“Shithole” Psychedelic Psychobabble, and Menelik’s 3rd Stunt Ethiopiancommentator Commentary On 18 February 1975, 1967, a handful of idealist Tigrayans committed themselves to solve a fundamental problem bedeviling the people of Tigray. The scope was later expanded to address Ethiopia’s existential threat posed by the issue of the Nations and Nationalities for self- determination. For 17 years, the people of Tigray, led by the TPLF, fought one of the most brutal wars in the history of Ethiopia. They faced a dictatorship of chauvinists backed by Africa’s largest army armed with advanced instruments of war of all types, and with full military and diplomatic support not only from the USSR but also the entire Eastern Block, China and Cuba. During the war, although the chauvinist camp scotch earthed the people of Tigray which included not only using food as a weapon, Red Terror, abductions and executions on a mass scale but also uprooting people from their ancestral land and disposing them in a jungle infested with mosquitoes. During all this barbarity, never did the people of Tigray advocated ethnic cleansing, hate against their brethren that are the Amhara, Oromos or any other ethnic group, burn down cities and towns or economic infrastructures! In fact, let alone ethnic cleansing or destruction of the public good, the people of Tigray fought the war with a policy to do everything not to kill but capture the Derg soldiers taught to believe they were fighting foreigners! Despite the chauvinist total madness and despite relegating the people of Tigray into nocturnal living, the people of Tigray, just as they did to the Egyptians and Italians, brought the Derg and its chauvinist back bone to its knees! Following the destruction of the Derg, the people of Tigray did not fall for an eye for an eye but for convergence, concordance and building national infrastructure for democratic and economic development. In a very short time of 21 years (1991-until the death of Prime Minster Meles Zenawi in 2012), Ethiopia was transformed from the “misery index” of the world into an economic tiger, and proceeded to build the basics of democratic framework and culture where the Nations and Nationalities of Ethiopia thrived in self-administration, over thirty universities and numerous colleges built, expanded health care, power generation including the Gerd, roads, and rails. In effect, in a very short 21 years, the people of Tigray led by the TPLF changed Ethiopia from a beggar nation into a self-confident country of international prominence! Clearly, a cultured people can move mountains! The people of Tigray, armed with 8000 years of their wisdom, culture, agriculture, architecture, faith and a profound sense of justice and good will, were able to bring about so much good to Ethiopia. But then came back the creeping hand of tyranny. Since the death of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and more so in the last four years (since power transfer to Hailemariam Desalign), the chauvinist class along with Oromo extremists backed by Shaebia and the Arabs, used the democratic infrastructure in Ethiopia to not only gain power but also to destroy the economy of Ethiopia and bring back ethnic cleansing as a national policy! And worst came Perestroika! There is no question that the current Ethiopian Prime Minister is the Ethiopian equivalent of Gorbachev in Ethiopia. The then Secretary General of the USSR was a man enamored with being in the limelight. Not on the stage of his own country and with his people but on stages so far away from home and with the very enemies of the USSR. And with a sword of Perestroika, he beheaded his country into fragments. It may not be obvious to those who engineered it and to those engulfed in ethnic and religious hysteria but virtually an identical dynamics is unfolding in Ethiopia. Hope, Delusions, Steel birth and Flameouts: It seems the young Ethiopian Prime Minister cannot get off stages. Since he became a Prime Minister, he has not been seen working at his office but on stages where sometimes he is engaged in what amounts to preaching love and peace and at other times lecturing to cabinet ministers on complex topics which he himself seems unable to explain in Amharic or in a mix of Amharic and English. And no wonder the faces of the cabinet ministers told it all. A similar scene was obvious during his lecture to the Military chiefs or leadership. Utter disbelief was brightly in full display in the room. Present was a Prime Minister who has never administered a chicken coop lecturing to generals who made not only the best of the best of the Derg run out of idea but also those of its East Block backers too. We have seen the new Prime Minister speak to the Ethiopian people from the Parliament twice. His first, which was also his acceptance speech, was excellent. He appealed to our best instincts, although he and his extremist comrades in ANDM and OPDO have spent the last eighteen years building ethnic and religious fault lines, by brightly spot-lighting or illuminating our common bond, shared experiences and contributions. He did so with what appeared to be great spiritual convictions, humanity, humility and sincerity. Clearly, this was his best speech But the same cannot be said of his second speech to Parliament. The Report he gave seemed to be simplistic, amateurish, shallow, half-hazard and stunningly incongruent with the dire and existential thereat Ethiopia faces. It was obvious that he did not come to Parliament to give an update but to use Parliament for political stunt. That too was poorly conceived, ill executed and that the whole thing was a fraud did not escape the good sense of the Ethiopian people. What was witnessed was the Prime Minister answering the very questions he had asked the Parliamentarians to ask him. But nothing can be further from the truth. Prime Minister Abiy had one mission on that day and that was to respond to the TPLF’s take on his overture to Shaibia, and to peddle that TPLF is not Tigray political mischief. Clearly, this second speech to Parliament was not only a PR disaster but also a costly if not a terminal credibility disaster as well his political life. There have been other disasters too. Not only on the home front, but on foreign soil too. It is truly heart-warming when the Prime Minister can go to the various regions of Ethiopia and speak to the people in their respective languages and does so with a smile. It is also an icing on the cake so to speak when he can throw a few jokes and laugh along with the people. This is in fact a tremendous strength and an asset useful in building lasting friendship and relationships. Having said that though, what is permissible within the family, is not acceptable at the international stage. The young man must know that there is something called national honor, etiquette and protocol. The Crown Prince of UAE, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, landed at Bole dressed in his country’s national cloth. It would have been okay had Ethiopia was a product of the Anglophones or Francophones. It is not. We know for a fact that the Axumauian weaved cotton into colorful threads and clothing, and farm Teff when the Europeans lived in caves. It would have been not only honoring our people and country had he wore the Ethiopian national cloth or one from one of the many stunningly colorful cloth of our nations and nationalities. It would have been an affirmation and a celebration that which is our own! But he chose the best cuts from Paris, although he was one who told us that colonial borders are responsible for our perpetual obituaries we find ourselves! Talk is cheap it has been said. Clearly, no break from the traditions of a long list of tyrants which bedeviled Ethiopia! Perhaps, the weirdest of all is his volunteering to chauffer Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. It was a kind of “Driving Miss Daisy” where Morgan Freeman is the ever happy chauffer at her finger tips. It is hard to know at this stage whether it is humility or stupidity but the head of the Ethiopian state chauffeuring an Arab thug is very unnerving to say the least. But it was not just his behavior with the UAE dictator. We have seen him call the Egyptian dictator and arch enemy of Ethiopia, the head of a country whose Constitution claims sovereignty over waters in Ethiopian soil, my brother! And it is not just calling Sisi brother that is odd but the Prime Minister’s overall child-like behavior is worrisome and unprecedented. The Prime Minister has never met Sisi before. He never had previous friendship or working relationship with the Egyptian tyrant. All he knows about SiSi is what he heard from afar, and as every Ethiopian knows, what we know about Egyptian dictators is that they have armed and financed forces to keep Ethiopia in a perpetual war and underdevelopment! And yet, the green Ethiopian Prime Minister was not only beyond himself but also promising the world to the very protagonist of evil who has Ethiopian blood in his hands! These are the victims of Isayas Afeworki. When Isayas launched his barbaric war against Ethiopia, his first target was a school in the heart of Mekelle. Isayas Just as did the Italian fascist, sent war planes to incinerate school children at Ayder School. It is to this man who authorized cluster bombing school children, Prime Minister called a great leader with whom he has sealed an oath of common path.