Here is the thing about these 2015 conversations that many appear to have refused to move on from.

They should be a teachable moment. Sadly, aren't asking the right asks. Too many people from my neck of the woods (SE/SS) keep insisting on narratives that won't stand scrutiny.

I'll speak for the Igbo side, we are letting ourselves down in what should be a race to advance our agenda within #Nigeria

Yes, it is undeniable that there was an element of ethnic chauvinism in the coalition that came together against GEJ, but to attribute his loss simply to that factor is to completely miss the lessons of 2015, and as a result, set yourself up for another failure.

I'll talk about two of these:

First, Benue. In 2015, Benue state voted for Buhari.

No one within the set of people who keep shouting about ethnic jingoism ever seems to ask themselves why.

There are/were two reasons: first, Gabriel Suswam's government was unbelievably bad.

As of January 2015, Benue owed workers almost a year in salaries, and he never got as much as a reprimand from Abuja.

Instead, Suswam was mollycoddled by the GEJ govt.

What You Should Know About The New Lagos-Ibadan Standard Railway, Also Called Buhari-Train

Thread...

On 7th March 2017, the Vice-President, @ProfOsinbajo, in a groundbreaking ceremony, unveiled the standard Lagos-Ibadan Rail Line on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Lagos-Ibadan line is the first part of a new 2,773km Lagos-Kano standard gauge line.

A quick reminder that the Track laying was completed on 28th March 2020, and delivery of rolling stock from CRRC Tangshan was completed in May 2020.

The Lagos-Ibadan rail line is a double-track standard gauge rail, the first of its kind in West Africa. The train covered the 156km journey between Ibadan and Lagos in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

After the official inauguration, travel time will be cut to two hours, according to a statement by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCEC), the project’s contractors.

GLOBAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION - A PRIMER

We have hopefully all seen this wonderful diagram from LLNL showing the Flow Diagram of the world’s Energy Consumption in a very useful form full of diagnostic power

So how did we get to here ?

And where are we going from here ?

1. The recent history of Global Energy Consumption

Back in the 1800s the primary use of energy was to generate heat by cutting down trees and vegetation and burning them as fuel - referred to here as “Traditional Biomass”

- this was a defining feature of our World 2.0

2. And then with the advent of the Industrial Revolution fossil fuels like Coal, Oil and Gas became increasingly important

- and they started to define many of the characteristics of our World 3.0

3. Wood-burning Biomass has remained as a significant source of Energy even though its proportion has declined

4. Coal reached as high as 50% of our Energy supply and has continued to grow in absolute terms even though its proportion has shrunk to around 25%

5. Oil took over 40% of the Energy market until the Oil Shock of 1973 started changing our attitudes about the efficiency of its consumption

6. And Gas has been steadily growing its share of the market

Legendary Lithuanian satire show Dviračio Žinios ("Bicycle News") features an improvised conversation between @MartinHelme and @GLandsbergis. I'll post English translations to this thread

(Part 1)

- Tere tere Martin Helme. And what did you tell to that Estonian Radio, that our elections were forged?
- But it was just like that. Lithuania elected too many liberals and women. It's not fair
- But if we forged our elections, our victory wouldn't be so small <...>

(Part 2)

- <...> and also our elections happened in October. You what, noticed only now?
- Well, we noticed instantly. And we were fast to react
- But it's January. 3 months passed
- That's what I'm saying, "we were fast to react"
<...>

(Part 3)

<...> By the way Martin, how is the financial situation during pandemic in Estonia now?
- I'm trying not to think about that
- But you're Estonian Minister of Finances
- That's exactly why I'm trying not to think about it. It's better to think about a "deep state" <...>

(Part 4)

- <...> that controls Lithuania now
- What deep state? Well we do have a few holes in our roads around Biržai but they're not that deep. And here we don't have anything deep, only some stuff on the surface, on the surface... Of course, asphalted.
<...>

Good question @allisonpearson! What did they do in China and Wuhan that has allowed them to get back to normal?

Well, they *didn't* try to infect their teenage children at university, like you said we should.

They didn't treat Covid like a lie, and *didn't* listen to people like you who said they were "pretending" that it was a lethal pandemic.

They didn't cancel lockdowns as people like you said *we* should.

They didn't tell people that you were more likely to kill your granny by not seeing her than by seeing her, like you did.

On nationalism

Is the Nazi holocaust & colonization of Europe an expression of a reactionary political strategy?

Bougois nationalism often consolidates power within one nationality - Germany stripped the Jewish nation of their right to life, without contradicting class intrests

Nazis stoked the racist bougois nationalism in Germany. Nationalism has historically been used to suppress the class contradiction below one of national opression.

Ex: (Parenti) Nazi propaganda described themselves as a classless nation, and the opressed jews as the enemy.

Ex: (Nokhem Shtif - "the pogroms in Ukrain") in Ukraine, during the Civil War of 1918-1919, the white army propagated the Jeudo-Bolshevik conspiracy, and called for the Ukrainian nation to fight the red army and the Jewish people - leading to brutal pogroms & a swollen white army

Ex: (J. Sakai - Settlers) in America, a privelaged, white settler nationality was produced and cultivated as a loyal garrison army, which could dominate the indigenous and African nationalities, at the benefit of the European bourgeois state.

Ex: (Ibrahim Kaypakkaya - "on the national question") in the 1970s, (oppressed) Kurdish and (oppressor) Turkish nationalism entailed the proletariat of each nation fighting for the benefit of their national bourgeoisie, instead of their liberation.

Pandemic Response Is Our Vietnam. https://t.co/xgLMwlRQNd from @aier

"Most scholars agree that America’s involvement in Vietnam was an unmitigated public policy disaster.

In 2020, a new standard for monumental government failure has been set:"

#coronamaatregelen #lockdown

"Our public policy response to the coronavirus, which has resulted in the establishment of a state-run religion of mandatory social distancing, a tyrannical public health police state to enforce it, and a never-ending “state of emergency.”

"Those who questioned the virtues of quarantines and lockdowns were vilified and censored from mainstream and social media as purveyors of misinformation or conspiracy theorists."

"Mission creep was also a major factor in America’s involvement in Vietnam, leading to the rapid expansion of troops on the ground and bombing on a massive scale."

"In the “war” against the coronavirus, “15 days to flatten the curve” is morphing into 15 months (at least) to fully eradicate the virus."

1] Hopefully, after this, I will be saying less and less stuff about @DMwonzora & the @MyMDC_T

In Africa, any serious politician has to be a charismatic orator.

Strategy & effective administration is actually anchored on that.

Sadly, Dougie ticks none of those boxes.

2] African politics is unique.

There are many brilliant politicians who failed to make a mark, simply because of their inability to command attention.

You need to be able to convince people to listen, if you have any chance at convincing them to believe in you & what you offer.

3] Of equal concern is the perceptions people have of a politician.

ZANUPF caused irreparable damage on Tsvangirai as a political brand, as State media "successfully" labelled him a stooge of Westen interests.

I've wondered if the MDC did enough, to shake this off early.

4] Another critical feature of African politics, is that parties are just as popular as their Leader(s), especially the inaugural one(s).

The party grows as the Leader becomes more popular.

Most times, the Leader fortunately or unfortunately becomes more popular than the party.

5] ZanuPF was just as popular as Mugabe

MDC-T was just as popular as Tsvangirai

MDC ALLIANCE is just as popular as Chamisa.

Whoever takes over usually struggles.

Funny enough, Dougie is attempting to bank on the popularity of man who actually politically died with his MDC-T.

Why should SJP’s recent shift in fake news attacks / propaganda to attack large corporates in SL should worry us? I explain my thoughts below after observed fake news that originated from the SJP camp that targeted SL’s largest apparel exporter, State Banks and listed telco - SLT

SJP is the latest avatar of UNP that built his political legacy around free markets, property rights, and pro corporate / capital market policies since independence, often paying a huge political price for its unwavering commitment to them - in 1956, 1970, and even in 2005

These principals we staunchly demonstrated all the way till 2014, when the party suddenly developed a penchant for populist policies in their desperation to oust the Rajapaksa administration. Perhaps, it was also frustration towards the corporate sector’s support for pro inv

Policies of Rajapaksa administration seen during the massive post war infrastructure investment wave. The combination of populism and the misguided zeal to teach a lesson to corporates ended up in the disastrous retrospective super gain tax of 2015 targeting the largest corporate

Suspension of the Port City project, which at the time was the largest committed FDI source and also a massive spending spree on state employee salaries as a vote buying exercise- and predictably, investments crashed , stock marked tanked , bud deficit in 2015 rose &rupee crashed

Opposition wants NRO from corruption cases: Illusion by PM Imran Khan.
Reality of Corruption cases.

Thread:
1-

Avenfield Apartment case:
Bail decision by IHC:
IHC says convictions handed in Avenfield verdict ‘may not be sustainable’.
IHC’s detailed ruling says accountability court did not state evidence regarding how Maryam assisted her father Nawaz Sharif in buying London flats- 2

NAB failed to prove corruption allegation and also refrained from challenging Sharifs’ acquittal under Section 9 of NAO-3

There has been no determination of the value of the Avenfield Apartments at the time when they were alleged to have been acquired,” reads the judgement, adding: “There is no mention of this aspect in the judgement. How NAB can make asset beyond means case then.” -4

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi LNG case bail decision.
The investigation of the LNG terminal case, in which former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former finance minister Miftah Ismail are implicated, is "a classic example of the violation of fundamental rights", Islamabad HC
-5

A super dieend quick de-reading of Naomi Klein's (?) book entitled Lo Nogo in n episodes. First things first. "It was twenty years ago tonight". We, me and us never read it. Why? Because there is a premise in there as we and I know it - knew it beforehand. No incorporation

"rules". Conditions rule. And one can change these not as rules but as structural dynamics so to say. A "no logo please!" is behind Klein's theories. Give us a general commodity without being commodity it says. Let's be clean it says. Anticorp is dead now. It's ever been dead.

It was dead from the beginning. When culture surrenders it's been declared the core of the conditions. Clearly Klein follows a dictum reproducing it. The dictum of a loss in the civic space - whatever this is. Is it where there is no war, no wage work? Is it freedom, leisure,

free time? Capitalism is in-corporated in the hype of No Logo, no logo/lo nogo tells "capitalism=corporation". Such a news. In fact No Logo descripes a wish to be without the evil of brands aka incorporation(s). But marketing comes late as it is only the surface of competition.

Simply 20 years after the lo nogo hype it becomes clearer that there is no no-things production. Klein's attack attacked trade but did not attack property or its "core": production and value. Selling images to the masses seems to be close to the "integrated spectacle" one

1/ We've discussed Persia-in-China, but what about China-in-Persia? Before the Mongols, known sources record few Chinese ppl in Iran. However, Chinese products left a distinct mark. The most famous (and imitated) was Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. #iranchina - @IranChinaGuy

2/ Chinese ceramics were an important part of a global trade network that linked China and the Middle East to the world economic system. Many of these objects were transported overland in a series of trade networks, today called the "Silk Road". In addition to land routes...

3/ ...maritime trade flourished. Middle Eastern, African, and Chinese merchants flowed back and forth between important ports along the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the coast of India, and the islands in the South China Sea. This has been called the "Maritime Silk Road".

3/ As early as the 9th and 10th centuries, ceramics were being exported in large quantities. Ibn Battuta comments that Chinese ceramics are “carried to India and to other climes so that it even reaches our country in the Maghreb. And it is the most marvelous of kinds of pottery.”

4/ The famous Muslim Chinese explorer Zheng He also documented the widespread appreciation of Chinese ceramics. Ma Huan, his traveling companion, mentions the extremely enthusiastic reception their ceramic goods received in Champa (modern Vietnam), India, Ceylon, and Mecca.

King Shark, One Of The Greatest Afrikan Rulers Who Fought European Invasion In Afrika.

Thread!!!

The Dahomey Kingdom — present-day Benin — During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Africa. The nation had one of Africa’s biggest armies at the time, including the powerful Dahomey Amazons. It also had extensive foreign trade with different

European nations. A robust economy, as well as a highly functioning political structure. Although the kingdom was so strong, the French colonized it in 1894. But they did not go down without a fight led by Dahomey’s last king, known as King Shark.

Behanzin Hossu Bowelle was born in 1844, in the capital of Dahomey, Abomey. He was the son of King Glele, who at that time was king of Dahomey. Behanzin became the 11th king of Dahomey when his father died. He soon came to be known as the King Shark.

A king is given a name reflecting his personal symbols, as per Dahomey’s custom. The dolphin, the egg and the coconut palm trees are representations.

THE HIDDEN AGENDAS OF KADUNA STATE GOVT, AND THE EVIL CONSPIRACY OF KASUPDA.

I took my Investigation to Kaduna State on the 2nd of Jan 2021. To unravel the truth behind the Kaduna sex party, and the demolished ASHER KINGS & QUEENS RESTAURANT. Alleged as venue.

Thread #EndSARS

From my findings, i discovered that, Gov @elrufai has continuously used KASUPDA. (Kaduna State Urban Planning And Development Agency) to target the properties of his political opponents in Kaduna state. He targets christian owned businesses. Especially the ones in southern Kaduna

Just like Asher Kings & Queens restaurant was demolished on flimsy excuse, KASUPDA has in the last one year demolished 4 flourishing hospitality businesses in Southern Kaduna alone. Under the leadership of DG, Isma'i Umaru Dikko.

In may 2020, Gov @elrufai used KASUPDA, to demolish a popular Pub, located at Command junction, in Southern Kaduna. GM CAR PARK AND RELAXATION CENTRE, on flimsy excuse. But after investigation, i discovered that the owner is Igbo (Emeka Ugwua) Christian, & friends to PDP members.

On Monday 20th July 2020, at about 5:44am, while guests were still asleep, Gov @elrufai sent in the Bulldozers of KASUPDA, into the popular GREEN APPLE HOTEL/NIGHT CLUB in Naraiyi High Cost Area of southern Kaduna.
As early as 5:30am, the hotel was sourounded by men of SARS.