|
Monday 18th of February 2019 |
Morning, Africa |
Register and its all Free.
If you are tracking the NSE Do it via RICHLIVE and use Mozilla Firefox as your Browser. 0930-1500 KENYA TIME Normal Board - The Whole shebang Prompt Board Next day settlement Expert Board All you need re an Individual stock.
The Latest Daily PodCast can be found here on the Front Page of the site http://www.rich.co.ke |
read more |
|
"Will you be at the harvest" Africa |
“Will you be at the harvest, Among the gatherers of new fruits? Then you must begin today to remake Your mental and spiritual world, And join the warriors and celebrants Of freedom, realizers of great dreams. You can’t remake the world Without remaking yourself. Each new era begins within. It is an inward event, With unsuspected possibilities For inner liberation. We could use it to turn on Our inward lights. We could use it to use even the dark And negative things positively. We could use the new era To clean our eyes, To see the world differently, To see ourselves more clearly. Only free people can make a free world. Infect the world with your light. Help fulfill the golden prophecies. Press forward the human genius. Our future is greater than our past.” ― Ben Okri
|
read more |
|
Dolphins Seem to Use Toxic Pufferfish to Get High @SmithsonianMag Africa |
Humans aren't the only creatures that suffer from substance abuse problems. Horses eat hallucinogenic weeds, elephants get drunk on overripe fruit and big horn sheep love narcotic lichen. Monkeys' attraction to sugar-rich and ethanol-containing fruit, in fact, may explain our own attraction to alcohol, some researchers think.
Now, dolphins may join that list. Footage from a new BBC documentary series, "Spy in the Pod," reveals what appears to be dolphins getting high off of pufferfish. Pufferfish produce a potent defensive chemical, which they eject when threatened. In small enough doses, however, the toxin seems to induce "a trance-like state" in dolphins that come into contact with it, the Daily News reports:
The dolphins were filmed gently playing with the puffer, passing it between each other for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, unlike the fish they had caught as prey which were swiftly torn apart. Zoologist and series producer Rob Pilley said that it was the first time dolphins had been filmed behaving this way.
At one point the dolphins are seen floating just underneath the water's surface, apparently mesmerised by their own reflections.
The dolphins' expert, deliberate handling of the terrorized puffer fish, Pilley told the Daily News, implies that this is not their first time at the hallucinogenic rodeo.
|
read more |
|
Belgian spy chief held over Russia link @thetimes Law & Politics |
A senior Belgian counterintelligence officer is under house arrest after allegations that he spied for Russia in a case that could highlight the security threat to Nato and European Union headquarters in Brussels.
The major, head of a division in Belgium’s external security department of the General Intelligence and Security Service (Giss), the equivalent of MI6, is suspected of passing secrets to Russia via a Serbian agent.
In a further blow, Clement Vandenborre, the head of counterintelligence in Giss, has been removed from office pending an investigation into allegations he illegally destroyed documents.
The turmoil at the top of Belgium’s counterintelligence services raises concerns that the security of key international institutions, including the western military alliance, have been compromised.
|
read more |
|
@ForeignAffairs Will China Seize Taiwan? Law & Politics |
“China must be, and will be reunified,” Chinese President Xi Jinping declared in a speech in January. Xi spoke of “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, but he warned, “We do not forsake the use of force.” Ever since Hong Kong and Macau rejoined Mainland China in 1997 and 1999, respectively, Chinese expectations that Taiwan would follow suit have grown. When, a decade ago, the Beijing Olympics and the global financial crisis boosted China’s confidence on the world stage, those expectations redoubled.
But “peaceful reunification” has proved elusive. After Taiwan elected Tsai Ing-wen, of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to the presidency in 2016, many Mainland Chinese lost patience with the idea. Some Chinese nationalists now argue that China has only a brief window of opportunity to seize Taiwan. Talk of “forceful reunification” is ascendant.
China has already begun to tighten the noose. It has forced Taiwan out of international bodies, such as the World Health Organization; required airlines to replace “Taiwan” with descriptions such as “Taiwan, Province of China”; and induced five more countries to sever relations with Taipei.
Beijing seems to believe that the United States will sit by as it squeezes Taiwan. Taipei, meanwhile, has convinced itself that China has no plans to invade. And U.S. President Donald Trump seems to think he can rock the boat without consequences. All are wrong—and their wishful thinking is raising the odds of conflict.
|
read more |
|
the West is also looking the other way in 2019, refusing to see the concentration camps in China's Xinjiang province. @washingtonpost @anneapplebaum Law & Politics |
These camps have been designed to suppress the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority whose status in China in some ways resembles that of Ukrainians in the old U.S.S.R. Like the Ukrainians who did not want to be Sovietized, the Uighurs do not want to be fully absorbed into the Chinese state. Like the Soviets, the Chinese have responded with repression. Previous Chinese leaders sought to flood Xinjiang with ethnic Chinese, the same tactic they used against Tibetans. More recently, the state has grown harsher, creating camps where at least 1 million Uighurs undergo forced indoctrination designed to eradicate their language and culture.
The report is one of many to describe the massive surveillance program that China has imposed in Xinjiang, using not only old-fashioned informers and police checkpoints, but artificial intelligence, phone spyware and biometric data. Every tool that a future, larger totalitarian state may use to control citizens is currently being tested in Xinjiang.
Under “terrorist” legislation in Xinjiang, anyone can be arrested for anything — for expressing an allegiance to Uighur culture, for example, or for reading the Koran. Once inside the “re-education” camps, arrestees are forced to speak in Mandarin Chinese and made to recite praises of the Communist Party. Those who break the rules receive punishments no different from those meted out to prisoners in the Soviet Gulag: “They put me in a small solitary confinement cell,” said one former prisoner cited in the Canadian report, “in a space of about two by two meters. I was not given any food or drink, my hands were handcuffed in the back, and I had to stand for 24 hours without sleep.”
None of that changes the fact that in a distant corner of China, a totalitarian state — of the kind we all now denounce and condemn — has emerged in a new form. “Never again?” I don’t think so: It’s already happening.
|
read more |
|
05-MAR-2018 :: China has unveiled a Digital Panopticon in Xinjiang Law & Politics |
Dissent is measured and snuffed out very quickly in China. China has unveiled a Digital Panopticon in Xinjiang where a combination of data from video surveillance, face and license plate recognition, mobile device locations, and official records to identify targets for detention [CDT]. Xinjiang is surely a Precursor for how the CCCP will manage dissent. The actions in Xinjiang are part of the regional authorities’ ongoing “Strike-Hard” campaign, and of President Xi’s “stability maintenance” and “enduring peace” drive in the region.
|
read more |
|
10-DEC-2018 :: Truce dinner @Huawei Law & Politics |
Sirloin steaks, Catena Zapata Nicolas Malbec [2014] Huawei Technologies Co. and Wanzhou Meng
You will recall that Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping enjoyed a much anticipated ''Truce'' Dinner at the G20 in Buenos Aires and quaffed a Catena Zapata Nicolas Malbec [2014] wine with their sirloin steaks and finished it all off with caramel rolled pancakes, crispy chocolate and fresh cream, a dinner that ran over by 60 minutes and one where the dinner Guests broke out into spontaneous applause thereafter.
|
read more |
|
18-FEB-2019 :: :: #NigeriaDecides Africa |
Last week President Cyril Ramaphosa closed a speech quoting Ben Okri
We dream of a new politics That will renew the world Under their weary suspicious gaze. There’s always a new way, A better way that’s not been tried before.
This week Nigerians [84m people are registered to vote] were intending to go to the Polls in the country’s sixth general election since military rule ended in 1999. In fact, The Nigerian vote is ''the largest democratic event in African history'' [@TheEconomist] The Elections were postponed at at 2.40am on election day. The Nigerian electoral commission pronounced that the general elections were postponed by a week. Charlie Robertson tweeted
''#Nigeriadecides but not yet. Postponement is typical. 2011 elections were pushed back twice, the 2nd time when the parliamentary vote had already begun … In 2015 they were delayed by 6 weeks (roughly a week ahead of time)''
Like Ben Okri's preferred literary genre of ''magic realism'' Nigerian Politics has spun some surreal narratives of its own. Who can forget the legendary Pleasure-Seeker General Sani Abacha, President Umaru Yar'Adua who allegedly was kept alive [or not] for a number of days in an ambulance in the State House grounds. Even the austere President Buhari went missing for a few months.
''The significance of the Nigerian elections for Africa is tremendous,” said Professor Nic Cheeseman [Bloomberg]
“A flawed election and the political instability that this could generate would not only undermine confidence in the feasibility of democracy in one of Africa’s most important states, but also slow economic growth in West Africa and the wider region.”
'In a system where candidates jump between political parties as if they were changing buses, personality & money trump policy discussion' tweeted David Pilling
Its a Nollywood Level drama but permit me to give you some context. GDP growth has lagged Population growth, GDP grew by 1.93 percent last year, up from 0.82 percent in 2017 and grew 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter.Nigeria was the second biggest economy in Africa in 2018, using the market exchange rate of NGN362/$ or the biggest economy using the fixed rate [@RencapMan]. Unemployment has risen from 8.2% to 23.1% under President Buhari's watch which would be a plain untenable position for any incumbent Politician seeking re-election in most parts of the World. The President is a victim of low oil prices which provide 70% of government revenue. ''Baba Go Slow'' has to be contrasted with President Al-Sisi's Egypt. Al-Sisi [and I for one disagree with him on many things particularly with his ''incarceration'' strategy] made bold moves when it came to the Economy. Egypt devalued its currency early, took a brutal punch in the solar plexus but is now reaping the dividend from its bolder economic policy, Nigeria is still muddling along with its ''Voodoo'' level FX economics. Since President Buhari came to power in May 2015, Nigeria's stock market has fallen more than any other in the world, dropping 50% in dollar terms. There is a Message in that performance. The Stock Market has perked up over the last few sessions, however.
Atiku Abubakar, the main challenger to Mr Buhari, is also in his 70s. It is an extraordinary Outcome that as the Continent becomes younger, Our Leaders in many cases are getting older. This Elastic Band [the difference between the average of leadership and the average of its Citizens] is now stretched to breaking point and will snap.
Abubakar has struck a Bill Clinton circa 1992 when he kept chanting "It's the economy, stupid"
Atiku Abubakar's mantra is “Let’s Get Nigerians Working Again”. Citing Margaret Thatcher, he says he wants to privatise state-owned firms, which frankly is the optimal economic policy if its done fairly and increases ownership in the Nigerian economy. I saw The Thatcher Revolution up close and personal and it worked. From Ethiopia to Nigeria to many other parts of Africa, Governments are running out of headroom and they absolutely need to embrace Thatcherism. It is a Silver Bullet.
We have seen a number of elections in Africa. Overturning Incumbents is a thankless task but not too long ago we saw a number of Upsets in West Africa. However, recently we witnessed a Nollywood level Plot Twist in the DR Congo and its clear the Will of the People was not expressed in the result.
Mr. Mbeki said “They are aware that the rest of the world is busy with bigger issues, In Africa, things are most likely to get worse before they get better.”
"We are tired of these same old leaders, We are laying the foundation for a revolution in 2023." Until then, Nigeria will be stuck with mediocrity pronounced the Economist.
Change is inevitable but not just yet.
|
read more |
|
|
|
|