Netsanet

@solassefa @NeftalemF It is unfortunate we are losing people with morals and gaining the opposite.

@NeftalemF Oh brother, the corruption of the past few years will make Nigerians shed some tears of appreciation on how quickly we have caught up and surpassed them. For me, it was the last straw to exit Ethiopian business climate systematically. It was either sell my soul or go broke.

This how describe bureaucracy in Ethiopia. It even worse than corruption because it is bureaucracy. for the sake of bureaucracy. Even the person behind the desk doesn't know why; the guy who passed the law does not know why the bureaucracy does not know why it is bureaucracing.

Consequential

If true, this is going to be extremely consequential for Ethiopia.

@BMLenjiso Let us imagine what you said is correct and the government is genuinely trying to bring about national reconciliation. Why can't it start with trust building measures?

The other area where Ethiopia is fast becoming the undisputed queen is political scapegoating through selective historical amnesia. Ethiopians have become world-class at loading every century-old problem onto one point of blame (often a current regime), all for maximum emotional impact and cheap political points. But this narrative weaponization is a proven trap. It distracts from the real issues, harms the very citizens it claims to champion, and delays the hard, honest conversation our country desperately needs. Instead of breaking the cycle, Ethiopians are known for rotating the people at the top. Ethiopia has now launched a countrywide dialogue, a bold step toward choosing truth over blame. Yet the number of people still trapped by this strategy far outweighs those who truly understand the problem and are committed to breaking the cycle. Time to shift the balance. 🇪🇹

Incredible numbers

@solassefa Unfortunately it is most likely going to trigger famine. I wish I am wrong but that is now a real possibility.

We are in for a shocking summer. The poor in the global South will pay the price long before economies in the west feel the pinch.

@RedwanHussien Very refreshing to see such an open and transparent communication. Good speed Sir!

ምን ተፈጥሮ ይሆን በማለት ለተወዛገቡ ወዳጆች facebook.com/share/p/1E3RRg…

@BMLenjiso This is true. But how is the government planning to re-build trust.

Ethiopia has become the undisputed queen of perpetual grievance politics, a classic strategy commonly seen in underdeveloped, low-trust societies. Opposition politics in Ethiopia routinely relies on, and weaponizes genuine societal problems such as historical injustices, poverty, poor education, and even weak democratic institutions. Opposition politicians habitually recite these challenges, constantly reminding the public, in effect, to “stay sad until they get what they want.”

Disaster

@BMLenjiso Do you honestly think the new generation would be this aggrieved with the system if certain groups in power weren't engaging in discrimination, nepotism, and entitlement?

In Ethiopian politics, there is this group that styles itself as “Unity Force” claiming the mantle of national cohesion. In truth, however, almost every major political actor in the country accepts the unity of Ethiopia. What truly divides them is not the idea of unity itself, but the spirit that animates it, the thymotic drive Francis Fukuyama calls the “third part” of the human soul. One camp seeks “isothymia”: a unity grounded in genuine equality, where every citizen and every constituent nation, nationality, and people is recognized on equal terms. The other pursues “megalothymia”: a unity based on its own supremacy, in which one group’s historical dominance is presented as the natural order that all others must accept. The same fault line runs through the debate on federalism. Today, virtually everyone in Ethiopia declares themselves a federalist. Yet the federalism each side envisions is fundamentally different. Some are determined to impose a centralized, supremacy-preserving version that restores a hierarchical past the Ethiopian peoples have already rejected. Others are committed to preserving and deepening the existing federal framework precisely because it answers the long-standing popular demand for self-governance at multiple levels, equitable recognition, autonomy, and dignity for all. The real difference, therefore, is not between “forces for unity” and “forces against unity.” It is between those who want unity on the basis of equality and those who want unity on the basis of their own supremacy; between those who seek to restore a rejected history and those who seek to fulfill the people’s legitimate quest for self-rule. That is the distinction that matters.

THE FALL by John Gray Donald Trump's self-described "little excursion" in Iran has proved to be a march to disaster. His "major combat operation" has shifted from aiming to block Iran achieving a nuclear capability that was supposedly "obliterated" last June to unblocking the Strait of Hormuz and restoring the situation that existed before the operation began. Whatever the objective may be, the pre-war status quo is irretrievable. Trump cannot declare victory and walk away without surrendering the vital shipping conduit to Iran. With its proven capacity to wreak havoc on the world economy, a bombed-out military-theocratic dictatorship has begun the final unravelling of US imperial power. In the Middle East, the war has undercut the financial foundations of US hegemony. However the war ends, the result will be the re-emergence of Iran as a major power. As the arbiter of passage through Hormuz, Iran has become the deciding force in the global oil economy. If Trump opts to "finish the job" and launches a ground operation, the US will be dragged into a debacle larger than Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined. While Nato may linger on in name, the transatlantic alliance is operationally defunct. America is returning to its pre-1914 trajectory as a civilisation separate from Europe. In the UK, the default position is to wait out the storm until sanity returns to Washington. Why Putin or Xi Jinping should exhibit similar patience is not explained. Could there be a better time for them to act? Ramping up hybrid warfare in under-defended Europe will give Putin leverage in any peace deal in Ukraine. With Trump having shifted military assets from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East and running down munitions, Xi may be able to absorb Taiwan without firing a shot. This is not simply a case of the lessons of history being ignored. Trump's war looks more like an example of what Sigmund Freud described as repetition compulsion – an unconscious process in which the mind acts out what it cannot properly remember. A creature of the moment as he may be, Trump seems driven by an impulse to reimagine the past and reassert American – and his own – greatness. When an infantile fantasy of omnipotence comes up against unyielding realities, the response is inchoate rage. Psychopathology may be more illuminating than geopolitics at this point. In a more profound sense than is commonly recognised, Donald Trump does not know what he is doing. His little excursion is a point of no return in America's retreat as a global power. Cover art by Cracked Hat

🎬

First sentence 🔫 last sentence.

Erasing a whole civilization, just like that.

@solassefa The gravity of the situation we are in is scary to contemplate.

The global calamity that is looming is not contained to ET. Many developing countries and the hardened EU and Asian economies will all suffer the same fate. I don't know if I have seen a more dire situation in my life. COVID doesn't come close to what we are facing. (end)

The Hurmuz crisis is having devastating consequences for the business environment in ET. I can only imagine what manufacturing is faring with. Prices across the board have risen, Imported goods are now quoted for a single day, transportation via trucks is 3x the old price. (1/n)

Beyond the propaganda, some truth to this.

Stone age production.

Trump right now in his live address: "We're going to hit [Iran] extremely hard over the next 2 to 3 weeks, we're going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong." Pure savagery. And textbook genocidal: saying the Iranian people "belong" in the stone ages means he's targeting them as a people, which is the definition of genocidal intent. That's where letting Gaza happen without consequences gets you... Also pretty ironical to call others primitive while sounding like a barbarian king on bath salts.

Yep

It would be funny if millions were not going to be at the receiving end.