War on terror sought to cast US as a beacon of democracy, but private army Blackwater inflicts suffering on societies they work in
Recently, I spoke with one Marine infantry veteran who had completed four combat tours abroad for America. He told me that, after leaving the service, he lacked a community that understood what he had been through. He sought to avoid social isolation by getting a government job. However, after applying...
Privatising war: Why the US and Russia hire private companies to fight for them on frontlines
The involvement of private companies has allowed Washington to continue to conduct its operations around the globe, even if many Americans think that our war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere has ended. I tried looking for any kind of a survey of how many of us realise that it continues in Iraq and elsewhere, but all I could find was pollster Nate Silver’s analysis of “lessons learned” from that global conflict, as if it were part of our history.
How Museveni aspired to be Uganda’s ‘eternal’ president, then created an African brotherhood to realise dream
The power struggle has its roots in the years before a 2019 uprising that ousted dictator Omar al Bashir who built up formidable security forces that he deliberately set against one another throughout his almost 30-year rule. It is not easy to predict when the chaos will end, but it has reportedly already claimed 500 human lives; as many as the Luwero Triangle bush war in Uganda claimed from 1981-1985.
How Ugandan President Museveni shot his way to power from a tiny house in Kabete in Nairobi, then refused to go away
A long insurgency under the military command of Yoweri (Tibuhaburwa) Museveni combined with the internal wrangles within the UNLA between the Lang’i and Acholi elements weakened Obote’s second regime so much that it could not concentrate effectively on rehabilitating and reconstructing the country beyond the destructive effects of Idi Amin’s rule.
Human rights: It’s expecting too much of Messi and Ronaldo to be moral arbiters when they sign business deals with Saudi Arabia
Messi and Ronaldo have become very wealthy from football and lending their faces to products. Why should advertising holidays or even a World Cup bid in Saudi Arabia differ? Pep Guardiola and Xavi were ambassadors for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid and they remain highly regarded. At a time when football asks for gentle moral consistency rather than outright moral guidance from its most prominent figures, what difference does it make to these superstars?
Should world’s greatest footballers – Messi and Ronaldo – shun Saudi Arabia’s porky offers?
The legacy of sporting figures is complicated. Those who believe in it often focus on highlights rather than entire storylines. Few Ronaldo fans bring up his miss in the penalty shootout at the 2008 Champions League final, instead preferring to talk about the header he scored in normal time.
Reparations: Critics say King Charles coronation is relic of humiliation and slavery by the British empire
Herman Manyora, a political analyst and journalism professor at the University of Nairobi, said memories of Britain’s harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s are still raw.
Many Kenyans will not watch the coronation “because of the torture during colonialism, because of the oppression, because of detentions, because of killings, because of the alienation of our land,” Manyora said.
Tucker Carlson: American politics was once about rational debates on how to get mutually agreed-upon outcomes
To say that Carlson did not utter anything like this is much like saying the sun is larger than a tangerine. It’s accurate – but doesn’t wholly capture the magnitude of the situation.
Fired Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson reminds Americans: Truth is contagious; lies are, but truth is as well
Moreover, Carlson proclaims, “The truth is contagious. Lying is, but the truth is as well. And the second you decide to tell the truth about something, you are filled with this – I don’t want to get supernatural on you – but you are filled with this power from somewhere else.”
Pork barrel: Uganda’s President Museveni half-brother, Gen Salim Saleh, has Somali genes and that complicates conflict in Somalia
Many poor and needy Ugandans who have been fortunate enough to access Gen Salim Saleh see him as man of charity. Although it is often said blood is thicker than water, it is not yet easy to say to what extent Somali refugees have gained from the vantage position of General Salim Saleh Akandwanaho, personally in the NRM regime, although as pointed out above, many have set up flourishing businesses in Uganda, while those of Ugandans collapse easily.
