It was the late Nigerian Musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti who used that term a long time ago. After almost sixty years of political “independence”, it is indeed a testament to his foresight that Africa, today, boasts a handsome resume of Vagabonds In Power – a plethora of idiots, fools, thieves and murderers – masquerading...
Read more »
Archive for June, 2008
VIP: Vagabonds In Power
Equatorial Guinea: Another African Disgrace
While the world is in a tizzy about Zimbabwe, another dictator is being feted by the U.S. government. The world is having its way at the moment at who can hurl the best insults at Robert Mugabe. Meanwhile, in Equatorial Guinea, another genocidal regime is quietly brutalizing its people, removed from the sensational journalism...
Read more »
Nigeria and The Law Of the Sea – Part 2
In part 1, we argued that the emergent militancy in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria may not be entirely altruistic on the part of the militants. We introduced the Law of the Sea and questioned the ability of the Nigerian State to patrol and defend its territorial waters.
The drive for national enclosure contributed...
Read more »
Nigeria and the Law Of the Sea – Part 1
There are many theories which have tried to explain the origins of the militancy in the Niger Delta region of Southern Nigeria. What is not in doubt is that this “militancy” had a political origin, not out of popular struggle, but from a power struggle between “leaders” in the region.
With the notoriety that the...
Read more »
Another gem gone: George Carlin
The world lost another gem in George Carlin this past week.
In the few spots where I had the opportunity to watch his show, I came to love George Carlin. His politics became one of the things I really admired. He was never really worried about saying what he actually thought.
The following statement from slate.com...
Read more »
A charlatan named Mitt Romney
A charlatan (also called swindler) is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money or advantage via some form of pretense or deception.
In recent weeks, we have witnessed a rather shameful pandering to the John McCain ticket by former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney. After failing woefully to even...
Read more »
And so, another dictator prevails
It has long been argued that the greatest malady of African politics is the unwillingness of African leaders to relinquish power. In their quest to hold on to power in perpetuity, they have manufactured “constitutions” that have virtually made them kings and turned opposition into high treason. Once in power, these despots held their...
Read more »
Are we gearing up for another war?
The recent escalation of rhetoric between Israel and Iran makes one wonder if the Middle East is gearing up for another war. Western nations have been pressuring Iran for quite some time now to “give up its nuclear ambitions”. While Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, there does not seem...
Read more »
And so, here they come
It’s been over five years since the war in Iraq flared up and try as it may, the Bush administration has not been able to convince us and the rest of the world that its intentions were totally about exporting democracy. A major argument of most had been that we went into Iraq in...
Read more »
Obama and the Republicans
In remarks he made to fundraisers in Florida recently, Senator Barack Obama said he envisaged the Republicans using a scare tactics to make Americans afraid of him in this falls general elections. And as expected, mainstream media have immediately picked up on it and according to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, are asking if Obama...
Read more »