Mr. Zenawi Goes to College! (Huffington Post)

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Since Prof. Stiglitz is interested in having a "conversation", here are a few topics he should ask Zenawi to talk about. How is it that Ethiopia, under his "seasoned" leadership, managed to rank:

138/159 (most corrupt) countries on the Corruption Index for 2010.

17 among the most failed states (Somalia is No. 1) on the Failed States Index for 2010.

136/179 countries (most repressive) on the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom.

107/183 economies for ease of doing business (investment climate) by The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 2010.

37/53 (poorest governance quality) African countries in the 2010 Ibrahim Index of African Governance.

101/128 countries in 2010 on the Bertelsmann Political and Economic Transformation Index, and

141/153 (poorest environmental public health and ecosystem vitality) countries in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index....read more..

Columbia’s invitation to Zenawi sparks outrage (Columbia Spectator)

“I hope PrezBo [University President Lee Bollinger] gives him the kind of welcome he did Ahmadinejad,” Odu said in an email, referencing Bollinger’s harsh introduction to the Iranian president’s speech in 2007. “I’m not a fan of the president of Iran, but at least he’s not pandering to Western governments while systematically terrorizing, disenfranchising, and stunting the development of his own citizens.”..read more..

Cry the Beloved Country: Ethiopians Criticize Columbia for Hosting Meles (AID WATCH)

...I am very happy to feature both sides to the debate, just as I want to also provide an alternative viewpoint to the support of Meles by Professors Stiglitz and Sachs at Columbia. Unfortunately, this debate cannot happen within Ethiopia because Meles suppresses dissent, and even this very blog post is almost certainly blocked from anyone trying to access it from within Ethiopia...Read full text here

Open Letter to President Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University (The Huffington Post)

Petty and cruel dictators, Mr. President, have also infested the African continent and threaten the lives of African peoples on a daily basis. In Ethiopia, for nearly two decades, Mr. Zenawi has lorded over one of the cruelest dictatorships in the modern world. Let the facts speak for themselves:...Read more..

Oromsis' Open Letter to Columbia University (Oromsis)

As rightly stated, dubbed “the cradle of mankind” – Africa’s second most populous country, characterized by rich but complicated history, it suffices to say, Ethiopia is making strides in areas such as the economy and education, albeit overly exaggerated. However, it must be clear that under Meles Zenawi’s ever tightening grip, Ethiopia has jettisoned the path to democratic governance and the respect for human rights. With no free press to speak of and the once vibrant opposition effectively muzzled, Meles Zenawi has managed to set up a de facto one-party system in Ethiopia....read more...

EPRDF Conference: Reshuffling or Repositioning? (Oronsis)

So how about this talk about delivering “the country from dependence on food aid within five years”? The ruling party is an upright ghost of broken promises. From multiparty federal government structure to an admittedly “dominant party state”, the country have all but reverted back to the pre-1991 era. VOA’s Peter Heinlein writes, the next five years pledge “contrasts with the most recent five year period, when a protracted drought left one out of every six Ethiopians in need of food assistance, and the United States shipped in more than half-a-billion dollars worth of commodities in a single year.”..read more..