Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Gingerly Forward: The White House Is Shifting!

It is a cautious good news that the US will be joining a regional meeting of Iraq's neighbours, including Syria and Iran, along with the permanent members of the UN Security Council, to try sort out the Iraqi Question.

Following the earlier report of an impending rare visit by the DPRK nuclear negotiator to the US, there is clearly some shift in White House policies towards both countries now! Very welcome.

While awaiting more details, we must encourage all concerned to bite the bullet and seize the moment. The UN must not slip up on these openings, and may the Washington hawks find it in their capacity to buy in or stay grudgingly off. We will thank for either stance.

Let's give diplomacy, multilateralism and real peace a chance!

Monday, February 26, 2007

Save Britney Spears!

Over the years stars and superstars have come and gone. Some endure most burn out sooner than later. In pain, as we've seen, the younger they are the more vulnerable they become.

If there was a Coping Mechanism, organised by their industries, rooted in community and fully embraced by family, most will have a great run of career and life. For example, couldn't we have preserved the Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson mystique? How did we fare with Madonna and Whitney Houston? And Fela Anikulapo Kuti? And Bob Marley? And Muhammad Ali?

The tragedy of Anna Nicole Smith is too fresh in our minds. Let's save the prodigious Britney now before it be too late! All around her should step up to be counted.

This self-demystification and self-destruct bug has plagued many, is haunting more and will not be wished away without a fight. We see it in stars from music to sport to fashion to geeks and whiz kids everywhere. It is a pandemic of sorts. We must tame it, defeat it promptly!

We must protect our stars, superstars, icons and legends the way we defend our lands and our monuments. We must do all we can. We must do so now!!

Yes. And let's start with sweet Britney Spears.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Clinton-Obama: Stop It!

Let the campaign camps of Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama please step back from the senseless and tendentious infighting we witnessed last week. The media be now charged up, and agog! Needless.

Chairman Howard Dean and the Democratic Party Leadership should draw the dignity line for all candidates to toe. Desperation has to have its limits. The US Presidential Race should set worthy examples at home and abroad. Democracy is not about winning at all costs. Must not be.

Who needs a Pyhrric victory? A poisoned chalice? Or mutually assured destruction?

Not Clinton. Not Obama. Not the DNC. Not America!

The African Union...on Darfur

Why is the AU so helpless on its own continent? How much more misery and mystery must the Darfur story convey before there be peace for all?

What was that whole thing about "Peer Review Mechanism" flaunted by African Leaders as a veritable part of NEPAD?

The Arab League, what is their stand on Darfur and their standing in the AU? Lip service?

Is Darfur going to be a metaphor for Somalia, too?

God help Africa!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Global Warming, Global Action...Today!

This is not a treatise. Bless Al Gore, the case is finally made. And, as Senator John McCain said emphatically recently, the debate is over!

Now to action. We must applaud the crusaders in America: business, mayors, civil society, et al.
The White House must now join the fold. Better late than never. We can sympathise with their track record in the matter - it isn't untypical of the hawks in the corridors of power. But, as is now so typical, they are on the isolationist fare again! Time to climb down with courage, folks, the world needs the US on this. And the New Congress is with the rest of the Globe!

The State of California deserves a special "Thank You" from us all. And, yes, so does Downing Street for the Stern Review (Sir Nicholas Stern was the former Chief Economist of the World Bank). We must thank the EU for its consistency and courage in the journey so far. Keep it up, dear comrades, you balance the world!

China, India, Russia and Brazil must take their rightful place in this business of saving our planet for both present and future generations. The evidence calls for urgent collaboration and genuine complementarity. But leadership must come from the largest polluters. No dilly dally.

Action Time is NOW!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

US vs Iran

We've been here before! Obstinacy. Isolationism. Superpower arrogance. Failed intelligence. Etc. The six party talks over North Korean nuclear impasse is ongoing and cautiously promising. The sticking point is about US-DPRK relations. The North Koreans don't want to be dictated to by America. The South Koreans do not agree with America's threat and bully diplomacy of the last six years. China and Russia are balancing things, while Japan is in muted and aware alliance with the US.

Despite all the past bad blood, the US and North Korea are now talking. What a relief! Keep it up, guys, it's the right steps to peace. With Ban Ki-Moon on board, the prospects are good.

Now we hear a lot of buzz around the world of some possible American military attack on Iran. Though this is furiously denied and serially refuted by both the Pentagon and the White House, no one seems to believe them, any where. Why? Credibility problem. And that is a pity for the world's superpower - leader of the free world! Sad.

The greatest pity however will be for President Bush and his neocons to, against all opposition, even in the US, attack Iran - under any pretext whatsoever. The Europeans have warned him, Tony Blair has demurred, and both Russia and China do not support this misguided project. His blaming Iran for the mess in Iraq is simply buck-passing and scape-goating.

As the Syrian President told Dianne Sawyer of ABC News, has America, with all its resources, been able to secure its borders? Why blame Iraq's neighbours for illegal entry of insurgents or jihadists in Baghdad? Surely, regional cooperation on this matter is better than regional conflagration!

Disbanding the Iraqi military and unleashing billions of dollars on the flux populace without any records or programmes - perhaps to buy "hearts and minds"! - was a sure fire guarantee of the sustainable resistance the coalition forces now confront. The recent US National Intelligence Estimate was quite instructive, and is corroborated and heightened by the latest Inspector General's Report, which indicted the Policy Unit in the Pentagon on the manipulation (or was it doctoring?) of pre-war intelligence. There are too many flaws in George Bushes war in Iraq! It is now time for humble pie and soul-searching. The American voters get it. Will their president?

If the US wants to succeed in Iraq, the White House better revisit the Baker-Hamilton report without dilly-dallying. America must talk with Syria and Iraq. Period.

Congress need to hold this White House to full accountability and multilateralism. The Middle East should not be the cradle of the Third World War, or unceasing fountain of blood! No more.

Putin vs Bush - Truth in Friendship?

We should all stay out of the fray in this Putin-Bush window of words. It is not the first, will not be the last. Their truth-in-public dialogue/diatribe goes way back!

Remember when they met in Russia for the G8? Bush called for real democracy in Russia, and Putin retorted that they certainly didn't want the type in Iraq! Poor Iraq!!

They are friends: George Bush looked Vladamir Putin in the eye and saw that the guy has a good soul, during their first-ever face-to-face meeting! And, in truth, they've worked largely along those lines. The guys can and do relate well.

We must encourage them to keep their relationship warm, firm, truthful and for world peace. In this mutuality lies the best national-security assurance for both great countries.

Let's strengthen the bridge, NOT breach it!

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Saturday, February 10, 2007

America 2008 - Barack Obama

Yes, Americans will choose their own leaders. Yes, the elections are way way away. And, yes, the presidential field is pretty crowded - even for democrats let alone republicans.

But I've just listened to the most inspiring, animated and pragmatic call (some may think it's a speech!) today. An outing with many memorable quotes. And electric!

Yes, a Barack Obama, senator of the United States, going for the presidency. He says he's asking and leading Americans to claim back their country! He calls for a generational change - ready to lead the charge.

Hello Folks, you've got a matter in hand, and a gem in your hands!

Choose right, vote right.

Friday, February 02, 2007

BBC's Football Focus

2 am. I've just finished savouring the maiden broadcast of Football Focus, "FF", on BBC World. Interesting and highly focused. I liked the setting and the picks for this day. 30 minutes isn't a fair length, I don't think. You need 45 minutes minimum.

That way, we'll have some action clips and facility spices.

Didier Drogba of Chelsea was a delight in his interview: calm, humble and balanced. A Team Man, and a player to both celebrate and watch. No question.

The report from Ghana was good, what with Marcel Desailly and Abedi Pele; plus the news on the forthcoming Nigeria-Ghana international friendly!

Good marks on take-off, folks! And a vote for the Beautiful Game.

Obasanjo: The AU Farewell

He did it! President Olusegun Obasanjo made my day when he bade Africa farewell at the 8th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He reinforced the bye-byes in his address at the honorary doctorate awards ceremony of the Addis Ababa University, to an audience which included fellow honoree Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy.

True to his word, he has since led his party's presidential campaign roadshows, vigorously canvassing for his potential successor, Katsina Governor Umar Yar'Adua.

May the doubting Thomases give him a break!

Poor Iraq!

There is nothing that should console us about the blood-letting and sheer carnage that Iraq now advertises. Pray as we may that the new American strategy works, the prognosis is at best dire. But it is the extant reality that irks like hell.

Yes, no soul is insignificant, but unabatingly wasting women and children there must surely be the disgust of double hell. And it is. What goes on in Baghdad these days is deadening the human senses and damaging the real purpose of life...and living. Our combined tenancy on Planet Earth is cheapening sacred blood and burning the sanctity of reason - in a grand and gory betrayal of all FAITHS! It is at once a scandal and scandalising.

We must ALL repent.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Legacy: Is Bair bound to Bush?

One of my favourite prime ministers is in a bind! Tony Blair must be wondering what led him to George Bush or, better still, why he over-stretched the Clinton-Blair coziness to the war led by President Bush. He must really wonder! The twists and turns this day are no sweet portends.

It's bad news all the way from Washington to London, and around the world, for both tough leaders. Iraq, accept or not, has failed. So has Afghanistan. There are some chances of positive possibilities, but only if the White House be willing to change course AND, especially, talking to Iran and Syria.

As Tony Blair and George Bush ponder their legacy and review their political past & fortune, things don't look good. We may have need to feel for them but we cannot make their legacy for them!

So, where are things heading or pointing for both men? Dreary, it seems. Why? Apart from the obvious issues in the public domain, to wit the wobbling war on terror, there is the small matter of Mr Blair lacking any leverage with Mr Bush - despite his seeming staunch, some say blind loyalty! Not on global warming. Not on debt relief. Not on the International Criminal Court or War Crimes Court. Not on the wider Middle East question. Not on UN Reforms. The list seems endless - according to their critics.

I do feel for them, though. Let's still wish them the bloom of the silver lining.