The Japanese Maple Tree: A Parable
By Saleh AA Younis - Sep 5, 2006, 12:00 PST
Fiasco is a chronicle of the Bush administration’s disastrous decisions—one after another—that have created the US’s present quagmire in Iraq. Readers of Alnahda remember—oh boy, do they!—that this column was a strong supporter of democracy-from-the-barrel-of-a-gun policy of George W. Bush. So, how did I react to the book? My own little parable…
A Cross-Eyed View of Languages
By Saleh AA Younis - Aug 7, 2006, 14:01 PST
You may argue that to obsess over language when the nation has so many other problems is a bit trifle and misdirected. But, as many social scientists have already shown, language is the very basis of thought, which is the basis of action. In fact, some linguists argue human beings did not develop language because they are smarter than animals; rather, they became smarter because only they could develop a language.
The Authoritative & The Authoritarians In Somalia
By Saleh AA Younis - Jul 22, 2006, 00:01 PST
But if the hardliner Islamists triumph over the moderates, it will be catastrophic disaster for the Somalis. How catastrophic? As hard to imagine as it is right now, I would say Somalis will be worse off than they were under the warlords, worse off than they would have been under the transitional government. Why?
The Years of The Mule
By Saleh AA Younis - Jun 9, 2006, 11:00 PST
We Eritreans are completely obsessed with politics—but we are very bad at it. We? Yeah, all of us—the President, the PFDJ, the EDA, the unaligned. Politics to Eritreans is like basketball is to the Oakland Warriors—we go through the motions, but we stink at it. We blame the coaches, the referee, the game itself—but never ourselves and our stubborn nature.
Not When But Because
By Saleh AA Younis - May 12, 2006, 05:34 PST
Conceit: we have a country without a constitution, private press, legal opposition, a functioning court and a 61 year old president who has publicly said that the thought of retirement will never cross his mind as long as he lives, but our favorite sport is to look down at Africa.
Intuitions & Prejudices
By Saleh AA Younis - Apr 9, 2006, 14:47 PST
But beyond our immediate families, those of us who are withholding support to the poor in Eritrea on moral grounds...really are torn by a sense that we are not doing our share to alleviate the pain of the needy. Isn’t it time for us "the educated Eritreans" to come up with something like this—without the pro-PFDJ Eritreans thinking it is an insult to the PFDJ and the opposition supporters actually thinking it is a distraction from the campaign to bring change in Eritrea?
The Truth & The Law
By Saleh AA Younis - Feb 27, 2006, 17:00 PST
Diplomacy, one can argue, is all about breaking down the stark choices of the law and the jungle or, at the very least, creating third options (call it the "jaw"). Let's bring it home: let's pretend for a second that we were a nation where public opinion actually mattered and the public were to tell its politicians "find a solution to this problem without declaring war." What, then, would have been the choice? And would that have meant that the people are choosing the jungle over the law?
The problems with "Confessions of an Economic Hitman"
By Saleh AA Younis - Feb 4, 2006, 10:37 PST
So I buy the book, to glean the wisdom that so many of my compatriots found so illuminating. Well it is actually more like a pamphlet, when you exclude the epilogue and the prologue and the fundraising appeals: the safari hunter raising funds for the restoration of Serengeti. A perfect airport book. I am not saying this to be critical, just to pre-empt any correspondence that may be I didn’t understand his very simplistic thesis.
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