On December 29, 2009, two days before the year ended, I received a call: Ustaz Mohammed Beshir passed away. He had carried the Torch, AdDia’a, for decades before the torch of his life died out...Ustaz Mohammed Beshir was buried in Asmara where he had a crowded farewell that fitted him properly. May God have mercy on his pious soul.

I am still disturbed by images of mothers holding the pictures of PIA in gold frames akin to the manner in which their counter parts from the sane Eritrea would hold the images of sacred saints…in our pathocratic Eritrea priests approve of delirium worship of a man who saw over the incarceration of their fellow clergy and shut sister churches…

The sanctions are neither "a blessing in disguise" nor a "shortcut to power." The sanctions should be used as an opportunity for the pro-regime Eritreans to do an assessment of where the nation is and to use their voice to tell the leader of their party, respectfully but with vehemence, that he is leading the country down to a dead-end.  That is not likely because once you have allowed somebody to do all the thinking for you, you can't think for yourself.