I avoided the Thatcherfest yesterday by flying to Accra, and landed slap in the middle of a State Visit by President Ahmadinejad. Any number of levels of irony there. I am however pleased to see President John Mahama – an old friend of mine – giving out a fairly clear signal he is not going to be a US puppet. That was reinforced yesterday by a high profile announcement from the Ministry of Finance of a new policy aimed at increasing the – hitherto very limited – social benefit from Ghana’s oil and mining industries. Just how much this will amount to in practice remains to be seen, but I am very pleased to see that, as John Mahama’s Presidency in his own right gets underway, the direction of travel may be more radical and aimed at social justice.
Another piece of good news from West Africa yesterday was President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria’s announcement of a negotiating committee to try to open negotiations with Boko Haram on the basis of a ceasefire and an amnesty. The committee’s remit includes a specific commitment to look at underlying grievances that had led to the unrest.
Nigeria shows much greater wisdom than the standard Western government line that the state can do no wrong and that all terrorist movements must be crushed by military force – something that often leads into an unending revenge cycle. Insurgency movements are indeed always caused – no matter how psychotic or vicious individual terrorists may be and no matter how evil some of their acts. For any terrorist or insurgency activity to have sufficient support in a host population to have a resilient existence, that population must believe itself to have a legitimate grievance. Ultimately the only way to overcome terrorism is to talk to the terrorists. Which is not to say I think this initiative will succeed; but it is certainly the right thing to try.
Jim Mcd
19 Apr, 2013 – 2:09 pm
“Am I the only person who thinks that the Police/Military lockdown of the whole city of Boston to catch one man is a bit overkill? Could this be a practice for things to come for the American people?”
I agree Jim, overkill.
I think this is a taste of things to come for US citizens who are deemed “terrorists” by the state; peaceful protesters included.
proving ‘Anon’ right, I mean, obviously.
Mary
Gerry and the Pacemakers (1963) ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ still emboldens the spirit to this day.
Be strong.
Mary
p.s. to my above post
Don’t heed anything Habbabkuk wrote on this thread 19 Apr, 2013 – 3:27 pm.
He is disingenuous as you know and you must not tone down your contributions to this blog for fear of his reaction.
Don’t forget the right to free speech; the only reason Habbabkuk is still tolerated here.
Cheebacow, I’d be interested in something like you mentioned, to vanish your problem troll. I was thinking along the lines in my case of a squid_redirect/rewrite rule, chainable to work with existing redirectors in use, but realise this wouldn’t be appropriate for most people.
Trolls? I see no trolls.
Good Luck.
“I think Komodo should make his move soon as they’d make a great couple.”
Bastard.
Cryptonym & anyone interested in the user blocking script, checkout my post here: http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/04/the-official-tsarnaev-story-makes-no-sense/#comment-404193
FYI
2011, Al Jazeera English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye3Bs7D_i98
2013, Al Jazeera English: “Ghana Gold” – As Ghana is experiencing a new gold rush, widespread corruption is allowing illegal mining to flourish.
Link comes wit 25m video.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/africainvestigates/2011/11/2011113071310331931.html