed issue of immigration by focusing on the assimilation of legal immigrants who have played by the rules, leaving aside the situation of some 12 million illegal immigrants here.
Several historians said the new questions successfully incorporated more ideas about the workings of American democracy and better touched upon the diversity of the groups — including women, American Indians and African-Americans — who have influenced the country’s history.
Would-be citizens no longer have to know who said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” or who wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But they do have to know what Susan B. Anthony did and who the speaker of the House of Representatives is.
Alfonso Aguilar, a senior official at Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that designs and administers the test, said it was not intended to be punitive.
“We don’t seek to fail anyone,” said Mr. Aguilar, an architect of the test.
Immigration officials said they sought to move away from civics trivia to emphasize basic concepts about the structure of government and American history and geography. In contrast to the old test, which some immigrants could pass without any study, the officials said the new one is intended to force even highly educated applicants to do reviewing.
“This test genuinely talks about what makes an American citizen,” said Emilio Gonzalez, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, speaking at a news conference in Washington.
The $6.5 million redesign was shaped over six years of discussions with historians, immigrant organizations and liberal and conservative research groups. The questions were submitted to four months of pilot testing this year with more than 6,000 immigrants who were applying for naturalization.
The agency will begin to use the revised test on Oct. 1, 2008, leaving a year for aspiring citizens to prepare and for community groups to adjust their study classes.
The overall format has not changed. Legal immigrants who are eligible to become citizens must pass the civics exam as well as a test of English proficiency in reading and writing. In a one-on-one oral examination, an immigration officer asks the applicant 10 questions of varying degrees of difficulty selected from the list of 100. To pass, the applicant must answer 6 of those 10 questions correctly. The questions released yesterday will remain public along with their answers.
Immigrants are eligible to become citizens if they have been legal permanent residents for at least five years (or three years if they are married to a citizen) and have “good moral character” and no criminal record.
In the pilot runs of the revised test, Mr. Aguilar said, the pass rates improved over the current tests, with 92 percent of participants passing on the first try, as opposed to 84 percent now. At least 15 questions were eliminated as a result of the pilot because they proved too difficult. For example, a question about the minimum wage was dropped because test takers were confused between federal and state rates, Mr. Aguilar said.
In the new test, the pilgrims have been replaced by “colonists,” and they are the subject of fewer questions, while slavery and the civil rights movement are the subject of more. A question was added asking what “major event” happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
The new test drops questions about the 49th and 50th states, but adds one about the political affiliation of the president. There are no questions about the White House. Instead, one question asks where the Statue of Liberty is.
In a statement today, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, one of the groups consulted in shaping the new test, denounced it as “the final brick in the second wall.” The group said the test included “more abstract and irrelevant questions” that tended to stump hard-working immigrants who had little time to study.
“People who take this seriously will have a good chance of passing,” said Gary Gerstle, a professor of American history at Vanderbilt University. “Indeed, their knowledge of American history may even exceed the knowledge of millions of American-born citizens.”
John Fonte, a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute, called the new test “a definite improvement.” But he said it should have included questions about the meaning of the oath of allegiance that new citizens swear. “I would like to see an even more vigorous emphasis on Americanization,” he said.
About 55 percent of the applicants who participated in the pilot test were from Latin American countries. Some Latino groups noted yesterday that no question on the new test refers to Latinos.
Mr. Aguilar said that the test was not intended to be a comprehensive review, but rather to include “landmark moments of American history that apply to every single citizen.”
Naturalizations have surged in recent years, to 702,589 last year from 537,151 in 2004, according to official figures. In July the fees to become a citizen increased sharply, to $675 from $405.

African governance

A new league table that names, shames and sometimes praises African countries

THE islands do rather better than the mainland. That is just one finding of an exercise to measure the performance of sub-Saharan Africa's 48 countries, judged by five sets of criteria that are totted up and averaged out to give each country an overall governance score. Mauritius and the Seychelles are run-away winners, with Botswana best of the mainlanders. The tiny Cape Verde Islands come fourth and mighty South Africa fifth. At the other end of the scale, war-smitten Somalia is worst, barely beaten by Congo, Chad and Sudan.
The league table is the idea of Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born British entrepreneur who sold his mobile-phone company, Celtel, to a Kuwait-based firm, MTC, for $3.4 billion (£1.8 billion) two years ago. Last year he said he would give a prize for “achievement in African leadership” worth $5m, plus $200,000 a year for life, to an African leader who “best provides security, health, education and economic development and who democratically transfers power to a successor.” A dozen retired African leaders hope to be considered as recipients.
Two scholars from America's Harvard University, Robert Rotberg and Rachel Gisselquist, are helping Mr Ibrahim assess the nominees and measure countries' performance—by such criteria as safety and security, rule of law and corruption, participation and human rights, economic opportunity, and human development. The “Ibrahim Index of African Governance” will, the tycoon hopes, come out every year—and prod African leaders into doing better.

Stronger China

Thanks to China, an American recession need not cause the whole world to crash
Illustration by Bill Butcher
ECONOMISTS have long warned that the world economy could not fly for ever on the single engine of American demand. A one-engined plane is more likely to crash. With its housing market blighted and its consumers growing fearful, America now faces a mounting risk of recession. The good news, however, is that the world has found some powerful new engines in China and other emerging economies. Even as credit markets seize up, a world economy that is less dependent on the United States is more likely to stay aloft.
The power of this new motor is startling. For several years, emerging Asian economies have accounted for more of global GDP growth than America has. This year China alone will for the first time accomplish the same feat all on its own (at market exchange rates), even if American growth holds up. American consumer spending is roughly four times the size of China's and India's combined, but what matters for global growth is the extra dollars of spending generated each year. In the first half of 2007 the increase in consumer spending (in actual dollar terms) in China and India together contributed more to global GDP growth than the increase in America did.
Of course, this silver lining has its cloud. A sharp slowdown in China now would have much nastier global consequences than in the past, and the Chinese economy has weaknesses. But it does not look like getting into trouble over the next couple of years (see article)—the period in which America looks as though it may be feeble. If China can keep flying high, it will help keep the world economy safe.
Of course, if America suffers a recession, then Asia's exports will weaken. But this should not hurt GDP growth too much because other factors should help offset the weakening. It helps that China and most other Asian emerging economies are now exporting more to the European Union than to America. China's exports to other emerging economies are growing even faster. It helps, too, that domestic spending has strengthened and is likely to stay strong: China, along with most of the rest of Asia, is one of few parts of the world without a housing bubble.
If emerging Asian economies start to look weak, their governments have some scope to strengthen them. Most, with the exception of India, have small budget deficits; some even have surpluses. So if exports collapse, governments also have ample scope to boost domestic demand.
Commodity prices, too, will continue to feel the effect of the emerging economies' increased importance. It is commonly assumed that an American recession would cause a sharp fall in the prices of oil and other commodities. But emerging Asia accounted for two-thirds of the increase in world energy demand over the past five years. So if Asia remains strong, commodity prices should too, and commodity-producing emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia and the Middle East will also continue to thrive.
Steady on
Emerging Asia cannot pick up all the slack if America goes into recession. Average world growth will slow—and, arguably, it needs to. But Asia can help to keep the world chugging along. Indeed, a modest slowing in the American economy could even help Asia in the long run if it forces governments to switch the mix of growth from exports to consumption and so make their future growth more sustainable.
Not so long ago, the rich world used to regard emerging economies as risky and unstable. That view needs to change: emerging economies now look like a force for stabilising the world economy.
Sep 27th 2007
From The Economist print edition