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Category: Politics

[:en]The Economist – certified brain dead[:]
24/10/2018
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| Politics

It is  hard to believe  that The Economist  could outdo their last fiasco on Africa but believe it they have and  it is true. Readers may recall their report that stated that everyone in Tanzania was earning less than $2 a day, even the richest Tanzanians!!! (Note 1) Now they have  a piece explaining why Trump is so popular in Africa. (Note 2) “Nigerians, Kenyans and South Africans are twice as likely to hold pro-American views as the average…

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[:en]Candace Owens, Black Lives Matter and liberal views of racism[:]
23/04/2018
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| Politics

There is a major issue highlighted in the social confusion arising from this lady that is not being addressed. One of the core challenges of  Black America intellectual debates is its unwillingness to follow the argument strictly.  Focussing on the apparent conclusion it accepts or discards an argument accordingly. This tends to lead to discussions that are dialogues of the deaf. There is an important point that Candace makes and which is by no means exclusive to her that…

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[:en]Trevor Manuel at Winnie Mandela ‘s funeral – great hypocrisy[:]
05/04/2018
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| Politics

Trevor Manuel made a rabble rousing speech at Winnie Mandela’s funeral. His heart went out to the poor and outcasts of South Africa and he did not hesitate to point figures and mention names. It is not normal to use someone else’s funeral to launch one’s own new political agenda,having previously announced his retirement from politics.(Note 1) It dishonours the dead. Winnie’s funeral should have been about her not about Trevor Manuel’s  new political ambitions. He mentions her name…

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[:en]‘The Economist’ – purveyors of Fake News and false information.[:]
21/01/2018
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| Politics

What can one say? The Economist is a major journal that has been going since 1843 and has this to say about itself: ‘A recent editor, Rupert Pennant-Rea, once described The Economist as “a Friday viewspaper, where the readers, with higher than average incomes, better than average minds but with less than average time, can test their opinions against ours. We try to tell the world about the world, to persuade the expert and reach the amateur, with an…

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[:en]Trump, New York Times & Dean Baquet – the missing interview[:]
14/01/2018
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| Politics, Uncategorized

A well known rule that most journalists seek to comply with  is that the journalist should not become the story or part of the story. However should there not sometimes in exceptional circumstances be an exception? I am thinking of Trump comments about ‘s****hole countries’ and the implication that people from such countries including Haiti have nothing to offer US. As some will know Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, is of Haitian parentage. Would it…

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[:en]WSJ and Charlottesville: Parsing the text[:]
22/08/2017
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| Policy, Politics

(Image courtesy of NBC News)   One of the enduring issues that arise when African Americans speak to a dominant media forum about race is a failure to ‘parse the script’. They come to a debate with their own version of the meaning of words and events and this is futile. While emphasizing their own views creates solidarity with a group and confirms them in their own world view it achieves absolutely nothing in a debate which rapidly becomes…

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[:en]Deaton & Case – ‘sea of despair’ revisited[:]
11/08/2017
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| Policy, Politics

Like a well worn script when we look back at the report of Deaton & Case we can see  precisely how it was strategized. A widespread opiod epidemic  is deflected from major US corporations  onto  the effect of equal opportunity and African Americans. Lets have poor Whites and poor Blacks have a fight. Our attention is turned away from the role of the pharmaceutical industry and medical profession to the effects of equal opportunity legislation.  In this case it…

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[:en]Otto Warmbier & Philando Castile: look in the mirror – it is calling.[:]
20/06/2017
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| Politics

Who are Otto Warmbier and Philando Castile? They are both US citizens and they are both dead. One had a trial and confessed to the charges the other had no trial and was executed. The police man who executed Castile was cleared at trial. The Washington Post called one trial ‘a sham’ even though the defendant confessed but not the other where no crime or offence was committed. In one case the State Attorney says we must ‘accept the…

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[:en]1917 & Africa[:]
13/05/2017
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| history, Politics

  It seems as if  no one in Africa recognises the importance of 1917 for the history of Africa. Without 1917 the fate of Africa in the 20th Century would have been much different. Europe and America had imposed an arms embargo against Africa and the new automated weapons had allowed swift suppression of African liberties. 1917 saw the breakdown of that embargo and the possibility of struggles for independence. Many African historians have been unable to understand the…

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[:en]Harry Greaves – RIP [:]
25/03/2017
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| Politics, Uncategorized

It is over a year since Harry’s body was found on a beach in Liberia and no explanation has been found to date.   Harry and I were at prep school  together in England  or to be more precise in Langton Green in Kent. Harry Augustus Greaves Jnr as he wished to be known then (he emphatically insisted on the American  postfix jnr having the same name as his father). Our headmaster, Mr Bairamian, or Bob as we called…

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