By Almaz Assefa – Zere Sew
I am not a political scientist or policy expert in any form or shape. I am neither a journalist nor diplomat, but a simple observer of the current events. I try to rationalize the facts, reasonings, and arguments presented in what I read or hear since whatever I read & hear cannot always be taken as truth and factual.
Since sources for news & information have become countless, the world is barraged everyday with new media outlets presenting different kinds of actual & fake news & information for consumption. It needs keen observation to distinguish the truth from lies, the real from the fake, the rational from irrational, and believable from the unbelievable. When governments such as of my current country, USA, fall for that trap of fake & false information presented to them to formulate their external policy without rethinking & examining the accuracy of their sources & information, their policies formulated on that premise can become biased & disastrous to the relationship of the two nations. This blind trust on information coming from external & internal anti-Ethiopian forces has misled the current BIden administration of USA to believe that there is ethnic genocide in Tigray region of Ethiopia. The perpetrators of this lie are the remnants of the dead & buried for good TPLF Junta whose cheerleader is Ambassador Susan Rice & her cronies advising the current Secretary of State, Mr. Blink. There may also be someone in the White House We all Ethiopian Americans know the budding relationship of Ambassador Rice & the late head of the TPLF Junta, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. While Ethiopians were being brutalized & the country was divided on tribal basis, the superpowers of the world never rebuked the TPLF junta to refrain from human rights abuse & the bantunization to disintegrate the Ethiopian nation which is the symbol of black freedom & independence. But now when Ethiopia resurrects itself to assert its own power through economic development & political independence, all eyes converge on Ethiopia to trip her from its journey of progress by falsely accusing of nonexistent problem of genocide. Yes, Ethiopia has problems generated by internal & external enemies. However, it does not have any kind of genocide. As the current President of USA, Mr. Joe BIden, says, this is malarkey.
A foreign policy of a great nation such as USA should not rely on the personal relationship of its diplomatic personnel with the leadership of the foreign country, but on the reality of the situations & facts which support that reality. It is necessary to hear the political heartbeat of that nation & to assess the democratic process established on the ground. A helping hand should be extended to the governing body based on what have been accomplished towards betterment of the lives of people through economic development, quality of education, pursuit of justice, and establishment of peace in the nation. The advancement of the technology of communication among human beings is changing the flow of news & information from one corner of the world to another. The speed by which good & bad news & information is spread is unbelievably fast. Whatever happens in Ethiopians at moment can be seen & heard 8000 miles away in USA at the same time. This fast flow of news & information presents difficulties to sift through the available news & information to separate the factual & fake ones. The rush to utilize the presented information as facts without verifying the authenticity & truthfulness poses danger to the wellbeing of the nation in question. We witnessed & are witnessing the ugly consequences of unverified information around the world, unnecessary wars, conflicts, ongoing tribal bickering, killings of innocent human beings, & destabilization of governments. Though in old times USA promoted, engaged, supported, & participated in destabilizing governments which she thought of unfavorable & problem to fulfill its hegemonic plans, today it is exceedingly difficult to march on that path of unchecked old domineering foreign policy. Today’s generation of people around the world are more educated, & their knowledge of the world & the events around it is at the tip of their fingers. While in old times the availability of information was slow, the current leaders of countries such as Ethiopia are well versed in the current affairs aided by the availability of the modern technology to share information at the speed of light concerning their nations. This advancement of information sharing technologies works the same way for advanced & advancing countries. The spread of misinformation can immediately be countered & contested.
The internal & external anti-Ethiopian forces do not have the monopoly of spreading misinformation. For USA government to be preferential to the lies of anti-Ethiopian forces specially to the scumbag remnants of the blood-thirsty, country-dividing, tribal animosity-promoting, self-enriching, humanity-lacking TPLF junta indicates the unfairness of USA towards Ethiopia.
How does a nation founded on promoting freedom & independence from the British colonists support the remnants of a dictatorial regime rather than siding with a young government which is struggling to bring peace, order, & democracy in Ethiopia? As a multi tribal nation, Ethiopia has existed for thousands of years without allowing or succumbing to foreign invaders & colonists because the tribes making up Ethiopia believed & are believing in their indomitable unity.
Yes, there always mushroom some internal selfish, greedy, power seeking, inhumane misfits in any society to antagonize & challenge the stability of a nation. There are also external enemies who attempt to keep down Ethiopia in poverty by hindering its economic progress utilizing its natural resources in cohort with homegrown anti-Ethiopians. Egypt’s ant-Ethiopian long-standing opposition to block Ethiopia from using its own Abay river on its own land to generate electric power & as result to develop its economy for the betterment of its 110 million people has been aided by sellouts & traitors with back-warded thinking of tribalism. USA knows well this. But she turned a deaf ear to Ethiopia by listening to Ambassador Susan Rice & her anti-Ethiopian posse paid with the stolen money from the Ethiopian people by the never biting barking dogs of the non-existent TPLF junta. One of the surviving members of the disgraced TPLF junta with the megaphone is Dr. Tewodros ANDOHM, the current Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO). This man was elected as representative of Ethiopia to the position he holds now. As every educated person in Ethiopia, Dr. Tewodros ANDOHM & all other narrow-minded tribalistic politicians & sellouts to enemy foreign forces could get educated on the shoulders of all Ethiopians not only their tribes. Rather paying back their dues to those poor Ethiopians for making them who they are as intellectuals and elites, these educated derelicts became the source of misery to the nation of 110 million Ethiopians. How couldn’t USA see this?
As an Ethiopian American, I am disappointed with the current administration for trying to create something which does not exist in Ethiopia. Trying to label the word “genocide” to a nation of more than 80 tribes & hundred languages & dialects show the political prostitution of some of the foreign policy advisors of the Biden Administration. It is obvious that politics is a streetwalker and politicians are its enablers. If politicians are lobbied & paid money to influence a policy, they do not care about truth, facts, fictions, or lies. The lies presented to the administration & elected officials are taken as truth & facts to formulate the current anti-Ethiopian policy falsely accusing Ethiopia with genocide.
Ethiopia might be a poor nation trying to develop its economy, infrastructure, and establish a system of government of the people by the people for the people but it cannot be bullied by anyone. Despite all the hardships, the tenacity of ETHIOPIANS to uphold their freedom & independence has kept the nation for the last three thousand years and will keep for the next three thousand years.
My layman advice to the leaders & policy makers of my new country is that do not antagonize Ethiopians & the Ethiopian nation because the long history of survival of this historic & ancient nation is not a fiction. It is reality paid with blood & flesh. As the past generations of Ethiopians sacrificed themselves for the conscience & integrity of their beloved nation, the current & future generations of this currently poor but historic & majestic nation, the pride of all black people, will follow the footsteps of their brave & heroic ancestors.
It is important that all Ethiopian & Ethiopian origin Americans need to be aware of the foreign policies of USA towards Ethiopia at any time. We have responsibility to be the voice for our birth nation besides the diplomatic body. Our indifference & apathy to engage in local politics wherever we live in this great nation of USA have kept Ethiopians from being integral part of the community with power. Our votes as citizens of the USA are the unique power which we could not realize its value.
Let me share the following quote from His Majesty Haile SELASSIE to sum up my comment: “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”