Sunday, November 22, 2015

Nigeria: Fraudulent Charges Against Buhari's Enemy


Did anyone reading this report not just laugh himself/herself silly? What a bogus charge! The alleged diversion of $2.9b incapacitated the country's ability to deal with the "insurgency"! How much was the entire defense budget of Nigeria in the past six years?
Does Buhari not know that huge sums of money are misappropriated in the public sector annually? Is he unaware of the fact, that most of the money he used to finance his last presidential campaign came from misappropriated funds, from states such as Rivers State?
That state's corrupt political ally of Buhari as governor, Amaechi, stole public funds that were meant to pay the salaries of state employees and handed the money over to the Buhari campaign. Amaechi is now a Federal Minister, under Buhari. It is his reward for the grand larceny.
Meanwhile, Buhari, upon coming into office, pretended that he was outraged, by the fact that state employees were owed several months in salaries. He proceeded to play the grand and deceptive Father Christmas to the states, by getting Federal funds to pay off the outstanding salaries. He claimed that the money actually came, from funds that were meant to be distributed to the states. However, that said nothing about the fact that he was instrumental to what amounted to double billing: a fraud.
Does Buhari not know that his comrades in the Nigerian military, when it was running an illegal military junta, routinely looted public treasuries? Some of them are now millionaires and political gods in Abuja. Does he know about the millions of dollars that went missing, when he was running the petroleum ministry?
No: corruption did nothing to incapacitate the war against the criminally insane Boko Haram. Corruption has been factored into public budgets, since General Buhari and his military comrades, institutionalized what I have called the Ethic of the Loot in Nigeria in the 1970's. I refer to the ethic, by which political leaders (legal and illegal), fully supported by the citizens of Nigeria have viewed the national wealth, as a pile of loot to be plundered.
Democratic accountability should have led to a systematic repudiation of the ethic, but it has not. Why? It has not, because the people and their elected officials really do not want to end it. The money that funds the ethic as far as public administration and finance go, comes from the oil-producing areas of the country, which are populated by minorities.
The Nigerian population, overall, and their elected officials are convinced, that they can always oppress the minorities, with all sorts of strategies, designed to perpetuate the economic injustice perpetrated on the minority populations, in the name of national unity.
Meanwhile, even President Jonathan from the oil-producing area was not bold enough, to challenge the status quo, partly because he was sold both on the primacy of national unity, and on the idea that in order to win a reelection, he had to be obsequious to the North, which produced the political characters (including General Buhari) that established the Ethic of the Loot.
Of course, he was wrong. He needed to make demands on the Nigerian state. He needed to ensure that those demands were met, with real programs and policies, which addressed the economic injustice, considering the fact that Nigeria is sustained by the oil wealth from the Niger Delta. The oil-producing states, should have given the Federal Government a set of take-it-or-leave it demands, during the Jonathan presidency.
For instance, there is no good reason, why at the end of the Jonathan presidency, most of the so-called oil blocs, should still be owned by northern Nigerians, some of whom used looted public funds to acquire the oil blocs. Note that the looted funds are themselves stolen from revenues accruing from oil sales.
Overall, therefore, the charges against Dasuki are themselves fraudulent, and bogus. Buhari's Aso Rock does not abhor corruption. It merely uses a farcical war against corruption to victimize political enemies.
Buhari, orders, arrest, DasukI, others
VANGUARDNGR.COM
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Fubara David-West
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Terrorism: Why France is Different From Nigeria


France and Nigeria: The World is not Flat

I have been making this crucial point for months. The CNN correspondent tries very valiantly, to make this an emotional issue in a flat world. However, international politics abhors both a flat world and an over-emphasis on emotion.

The world of international politics is not flat. Every state does not have the same set of interests, and all states do not have equal materials capabilities, with which to promote and defend their interests. Furthermore, national interests are the most important motivators of state actions, not emotions.

With respect to Boko Haram, and the international response to it, the most important thing to remember is that given the points highlighted above, the international community and the major powers are unlikely to react in the same way they have, to the terrorist attacks in France, given a similar attack in Nigeria, firstly because the major powers have more at stake (national interests) in France than they have in Nigeria.

Due to the fact that other powers expect that in the long run, they will need good relations with the major powers, they will tend to align themselves to the stance of the major powers on such matters. That is one reason, for instance, why it is possible for the United States to launch the Iraq War, even with opposition from such allies as France and Germany, and yet end up with the United Nations assisting with the problems that the American decision led to.

Secondly, most of the intelligence services and the major powers know that Nigeria and its political leaders have been playing crass politics, with the existential threat that Boko Haram represents, for Nigeria. France will never do such a thing.  Imagine this scenario.  A man with a criminal record, who is a suspected supporter of either Al Qaeda or ISIS presents himself to France as a presidential candidate.  What is the likelihood that such a man will eventually be elected president?  The probability of that happening is .0005.  In Nigeria, such a person will be elected president.

For a long time, arms from the national armoury were wilfully transferred to Boko Haram, in the grand traditions of corruption in Nigeria. At the same time, Nigerian authorities, even including the country's military have sought to extend the corrupt tradition, by playing diversionary politics with the problem.

Thus, as ridiculous as it is, they claim that the reason why Boko Haram has not been defeated is that the United States and its allies have refused to sell arms to Nigeria. Note that at the same time, Boko Haram could get the weapons that it needs, to fight the Nigerian military. Also note that Nigeria has no divine right to arms from the United States and the NATO alliance.

CNN addresses issues for both France and Nigeria and why Nigeria is not a priority
YOUTUBE.COM

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Nigeria Playing Diversionary Politics with USA

From Jews News Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said that President Barack Obama “aided and abetted” radical Islamic terrorists by refusing to sell…
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Fubara David-West
Fubara David-West Nigeria loves to dance naked in the streets. What fun, it must be over there in that African Super Power, which plays crass politics with an existential threat, and votes out a president, who was battling Boko Haram: the crude band of terrorists!

We might note that Boko Haram was formed and given political cover by Northern Nigeria, and its political/community leaders, including General Buhari, to drive President Jonathan out of office. The North, which prayed to Allah in its mosques, to give it great success in that treasonable mission, actually succeeded. 

President Jonathan should be faulted, for not acting as if he understood the craftiness of the North, which continues to be more politically astute than the much-better educated South. He should have given the military, the police, and the security agencies in Nigeria a single command, early in his presidency: "dismantle and destroy Boko Haram within 30 days." 

He did not. Why? I think that he was too concerned with not rocking the political boat. Even the fact that Boko Haram kidnapped some little girls: an action, which led to the emergence of an international movement (Bring Back Our Girls), did not force President Jonathan to change his political game plan. 

Instead of using the mothers of those girls as his best political allies, his Aso Rock, during the initial days and weeks of the kidnapping, drove those parents away from Aso Rock. Overall, he allowed his advisers and many Nigerians, to play diversionary politics with the existential threat that Boko Haram represented. 

Furthermore, and this is very instructive about the kind of terrible advice President Jonathan was getting at Aso Rock, the state that he was allowing the country to play diversionary politics with, was a global hegemon. Anyone with some knowledge about international politics would have warned the president, to steer clear of such a terrible position. Only rogue regimes, which have nothing to lose, ever plays diversionary politics with the United States. 

Please also note that the CIA and other intelligence agencies in the United States have very good intelligence, about the strength of Boko Haram, the military strength of Nigeria, and the domestic political games that Nigeria plays with Boko Haram. 

Furthermore, Nigeria is not an important national interest of the United States. The most important national interests of the United States are in Europe, the parts of the Americas covered by the Monroe Doctrine, Asia and the Middle East. Thus when Nigerians think about the misconceptualized "global war on terror" and assume, that in the name of such a war (which no state led by some sensible people will actually fight, because such a war can neither be won nor ended), the United States will take over the battle against the Boko Haram within Nigeria, in the same way that it fights against Al Qaida and ISIS, they are making a terrible mistake. 

Finally, the United States is not a colonial ruler of Nigeria, colorful dancers. You should also note that you are dealing with high international politics here. If you actually think that the United States is Nigeria's enemy, tell your Buhari, who has decided to follow President Jonathan's disastrous path on this matter, to declare war on the United States. 

As comical as that suggestion is, in the spirit of the clown behind the mask and the deadly Owu (Kalabari for masquerade), which Nigerians seem to be having a marvelous time with, someone in Aso Rock might actually take it seriously. 

The United States has nothing to do with your problems with that criminally insane gang, which calls itself Boko Haram. You might consider "occupying" Abuja, to demand the 30-day program for completely annihilating Boko Haram within Nigeria, which I was calling for during Jonathan's presidency.
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Saturday, October 10, 2015

Russia Humiliates the U.S.?

Is Russia Humiliating the United States?---From Nigerian Internet Fora
This will make for a very good script, for Comedy Hour. Russia humiliating USA in Syria!!!! How is Russia doing that? Syria has been a long-standing ally of the defunct Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Republic. Syria has been one of the bitter enemies of Israel, which is a close ally of the United States.
Given those set of facts, why would the United States take it upon itself, to save Syria from an existential threat? That is the critical question to be asked. Of course, the threat that ISIS poses to the region, might spread to American allies such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. However, those states are wealthy enough; and they have the population, to be able to raise armed forces to meet the challenge from ISIS.
Furthermore, the ISIS threat is also a real threat to international peace and security, as recognized by the United Nations. ISIS wants to obliterate the territorial boundaries of some of the member states of the United Nations. That is the kind of a threat that the United Nations was created to deal with, following the experience of the international community with the threat from Nazi, which led to World War II.
The problem we have in Syria/Iraq is for the United Nations Security Council to solve. However, two Permanent Members of the Council with the authority to veto resolutions and collective action: Russia and China have used their vetoes to prevent collective action. Let us note, once again, that Syria is a Russian ally. Given the circumstances, why should the United States feel humiliated, if Russia stands up, finally, to do something about an existential threat to its ally?
The United States has the capability to move unilaterally, to attempt to impose its will on ISIS, but given its experience with the Iraq War, which cost American tax payers a trillion dollars, and hundreds of Americans killed, why should the United States do that? There is no compelling reason why it should, and President Obama seems to fully understand that.
President Obama, several months ago, did make a mistake of bluffing and then backing down, with his "red line." However, even in that case, which was mismanaged by the Secretary of State, John Kerry, the United States mission was supposed to be a well-defined punitive strike against Syria, for using chemical weapons. It was not a mission, for bringing about a solution to the overall threat from ISIS. In many ways, Secretary Kerry seemed to have done foreign policy on the fly, under the influence of the continuing bad taste in the United States, with another project like the Iraq War in the Middle East.
That bad taste persists. Furthermore, given the overall interests at stake, there is no good reason why President Obama should deviate from his doctrine of assisting as much as possible, the states which are directly threatened by these kinds of situations, to help themselves.
Russia could not possibly humiliate the United States, in the Middle East, unless and until an existential threat to the state of Israel crops up, and and two conditions are present. (1) The United States does not quickly move in with Israel, to destroy the threat. (2) The threat originates from the Middle East region. The probability of that happening is infinitesimally small.
The matter of rerouting American aircraft to avoid Russian bombers is just an intelligent big power political play, to avoid a real clash with a credible foe, when the national interests at stake are minimal. There is nothing to be gained, from inadvertently engaging in an air war with Russia.
Of course, it makes for good opposition politics and for shoring up a lawmaker's hawkish credentials to see "humiliation" here. Russia itself knows better. That was why, Russia did not dare to come out and warn the United States not to attack its ally, Syria, when President Obama readied American forces to carry out those punitive strikes on Syria, for using chemical weapons.


Monday, February 23, 2015

Nigeria's Buhari: A Poem

The Smile of the Deadly Clown
The smile of the deadly clown, behind the mask.
The dark humor of a land of the swine.
The tears of history, and the dumpster of the politically dead.
The vacant mind of the unenlightened despot.
Buhari, from the primitive chants of Sharia.
And Nigeria lays shining in a sun that is about to die, a cruel death.
The people dance around, in their colorful tribal processions.
They are dead. They are the walking dead, before the raging seas of history drown them.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

On ISIS the USA Should Stay the Course

ISIS: What Must Be Done

Note From the Arab League's Web Page
I share this to highlight the point that the member states of the Arab League have the population and the resources, to be able to quickly raise a multinational force, to confront ISIS.
We should note that the sectarian divisions in the Arab League states, should be challenges for the countries themselves to overcome, in confronting an existential threat. Neither the United States, nor even the United Nations should be expected to have more vested interest in confronting ISIS, than the member states of the Arab League.
Fubara David-West.
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Any move on the part of the United States, to expand its military efforts against the so-called Islamic State, should be predicated on going back to the push by the Arab League that is contained in the following report. The Arab League's member states, should agree to provide the requisite troops and sizable proportions of their entire military forces, to the effort, before the United States extends its efforts. Meanwhile, President Obama and the United States should ensure, that the American strategy that defines what the United States is doing right now is not substantially changed. There should be no massive deployment of American ground forces into the fight against ISIS.---Fubara David-West.
CAIRO (AP) — The head of the Arab League urged its members Sunday to confront Islamic State extremists "militarily and politically," issuing an apparent call to arms as...
huffingtonpost.com