Poet of the Week from Somalia: K'naan

So most of you know K'naan from the ubiquitous World Cup anthem 'Wavin' Flag' which is a great song on a phenomenal album (see video below).

K'naan was raised in Mogadishu, Somalia. He's the nephew of the well-known Somali singer Magool, the "Mother of Artistry."

FUUO is featuring the lyrics from his song entitled 'Somalia' as its Poem of the Week.  While much of the lyrics are chocked full of profanity K'naan deftly captures what it was to live in Somalia in the chorus:

"So what you know bout the pirates terrorize the ocean.
To never know a simple day without a big commotion.
It can’t be healthy just to live with a such steep emotion.
And when I try and sleep, I see coffins closin’. "

"To never know a simple day without a big commotion" is a powerful sentiment when the 'big commotions' are civil war and often indiscriminate killing and you're an 11 year old kid. 

 Somalia

Uh,
Yeah,
Somalia

Yeah,
I spit it for my block,
It’s an ode, I admit it.
Here the city code is lock and load
Any minute is rock and roll
And you rock and roll,
And feel your soul leavin’.
It’s just the wrong dance
That'll leave you not breathin’.
I’m not particularly proud
Of this predicament but,
I’m born and bred
In this tenement, I'm sentimental, What?!
Plus it’s only right to represent my hood
And what not.
So I’m about to do it in the music; in the movies.
Cut to the chase pan across to the face
I'm right there.
Freeze frame on the street name
Oops wait a minute,
This is where the streets have no name
And the drain of sewage.
You can see it in this boy how the hate is brewin’
Cause when his tummy tucks in
Fuck the pain is fluid.
So what difference does it make,
Entertaining threw it.
Some get high mixing coke and gun powder, sniffin’.
She got a gun but could have been a model or physician.

So what you know bout the pirates terrorize the ocean.
To never know a simple day without a big commotion.
It can’t be healthy just to live with a such steep emotion.
And when I try and sleep, I see coffins closin’. (Repeat)

Yeah,
Yeah,
We used to take barb wire
Mold them around discarded bike tires.
Roll em down the hill in foot blazin’.
Now that was our version of mountain bike racing
Daammn!
Do you see why it’s amazing,
When someone comes out of such a dire situation
And learns the English language,
Just to share his observation!
Probably get a Grammy without a grammar education.
So fuck you school and fuck you immigration!
And all of you who thought I wouldn’t amount to constipation.
And now I’m here without the slightest fear and preservation,
They love me in the slums and in the native reservations.
The world is a ghetto with ministerin’ deprivation.
My mommy didn’t raise no fool did she hooyo?
I promise I would get it and remain strictly loyal.
Cause when they get it then they let it all switch and spoil.
But I just illuminated it like kitchen foil.
A lot of main stream niggas is yappin’ about yappin’
A lot of underground niggas is rappin’ about rappin’.
I just wanna tell you what’s really crackalackan
Before the tears came down this is what happened.

So what you know bout the pirates terrorize the ocean.
To never know a simple day without a big commotion.
It can’t be healthy just to live with a such steep emotion.
And when I try and sleep, I see coffins closin’.

http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/music/rapping-with-knaan/
Some of my favorite poetry books:

FUUO Truthism- Backpacks and Khakis

#1 If you are wearing a backpack (especially with both straps over your shoulders) while in your khaki uniform (or SDB's or whites), I will smirk and quietly guffaw to myself.  Please note: this is an involuntary bodily response when I encounter situations, people or things that are silly and lacking in credibility...and which remind me of a 7 year old walking to school.

Poet of the Week from Madagascar: Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo

Poet of the Week from Madagascar: Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo

As someone who has always been drawn to the French Romantic poets, Rabearivelo struck a chord with me.  As African poets, go he's an obscure despite laying claim to the unofficial title as "Africa's first modern poet."
   He died by suicide, in 1937 having lived his entire life on what was then the French pastoral colony of Madagascar (he was prohibited by the authorities from leaving the island). 

He kind of looks like Tiger Woods, n'est-ce pas?













9


The secret hives are aligned
near the lianas of heaven,
among the luminous nests.


Gather nectar there, bees of my thoughts,
little bees winged with sound
within the pregnant cloud of silence;
laden yourself with resin
perfumed with stars and wind:
we will seal all the gaps
communicating with the tumult of life.


Laden yourself also with stellar pollen
for the prairies of the earth;
and tomorrow, when there will be wreathed
the wild roses of my poems,
we will have celestial rose hips
and sidereal seeds.


Pomegranate, lines 9-13

Its taste will be sweeter,
because it was pregnant with desire
And with fearful love and scented blossoms -
Pregnant by the love sun.

Other links of Rabearivelo:

http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/africana/rabieri.htm
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A48767
http://creativequotations.com/one/1358.htm

FUUO Past Poets of the Week:
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/05/african-poets-of-week-compilation.html

Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base

This article literally makes my stomach turn.  Women and babies raped.  Absolutely evil.  The UN Peacekeeping Mission needs better forces/training. 

Where is the African Union on this? 

With the Marines leaving Iraq (and Afghanistan eventually), can we tie their future deployments into training the African and Regional Standby forces/brigades to better combat these soul-less rebels? 

Will the African Union engage and better organize these standby forces?

Will the African Unon call for a timely investigation?  It's been three weeks already!

And I won't even start on the effectiveness of the United Nations as an organization.  You would think they would be shamed into action by such atrocities.  Granted I recognize the difficulties presented to the out-matched UN forces there in Africa, HOWEVER, perhaps they need a better public relations director (Martin Nesirky).  That person should be CALLING GLOBAL ATTENTION to this and seeking a solution. 


Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base



Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a UN peacekeepers' base in an eastern Congo mining district, an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor said.

Will F. Cragin of the International Medical Corps said Monday that aid and UN workers knew rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages in eastern Congo the day after the attack began on July 30.

More than three weeks later, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo has issued no statement about the atrocities and said Monday it still is investigating.

More than three weeks later, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo has issued no statement about the atrocities and said Monday it still is investigating.

Cragin told The Associated Press by telephone that his organization was only able to get into the town, which he said is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from a UN military camp, after rebels ended their brutal spree of raping and looting and withdrew of their own accord on Aug. 4.

At UN headquarters in New York, spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday that a UN Joint Human Rights team verified allegations of the rape of at least 154 women by combatants from the Rwandan rebel FDLR group and Congolese Mai-Mai rebels in the village of Bunangiri. He said the victims are receiving medical and psycho-social care.

Nesirky said the UN peacekeeping mission has a military company operating base in Kibua, some 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) east of the village, but he said FDLR attackers blocked the road and prevented villagers from reaching the nearest communication point.

Civil society leader Charles Masudi Kisa said there were only about 25 peacekeepers and that they did what they could against some 200 to 400 rebels who occupied the town of about 2,200 people and five nearby villages.

"When the peacekeepers approached a village, the rebels would run into the forest, but then the Blue Helmets had to move on to another area, and the rebels would just return," Masudi said.

There was no fighting and no deaths, Cragin said, just "lots of pillaging and the systematic raping of women."

Four young boys also were raped, said Dr. Kasimbo Charles Kacha, the district medical chief. Masudi said they were babies aged one month, six months, a year and 18 months.

"Many women said they were raped in their homes in front of their children and husbands, and many said they were raped repeatedly by three to six men," Cragin said. Others were dragged into the nearby forest.

International and local health workers have treated 179 women but the number raped could be much higher as terrified civilians still are hiding, he said.

"We keep going back and identifying more and more cases," he said. "Many of the women are returning from the forest naked, with no clothes."

He said that by the time they got help it was too late to administer medication against AIDS and contraception to all but three of the survivors.

Spokeswoman Stefania Trassari said her UN Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid was monitoring the situation but that access for humanitarian workers remains "very limited due to insecurity."

Luvungi is a farming center on the main road between Goma, the eastern provincial capital, and the major mining town of Walikale.

Article of the Week: Single Region Currency?

        A thoughtful editorial that addresses the dangers of adopting a single currency (and especially outsourcing consulting to the European Central Bank) before a political union (or federation) is achieved. 

       Of course if Gadaffi has his way a United States of Africa would be forming in the near future (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Africa) but let's not hold our breath.
       Ideally, the AU needs to better harness the potential power of the RECs (the 8 regional economic communities) and improve their effectiveness FIRST.  Their disparate levels of power and effectiveness handcuff Africa on an international/global level. 





Kampala — On July 1, 127 million people of East Africa (EA), a block of five nation states with combined purchasing power of $150b became a single market.

In principle a trained chef in Kampala can get a job in a restaurant in Bujumbura, Quality supermarket can start a branch in Arusha or JESA dairy farm can sell its yoghurt in Uchumi in Nairobi.

There will be no border taxes on goods and services or restrictions on movements of labour, capital within the member countries. It is sunrise for the EA consumers, entrepreneurs and service providers. Deepening further the process of integration, plans are in high gear for EA to have a common currency by 2012.

The key question is; can a single currency succeed before a political union in EA? In this piece I explore some of the potential challenges of sovereign states under a common currency.

First, there has not been a smooth implementation of a currency union without a successful political union in human history. The challenge of having fives states with one central bank, single monetary policy without a common treasury can be daunting.

The modern model of a common currency, the Euro-zone is now in disarray because of this structural flaw in design i.e, a common central bank, the common currency (the Euro) but each of the 16 Euro-zone member countries has its own treasury and the Euro-zone is under threat of disintegration.

The European Union countries had similar ambitions like the EAC, but the political union agenda has dragged on and it increasingly gets unlikely that there will ever be a united states of Europe. Will the EAC follow suit if it adopts similar flawed structural design of the integration process? Ironically, the EAC's monetary affairs committee has out sourced the services of the European Central Bank to guide the process of attaining a single currency.

Normally, a government of a sovereign state has two policy instruments for steering its economy to create jobs for its citizens. They keep prices of goods and services stable (control inflation), keep its exports competitive, sustain long run individual and national income growth (GDP) per capita growth and GDP) and maintain macroeconomic stability.

Typically, a central bank manages monetary policy via controlling quantity of money in the economy, interest rates, maintaining prices of goods, services and exchange rate stable. Thus, monetary policy decisions are largely technical and not political, and central banks are supposed to be independent.

When nations join in a monetary union before a political union, it means that a typical member state will have no decision power over the key elements of monetary policy alone. A nation would not be able to control money supply and interest rates to stabilise prices of goods and services and control exchange rate for export competitiveness.

Usually, political and development needs will determine the national budget revenue sources and expenditure priorities.

This is where the problem begins. The European experience reveals that when countries manage their national budgets with different politically guided fiscal policy priorities under a single regional monetary policy, there is bound to be a mismatch. So a common treasury is an essential component for successful integration.

Second, with labour productivity differing significantly in the EAC region with Kenya at the top, more unemployed people, language barriers, movement of workers in the region will be less than perfect.

This, with standardised fiscal and monetary policy discipline, will hurt the weaker members of EAC. For instance, focusing on fiscal policy through budget targets could curtail individual government development projects, stifle employment creation, and reduce tax receipts and exports competitiveness.

This could lead to overall downward spiral in demand of goods and services. Therefore, a single market and currency union are only small steps that can lead forward or stall the integration process. The EAC needs to move a political federation rapidly.

Past Articles of the Week:

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/08/article-of-week-barrons-africa-final.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/07/article-of-week-politically-incorrect.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/07/cno-dishes-on-fishor-fish-is-new.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/06/vp-bidens-africa-trip.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/06/china-in-africa.html
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/04/ethiopia-chinese-fund-to-embark-on.html

Website of the Week - AL JAZEERA

In honor of Ramadan, as well as the Maghreb countries on the continent, my website of the week is:

 http://english.aljazeera.net/

This is actually a good website on which to read the news as it gives you a decidedly non-western perspective on current events.  And I think a lot of the problems we face and have faced as a nation stem from a lack of global perspective and knowledge. 

"Kullu am wa antum bi-khair" (May you be well throughout the year)

The Meaning of Ramadan

        Ramadan is celebrated during the 9th month of the year by over one billion Muslims throughout the world. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control.

       The third "pillar" or religious obligation of Islam, fasting has many special benefits. Among these, the most important is that it is a means of learning self-control.

          It was during Ramadan that the Koran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. According to legend, he was sitting alone in the wilderness when suddenly the angel Gabriel came to him with a golden tablet in his hands. The angel told Muhammad to read what was written on the tablet. What was on this golden tablet is said to be the essence of the Koran, just as the Tablets of the Law that Moses received on Mt. Sinai were the basis of the bible's Old Testament.

Diplomats Daily Quotable- N

 Notes:  Diplomat's write Notes, because they wouldn't have the nerve to tell the same things to each other's face."  -Will Rogers 1949

Nuance:  "Truth and wisdom lie in nuances."         -Ernest Renan, french philosopher and write (author of What is a Nation)

Negotiability:  "What's mine is mine, what's yours is negotiable."        -Attitude attributed to Soviet negotiators. 

PGON Truth-ism #2 Stars and railroad tracks

There are more stars than railroad tracks in the PGON (Pentagon).

i.e.   There are more Admirals and Generals than LT's 'working' here in the PGON.

Article of the Week-Barron's Africa the Final Frontier

This is a HUGE article for Africa but I say that with MAJOR reservations.  I begin by saying before you invest a dollar there that you first read "Dead Aid" by Dambisa Moyo.  In her book she highlights the GROSS misuse of aid in Africa (almost an across the board misuse by the countries there on the continent) which leads me to think that if they can't manage "free money" why should I trust them with my money as an investment?!  Of course this question easily serves as a lead-in for one of the points of her book which is that it's easy for corrupt regimes to misue aid because there's so little oversight or repercussions, but you can only ripoff an investor once (hopefully).
   A couple of specific issues I had with the article:

1.  "The image of lawlessness, corruption, unstable governments, an inadequate infrastructure, uneducated or untrained people and an unwelcoming government attitude toward business serve as major deterrents.  That depiction is increasely mistaken" 

This is true for a select few countries (just look where our major defense contractors are investing), but by and large this still holds true.

2.  "People... are amazed to learn [that Africa] has transformed itself into one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, where banks haven't needed bailing out, no large companies have folded, with no accounting scandals and where the biggest problem businessman have is getting capital to finance growth."

Hahahahahah for so many of those naive 'jingoist' statements. 

If you don't have reliable stable banks (as we know them here) to begin with-of course they don't need bailing out. 

If you don't have large companies to begin with-of course they can't fold.

There may not have been any accounting scandals (an assertion I find hard to believe)- just civil wars and political scandals and coups.

3.  The article trumpets Nigeria as the next Brazil, which it has the 'opportunity' to become to be sure, HOWEVER there is still plenty of corruption to overcome before that happens.

4.  The author's assertion that China is "helping to raise income levels on the continent" is an very oversimplified view of China's involvement in Africa!  Then the author continues to laud China's efforts at building infrastructure on the continent which is well and good, but completely ignores the detrimental effects of building infrastructure without also building the capacity to sustain and maintain that infrastructure!  (See Howard French's The Next Empire from the May issue of The Atlantic Monthly for more on China in Africa)

5.  "The consumer growth potential is huge...While many are very poor, incomes generally are rising, thanks to globalization and China's hefty appetite from commodities."

Are you serious?!  'Very poor' is a gross understatement and is also very lazy!  Please tell us Vito 'how poor' they are because most Americans can't even begin to fathom just how poor they are. 

Furthermore, what does 'generally are rising' mean?!  More sloppy journalism!  How long have they been rising?  In what countries or regions? From what $365 a year to $367?  Give us a scale to work with! 

Finally, it would be more accurate to say 'thanks to China's pillaging of their natural resources.'

To get a sense on China's involvement in Africa, go to Professor Brautigam's thoughtful blog:
http://www.chinaafricarealstory.com/


    Now none  of this is to say that there isn't infinite potential for Africa, but our financial investment there needs to be done thoughtfully and in a manner that is globally responsible.
     Most of these countries are in their infancy and have been taken advantage of for far too long.  The people of Africa deserve to engaged in the process and not merely looked at as pawns in a game of corporate investment chess!

PGON-ism of the week: "Across the River"

Get more than two O-6s (or three O-5s, or one O-4, or four obnoxious O-3s) in a conference room, office, starbucks, subway, bathroom, sauna, or weight room (all things which the PGON has) and you are sure to hear the phrase "across the river".

I was a note-taker for a conference last week and I must have heard this phrase hundreds of times. 

The 'river' in this case is the mighty Potomac which is all that separates (physically at least) DOD (Department of Defense) from the rest of the government.  Sometimes this refers to the State Department (usually though they are "Foggy Bottom") but more often than not this refers to Congress or the Executive Branch, pour example:

"Until we get buy-in (future PGON-ism) across the river, we are just spinning our wheels.  We need to start leveraging (future PGON-ism) our OLA contacts"

translation:

"Until Congress allocates money for this, we are wasting our time.  We need to start prank-calling some of those OLA Lieutenants (we'd have lunch with them but Capitol Hill trips requires whites which we try to avoid at all costs)."

Again, as with all PGON-isms, the beauty is in the vagueness of the term.  The first sentence of the above quote could be referring to state department which is great if you aren't really sure what is needed to get something done.

Bonus question:  The canal below is NOT the potomac, what was the original vision (and whose vision was it) for this canal?

The best part of waking up...."Loving your enemies doesn't mean killing them"

NOTE:  For those who don't know,  every Monday morning the Pentagon allows only the biggest idiots best and brightest dissenters to post up on the grassy area by the Metro entrance escalators and display their signs. 

PENTAGON PROTESTER OF THE WEEK!

Okay a new weekly entry (hopefully) each Monday: "THE BEST PART OF WAKING UP"  where I will highlight one protester sign. 

Mondays mornings are usually the pits...
But no matter how dire the case of Mondays I may have, I always get a smile as I walk off the escalator towards security because of these intrepid 'protesters':

(HERE IS WHERE I WOULD PUT A SNAPSHOT OF THEM IF WE WERE ALLOWED TO TAKE PICTURES IN OR AROUND THE PENTAGON)

Every Monday (they seem to fade off sharply after Monday) there are about 5 or 6 people with handpainted signs just staring at the cattle herd of us headed to work.  I wonder if they think that some LCDR or CAPT is going to see their signs and suddenly, single-handedly decide to "End the War" and "Bring our Troops Home!"...yup, I am sure that LCDR will walk write over the CNO's office and fix everything!

But this week's entry:  "Loving your enemies doesn't mean killing them" gave me a good chuckle for several reasons.  Perhaps, they got mixed up and didn't realize that the military's rules aren't necessarily based on biblical precepts.  Furthermore, just who is their audience here, am I supposed to see that sign and have a 'doh' moment? 

Oh, I totally forgot that I was supposed to hug and cuddle with my enemies NOT kill them (since that's what we are definitely doing).

And of course this leads me to the next logical question, just what does 'love your enemies mean'?

Thoughts anyone?

Diplomats Daily Quotable- O

Opportunities:  "He who seizes the right moment is the right man."
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Order, vulnerability of establish: "Revolutionaries almost always start from a position of inferior strength.  They prevail because the established order is unable to grasp its own vulnerability." 
Henry Kissinger, 1994.

Pentagon-ISM of the week- 'Reaching out'

 Pentagon-ISM of the week- 'Reaching out'

Ah yes, 'reaching out', also see: 'reach out' or reached out'. 

If you work in the PGON you WILL hear this EVERY day--without FAIL.  Maybe I am just oblivious but I never heard this term until coming to work here.  Or maybe people used it so infrequently or 'occasionally' that I never noticed it.  People DON'T use it occassionally here, that is for sure.
    If I didn't know any better I would think the Pentagon is this cuddly, homely, 5-sided center of out-stretched arms cooperating at every chance.  But of course this is not the case.

Example of use:
"Rick, I need you to reach out to State and see if we can start working a 'way-ahead' (see future Pentagonism OTW) for Chelsea's wedding location."

    Close your eyes. Can you imagine Rick hearing the statement above and slowly turning to the northeast in his cubicle and stretching his arms towards Foggy Bottom, all the while chanting 'Algeria, Algeria, Algeria.'

In this case you can see the way in which the vague nature of the term serves a purpose of masking the actual nature of the tasking.  The reason for this is because often enough, people aren't sure what outcome is actually desired.   And unlike the word 'contact' or 'call' or 'get in touch with', 'reach out' carries with it the presupposition of cooperation...which is pretty funny because that is usually the biggest hurdle when working with other agencies.
    But as always, this PentagonismOTW is a great tool in a junior officer's arsenal because 'reaching out' can mean anything:

"Well sir, I reached out to State last week but didn't get any 'traction' (see future Pentagonism OTW)."

In this case, I forgot to call my counterpart at the State Department and instead literally waved toward Foggy Bottom on the Yellow Line headed northward, but they didn't wave back

So, next time you are home you can mess with your Dad and ask him to 'reach out' to your grandmother regarding who will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year.

FUUO's Pentagonisms:

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/11/pgon-ism-of-week-circle-wagons.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/12/pentagon-ism-of-week-bandwidth.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/10/pgon-ism-of-week-missionary-work.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/09/pgonism-of-week-bluf.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/08/pgon-ism-of-week-across-river.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/07/pentagon-ism-of-week-reaching-out.html

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/07/pentagon-ism-of-week.html

http://famousdc.com/2010/09/03/for-unofficial-use-only/

  

Excited for this event next week: China's Engagement with Africa

This should be a great event and I am excited I get to attend this!  One of the myriad reasons I love my job...yup, I said it.  I work in the PGON and I said I love my job!  One of the speakers at the event Deborah Brautigam has a great blog whose link is on the sidebar of my blog. 

Poet of the Week from Morocco: Ali Squali Houssaini

Poet of the Week from Morocco: Ali Squali Houssaini


Written by Ali Squali Houssaini in 1970 (although a version of it was around even while Morocco was still a french protectorate up until 1956)

Hymne Cherifien (Hymn of the Sharif)

Fountain of Freedom,
Rising Place of the Light.
Forum of Independence and its protector.
Long live as the Forum of Independence and as its protector.
Long live among homelands,
As their emblem
Filling all hearts.
With memory for all languages,
With the spirit,
With the body,
Give to your son
Who answered your call,
With my mouth and with my blood.
Your love was stirred up as light and fire.
Let’s go brothers!
Running for the summit!
Make the world witness,
That we here live
With an emblem of:
God, homeland and king.


Past Poets of the Week:
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/05/african-poets-of-week-compilation.html

Some of my favorite poetry books: