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Africa Needs a New Foreign Policy of Engagement
From American Ambassadors Live! The U.S. needs to develop a new foreign policy of engagement with Africa, before China annexes this rich continent as part of its strategic plan to dominate the global economy. I first visited the Horn of Africa in...
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Al-Qaeda Has Not Been Decimated
In my May 2012 article, “The Republic of Yemen: Al-Qaeda’s backyard” I highlighted concerns about al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and the instability that these Islamists could create in the region. Osama bin Laden had family ties to the...
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Al-Shabaab Continues to be a Threat
The Federal Republic of Somalia was ruled by the brutal dictator Siad Barre until 1991, when a coalition of warlords deposed him. Shortly thereafter the U.S. embassy in the capital Mogadishu was shuttered, leaving a diplomatic void for over twenty-two...
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Education in Somalia Essential to Promoting Peace
The Washington Times Nearly taken for granted by the West, education is a noble struggle in Somalia, requiring generous contributions from citizens and foreign donors to help ensure a future of stability and prosperity for Somali children. Devastated...
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Mali’s Elected President Must Unite the Country
Mali’s second-round presidential election runoff on August 11 ended without major incident. The ministry for territorial administration on Monday reported that the voter turnout was 46 percent, slightly less than voter participation in the first-round....
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Obama to Assad: Weapons Cache Must be Verifiable, or There Will be Consequences
On Friday President Barrack Obama told Kuwait’s Emir Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah that any diplomatic solution in Syria depended on President Bashar al-Assad listing all of the chemical weapons in his arsenal, and signing on to the Chemical Weapons...
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Obama’s Line in the Sand May Prove to be a Quagmire
President Barrack Obama in making his case for a military strike against Syria stated that Bashar al-Assad had used deadly nerve agents against his people. Politicos around the world however are not convinced that the U.S. and UN inspectors have...
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Syria’s civil war is deja vu of regime change in Libya
The Arab Spring that prompted the ouster of authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya also led to the rise of Islamists who are bent on creating Islamic states that adhere to Shariah law — and that fate could await Syria after dictator Bashar...
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The Increase of Islamist Attacks is Alarming
We are living in the most crucial time in modern history since the Cold War. Today’s enemy is not a standing army of a sovereign nation. It is a theological movement with a mission to destroy Western civilization. As the Cold War ended in the 1980s,...
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The Republic of Mali: Under Siege
In the 1950′s, the independence movement became endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, beginning with Ghana in 1957. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, a socialist, became Ghana’s first president. Nkrumah founded the Pan-African movement with the goal of liberating and...
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The Republic of Yemen: Al-Qaeda’s Backyard
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Horn of Africa, East Africa and Sahel region The Republic of Yemen is divided into two principal Islamic religious factions, the Shia Zaydi sect in the north, and Sunni Shafi sect in the south. Before...
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Timbuktu ‘Festival of the Desert’ May be Catalyst for Peace
Last year I met Malian musician Mamadou Diabate, the 2009 Grammy Award winner of the “Best Traditional World Music” for his album ‘Douga Mansa’. Mamadou had also composed the song ‘Bogna’ meaning “Respect is the healing medicine of peace. Peace is the...