A rant against iPhone 4s, the world's most Africa-unfriendly mobile

(On my improvised workbench with tools to chop off a standard SIM carddown to the size 12x16mm of a micro SIM card to fit into an iPhone 4s:a razor blade, a tape measure, cissors, etc.)***I just read a rave review of the iPhone 4s written by Joshua Topolskyand published on The Verge back in December 2011--some16 months afterthe release of one of the famed Apple's flagship series.(mobile.theverge.com/apple/2011/10/12/2484524/iphone-4s-review)The...

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US Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson to House Armed Services Committee: M23’s military prowess provided by Rwandan government and Ugandan individuals

(PHOTO: Assistant Secretary Johnnie shaking hands after finishing atestimony to Congress on Tuesday, May 25, 2010, in Room 2072 of theRayburn House Office Building, in Washington, DC)***Tuesday, May 25, 2010, Room 2072 of the Rabyburn House OfficeBuilding, Washington DC[Below is the full opening statement of the testimony delivered to theHouse Armed Services Committee on December 19 by Assistant Secretaryfor African Affairs Johnnie Carson.Also, ...

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Change of M23 Tactics: Snipers at Goma, residents say

(Congolese National Police officers on their way to Goma after M23withdrawal, November 30, 2012)***Goma's police second-in-command, Major Bertin Chirumana, was gunneddown in the night of last Friday to Saturday (14 to 15 December).Major Bertin Chirumana was an element of GEMI, the contingent of theNational Congolese Police newly deployed in Goma after the withdrawalof M23 from the provincial capital of North Kivu.City authorities are treating the...

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Kabila's warlike State of the Nation Address: "War of aggression is being waged by Rwanda" & "Any new aggression attempt will be suicidal" to culprits

Photo of a TV screen during Joseph Kabila's State of the NationAddress, Kinshasa, Saturday, December 15, 2012; picture taken at 10:53HRS Kinshasa Time (GMT +1)***DRC President Joseph Kabila delivered this mid-morning a 30-minuteuncharacteristically warlike State of the Nation Address to bothhouses of Parliament meeting in congress in the presence of thediplomatic corps accredited to Kinshasa and the constituted bodies ofthe Democratic Republic of...

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The long-drawn-out seppuku of Susan Rice

A seppuku was a clean and quick lethal affair.But in the case of Dr. Susan Rice, it seems to be a long-drawn-outmessy and botched thing.In her opinion piece on the Washington Post about the Rice debacle,Jennifer Rubin assumes that Susan Rice, a "political flunky to theend," "dutifully limped away, well, after crawling out from under thebus" where President Barack Obama had allegedly thrown her.Rubin couldn't have been more wrong--though she rightly...

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Susan Rice's auspicious sappuku: Kudos to Sen. John McCain for stopping THE enemy of Congo

Right now, I don't give a damn about whatever partisan motives Sen.John McCain might have harbored in going after Ambassador Susan Rice.I'm just elated that the intense pressure Sen. McCain brought to bearon the case of this unbecoming diplomat resulted in her abandoning herquest to replace Secretary Hillary Clinton as the US top diplomat.I particularly savored the Washington Post headline that hit me like asucker punch: "Rice withdraws as candidate...

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Outrage of the Year: Susan Rice is an enabler of Kagame and M23 (New York Times)

(Dr. Susan Rice, US UN Ambassador)***This will no doubt go down as the outrage of the year: the role of anenabler of Kagame and M23 that Susan Rice has been playing all alongat the United Nations.In a devastating article written by Helene Cooper titled "U.N.Ambassador Questioned on U.S. Role in Congo Violence" and published byThe New York Times today, it is revealed that"Mr. Kagame's government was [Rice's] client when she worked atIntellibridge,...

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Donnybrook at Kampala

(M23 delegation arriving at Speke Resort & Conference Centre inKampala, Uganda, Sunday, December 9, 2012)***A donnybrook broke out at the start of the talks between the DRC andthe Rwandan proxy outfit of M23 on Sunday, December 9.In contention was the rant delivered to the media by FrançoisRucogoza, M23 secretary general, to the effect that there's "badgovernance" in the DRC and that the country lacks "visionaryleadership."Rucogoza also accused...

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Dark Zero Thirty: "No waterboarding, no Bin Laden" (Frank Bruni)

(PHOTO: Jessica Chastain as CIA analyst Maya in "Dark Zero Thirty")***Reading the reviews of the movie "Zero Dark Thirty"--the militaryequivalent for half past midnight--I suddenly remembered that in oneof the volumes of his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," EdwardGibbon notes in passing that enemies of the Roman Empire found quicklyenough that the earth had shrunk under their feet, that there wasvirtually nowhere they could hide from the...

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National Conference of Catholic Bishops to DRC negotiators at Kampala: "Beware of these negotiations!"

(PHOTO: Mgr Nicolas Djomo, chair of DRC National Conference of Catholic Bishops)***Anger is growing in the DRC about the negotiations with the M23 outfitat Kampala, Uganda.Congolese from all walks of life are questioning the wisdom of the DRCgovernment to enter into secretive dialogues with insurgent and banditoutfits without any parliament's mandate or any legal basis.MP Martin Fayulu, the pro-Tshisekedi opposition firebrand was amongthe first Congolese...

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Paul Kagame: "Man of the Moment" (Alexis Okeowo)

I just read this piece posted December 7, 2012, on The New Yorker byAlexis Okeowo and titled "The Eight Most Fascinating Africans of2012."The cast of the eight fascinating Africans "doing innovative,admirable, and sometimes destructive work" include, in their order ofapperance:Malawian President Joyce Banda (I got misgivings about the wisdom of aPrez who relies on prophetic visions of her Nigerian spiritual guide); Cameroonian gay rights activist...

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Tintin War's Final Episode: Brussels Appellate Court rules "Tintin in the Congo" not racist

(IMAGE 1: A frame from "Tintin in the Congo")(PHOTO 2: Belgium-based Congolese Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, anti-Tintinin the Congo crusader)***I have time and again denounced on this blog the frivolous crusadeagainst "Tintin in the Congo" launched about 4 years ago by thefame-seeking mercurial Congolese student Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo.Mondondo had filed a lawsuit against the Tintin series Belgianpublisher Casteman and SA Moulinsart, the company holding...

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My previous reports of the early demise of blogger-journo Charly Kasereka were greatly exaggerated

(PHOTO: An M23 goon about to carjack a Land Rover Defender belongingto the Congolese social security administration, one among the morethan 300 official and private vehicles carjacked by his fellow lootersat Goma)***Blogger-journo Chaly Kasereka of the blog Actu du Kivu has finallyresurfaced in the aftermath of the 12-day occupation of Goma by theM23 outfit of pillagers and mass murderers.I first saw Kasereka at around midday Tuesday, December 4,...

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Blaming the messenger: Media regulatory body has Radio Okapi frequencies jammed

(Alain Nkoy, left, and Abbé Jean-Bosco Bahala Okw'Ibale, respectivelyvice-chairman and chair of CSAC, the DRC media regulatory authority)***The "Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel Congolais (CSAC)"--the DRCmedia regulatory body--ordered Saturday, December 1, the systematicjamming of Radio Okapi frequencies.Officially, CSAC is charging that Radio Okapi has failed to submit its"terms of reference," its "scope of work," and its "programmingschedule"...

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A racist bastard called J. Peter Pham wants an M23-ruled ethnocratic state set up in North Kivu

(PHOTO: Dr. J. Peter Pham, Director of the Michael S. Ansari AfricaCenter, Atlantic Council)***I got this very short impassioned and tearful email today sent fromWashington at 0:47 EST by the mother of my daughter Elikia:"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/opinion/to-save-congo-let-it-fall-apart.htmlHow to fight this crap???"The link was to the op-ed titled "To Save Congo, Let It Fall Apart," a"crap" penned by one racist bastard, name of J. Peter...

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Standoff betweem MONUSCO and M23 at Goma airport over FARDC weapons & ammo

(PHOTO: "MONUSCO Force Commander (front left) to a meeting on thesecurity situation at Goma airport. Photo MONUSCO")***Though long columns of M23 were seen leaving Sake today, there was noevidence however that the insurgents intended to hand over the city tothe DRC government's control.In the latest development, there was some kind of a standoff betweenMONUSCO and M23 when the latter had the chupatz to attempt to takecontrol of Goma airport and to...

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Ben Affleck: "Congo urgently needs U.S. help" (Washington Post)

(PHOTO: TV screen grab of Ben Affleck testifying in Congress; date unknown)***Ben Affleck penned a gripping pro-Congolese people advocacy op-ed onthe crisis in Goma that was published today by the Washington Post.The op-ed, titled "Congo urgently needsU.S. help" and aimed at the American constituency opens, opens withthe usual heart-wrenching frustration in the face of the universalindifference to the plight of the Congo:"Last week, a heavily armed...

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Dicey near future prospects for Goma residents as M23 seal city northwest and north

(PHOTO: M23 casing the Goma branch of the Central Bank of Congo, onMonday, November 26, prior to their heist of the next day)***Corroborative sources in Goma say that M23 were moving today some oftheir troops north--as demanded last Saturday at Kampala by theDeclaration of the heads of state of the International Conference forthe Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)--and northwest, towards Sake, 25 kmaway, a city they captured shortly after seizing the provincialcapital...

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MONUSCO Spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai: DRC Not Under Arms Embargo

(PHOTO: Madnodje Mounoubai, MONUSCO spokesman)***At the MONUSCO weekly press briefing of Wednesday, November 28,MONUSCO Spokesperson Madnodje Mounoubai bristled at the notion longpeddled by supporters of President Joseph Kabila that the DRC is undera crippling arms embargo.That notion, now widespread in the DRC, was no doubt concocted tojustify the poor performance of the DRC in theaters of operations.(Full disclosure: I've time and again repeated...

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Continuous Outrage as Congolesse essence (New Yorker's Philip Gourevitch)

I retweeted today this powerful exercise in self-reflexive journalismfiled from Goma on November 27 by Philip Gourevitch and posted on theNew Yorker Web site.There are blocks of the piece I disagree with, but overall the reportis a valid condensed vignette of the recent history of the DRC.I also disagree with the piece's underlying essentialism andessentialization of the Congolese--though "outrage as a Congolesecondition of being makes for disturbing...

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1) Die Hard at Goma: M23 Bank Loot: $17m; & 2) Howard Buffet restores water distribution to Goma

(PHOTO 1: Still of Hans Gruber [Alan Rickman], right, in "Die Hard" [1988])(PHOTO 2: Howard Buffet "teaches Burundian farmers")***1) Die Hard at Goma: M23 Bank Loot: $17mFans of officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) in "Die Hard" (1988)certainly remember the memorable moment in the movie when the villainHans Gruber (Alan Rickman) lists his political outrageous andimpossible demands to authorities.But soon enough you discover that Gruber's so-called...

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Wild Wild West: Highway bandits of M23 outfit loot Goma Central Bank branch

(PHOTO: Jean-Marie Runiga,Bishop-Preacher of M23 bandits and looters)***To those--including the IGLR heads of state at Kampala Saturday--whostill believe M23 insurgents are rebels with some kind of cause otherthan thieving, looting, and pillaging, this report filed from Gomatoday by the Guardian's Pete Jones and titled "Congo rebels surroundcentral bank in Goma" should give pause.The report reads in part:"Congo rebels surround central bank in Goma...

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Burundi sources: Renegade Col. & mass murderer Jules Mutebusi about to ignite insurgency in the Ruzizi Plain

(PHOTO: Col. Jules Mutebusi)***According to whistleblowers in the Burundian military and intelligenceservices, renegade Col. Jules Mutebusi is consolidating and expandinga military build-up between Bwegera and Sange, in the Ruzizi Plain,about a mere 60 km southwest of Bukavu, the provincial capital ofSouth Kivu Province.The area abuts the Burundian province of Cibitoke.But those sources couldn't provide me with evidence of actualcoordination between...

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Radio-Trottoir: North Kivu no more part of DRC; it's a franchise granted to Rwanda

(PHOTO: Prez Mwai Kibaki, Joseph Kabila, and Yoweri Museveni; Kampala,Uganda, Saturday, November 24, 2012)***President Joseph Kabila may have squandered Saturday all the respectand political capital he still got left among Kinshasa residents--andarguably among a vast number of Congolese citizens--with news of theKampala Declaration issued by the heads of states of the InternationalConference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).(Among the ICGLR Kampala...

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