It has been quite a week here at Africa Talks. After the Op-Ed titled “Susan Rice and Africa’s Despots” was published on Monday in the New York Times, I have received varied reactions from different sources including journalists in the mainstream media, scholars and diplomats. Many of them came to Ambassador Susan Rice’s defense. But most importantly, the… Read more »
Michael O’Hanlon, in his Reuters Opinion piece, “In defense of Susan Rice” (Reuters, December 10, 2012), took issue with my New York Times op-ed article, “Susan Rice and Africa’s Despots” (December 9, 2012). Mine were not ad hominem attacks. It is fair to hold a public official accountable for her career and for the roles… Read more »
ON Sept. 2, Ambassador Susan E. Rice delivered a eulogy for a man she called “a true friend to me.” Before thousands of mourners and more than 20 African heads of state in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ms. Rice, the United States’ representative to the United Nations, lauded the country’s late prime minister, Meles Zenawi. She called him “brilliant” —… Read more »
As the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Susan Rice read a eulogy she prepared on the occasion of the death of Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia, she called him a “tough, unsentimental and sometimes unyielding,” leader.
In the last blog entry, I wrote that Ambassador Michael E. Ranneberger was visiting the University of South Florida as part of an event sponsored by the Center for Strategic and Diplomatic Studies. Amb. Ranneberger gave a lecture titled “U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa: Lessons, Challenges, and Opportunities” through the center’s “Lecture Series on National Security.”… Read more »
In the wake of the death of Malawi’s former president, Bingu wa Mutharika due to cardiac arrest, the country’s political leadership has welcomed a new guard. Joyce Banda, an outspoken activist and leader of the People’s Party, became the president of the country making her the second female president in Africa. In the relatively short period of time until… Read more »
During the past five years of my stay in the United States, I have come across different members of the African diaspora who are passionate about the future of the continent. I’ve talked to ambitious educated individuals who’ve expressed their determination to one day go back and contribute. On the contrary, I’ve also come across… Read more »
You’ve come across this. I’m sure of it. Imagine watching an important speech about something groundbreaking and getting interrupted by an annoying comment about what the speaker is wearing instead of what he is saying. If you’re an active social media user like I am, you probably have seen what I call the “snark bombers”… Read more »
“I am a socialist and I take part in the ‘Occupy Tampa’ movement” said one of the students opening the first question at an event sponsored by the USF World, at the University of South Florida’s International Program in Tampa, Florida. The question was directed at the Executive Director of the World Bank Group, Ian Solomon,… Read more »