Yanis Varoufakis
Athens – Greece’s public debt has been put back on Europe’s agenda. Indeed, this was perhaps the Greek government’s main achievement during its agonizing five-month standoff with its creditors. After years of “extend and pretend,” today almost everyone agrees that debt restructuring is essential. Most important, this is true not just for Greece.
Tarikua Getachew (@tarikawipeace)
Obama and My Mother
I hesitated between hundred ways to begin this piece.
I wanted to write the Kenyans have treated President Obama like their runners do our runners on track: they wear us out but we still win. But then I figured nah… the Kenyans, more brothers to us than to Americans, can’t be responsible for Obama.
I considered starting with an anecdote of the salesman who said too much and lost his sale. You know? The guy you get into his shop, he tries to sell you stuff, tells you all the good things, actually manages to convince you to buy it and then, just when you were about to pay, asks when your baby is due when all you have is a weight problem.
Abadir M. Ibrahim
Something was awry at a hearing of the High Court of Ethiopia on July 6, 2015. As the much anticipated conviction of Muslim civil society leaders (Abubaker Ahmed and 17 others) was underway, it was clear that this was no ordinary trial. Security was beefed up, the public gallery was crowded and the atmosphere was tense. A significant amount of time was spent with the court presenting a detailed defense of the government’s policies on counterterrorism and Muslim-state relations. The court also defended the state’s imposition of the Ahbash sect and, in an odd twist, compared the Ahbash sect to Zoroastrianism in Iran. Given how much time was spent on defending the government’s positions, the morning session made it feel as if the Ethiopian state was on trial and not the other way around.
