Israeli Apartheid

Condoleezza Rice waits for vindication

After George W. Bush spent all of Colin Powell’s political capital, he installed Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State for his second term in office. The image of the United States had taken a beating around the world and was in dire need of a makeover. Enter Dr. Rice.

Initially, the cable news channels could not get enough of Rice’s stylish boots and cosmopolitan demeanor, a foreshadowing of the patronizing canonization of Michelle Obama. Underlying the disgusting fawning was a genuine hope that Rice would restore our tarnished reputation.

Foreign diplomats recognized the rift between Powell and Bush, so the State Department did not carry much clout. WIth Rice, other nations could be assured that her words and deeds were completely in line with the intentions of the president.

Rice wanted to revitalize the State Department. She pulled people out of cozy posts in Europe, and began placing them in areas that required more attention such as India, China, South Africa, and Brazil. Diplomats were required to do some hard time in trouble spots like Iraq and Afghanistan. They were also directed to become fluent in at least two languages and gain expertise regarding at least two regions of the world. More emphasis was placed on local and regional approaches to drug trafficking and disease. Bilateral discussions were to be promoted on the basis of improving infrastructure and lessening the need for handouts. These efforts were collectively dubbed "Transformational Democracy."

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* By Iqbal Jassat

Somalia’s instability as a result of the Ethiopian invasion has had a devastating effect on Somali refugees victimized by xenophobic violence in South Africa. Boxed in as they are within makeshift tents and other forms of temporary shelters, having been driven out of their war-torn country initially, these refugees have experienced a fresh blow to their meager struggle for survival.

While much is being made about the Somali refugee issue in South Africa alongside the unfortunate evictions suffered by many of the continents other asylum seekers, not enough is relayed through the media regarding the tragedy unfolding in their motherland, in the horn of Africa.

This disconnection adds to further xenophobic and criminal attacks, for Somalis are viewed as having voluntarily chosen to seek refuge away from home. Indeed, calls to have them repatriated are symptomatic of this form of ignorance.

Abdi Samatar, professor of Global Studies at the University of Minnesota summed up the situation in Somalia as follows in a recent interview with Democracy Now:

“The Ethiopian invasion, which was sanctioned by the US government, has destroyed virtually all the life-sustaining economic systems which the population have built without the government for the last fifteen years. And the militia that are supposed to protect the population have been looting shops. For instance, the Bakara market, which is the largest market in Mogadishu, has been looted repeatedly by the militias of the so-called Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, supported by Ethiopian troops. And the new prime minister of Somalia, Mr. Hassan Nur Hussein, has himself announced in the BBC that it was his militias that – who have looted this place. So what you have is a population that’s hit from both sides – on one side, by the militias of the so-called Transitional Federal Government, which is recognized by the United States, and on the other side, by the Ethiopian invaders who seem to be bent on ensuring that they break the will of the people to resist as free people in their own country……………………………..

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