By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh According to the World Bank, Russia holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. Over the past years, Russia has expressed heightened interest in exploring and producing oil and gas in Africa. Emboldened African leaders and industry executives have accepted proposals, several agreements and whatever were signed with Russian companies, but little have been achieved in the sector. With the rapidly changing geopolitical conditions and economic fragmentation fraught with competition and rivarly, African leaders have to understand that Russia might not heavily invest in the oil […]

Abiy is running the country like his personal project, more like an absolute monarch. Watching his speeches at the Parliament is like watching a kindergarten teacher lecturing his/her 4- and 5-year-old students. The only thing missing are crayons and coloring books in front of the parliamentarians. Watching his speeches before the PP Executive Committee was even worse. Many of them listen attentively while taking notes on their writing pads. They look like Kim Jong-Un’s disciples. I stand to be corrected, but N. Korea and Ethiopia are the only two countries whose high-level officials, parliamentarians, and party leaders come with writing […]

Al Mariam’s Commentaries July 26, 2022 Even though Part VII of my commentary on Samantha Power’s “major foreign policy speech” of June 7, 2022 below stands on its own merits, I recommend first reading Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI to gain a comprehensive understanding of my analysis and arguments. The end of history, the beginning of history: A New Pax (Peace)/Pact Americana In his 1998 article, later parlayed into a book, “The End of History and the Last Man”, Francis Fukuyama argued the world had reached the “end of history.” In a Hegelian sense. Hegel’s conception of history postulated a dialectal […]

by Yale Climate Connections TEAM JULY 26, 2022 An Ethiopian mustard plant called carinata has been attracting attention, not for its culinary use, but because its seeds can be used to create a more climate-friendly jet fuel. “It has high oil content, high lipid content,” says Farhad Masum of Argonne National Laboratory. “You can refine that oil in a bio-refinery to make sustainable aviation fuel, which can replace conventional aviation fuel.” Masum says carinata fuel is a particularly promising biofuel — partly because of where and when carinata can be grown. “Carinata is a winter crop,” he says. “You can plant it […]