Want Some Bullets With That Bread?

So, on one side Mr. Chris Smith, the Congressman from NJ is reportedly pushing a legislation, which would supposedly put the Meles regime in place, hopefully in the ‘big house' at popo-lare, (I will bite my tongue here), and on the other Mr. Wolfowitz, a G W Bush protégé, is putting money in the bloody hands of the regime through back channels in the name of "Protection of Basic Services". Interesting name, isn't it? I wonder whose basic services these people are protecting. Not the Ethiopian poor, that's for damn sure. Don't you just admire the commitment and dedication of institutions like World Bank, IMF, and WTO to help the poor around the world?

Fresh from a failed and still failing policy of preemption, Mr. Wolfowitz is now spreading the Bush style democracy around the rest of the world using the same expertise that landed him this curious promotion as a Director to one of the most secretive international institutions. Only this time his weapon is money, instead of...well, real weapons as in bombs and tanks. That's right Wolfie, be creative with your resources. You're doing a heck'f a job! I mean, why limit this man's talent to just one failure in one country like Iraq, when he can share it with the rest of the world? Hey, the world is full of desperate hungry souls in need of Mr. Wolfowitz's compassionate touch. So what if some AK-47 rounds were accidentally left in those moneybags from World Bank for the Woyane regime to be distributed fairly and equitably to the needy poor in Ethiopia?

According to the Washington Post, one of Wolfowitz's lieutenants Mr. Ishac Diwan, the country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan at the world said:

"we truly put good governance at the center".

Sure, nothing like a backdoor or more accurately, backhanded diplomacy to bring good governance and democracy to the oppressed around the world. Good governance??? Good God!!

"Quarterly reviews will assess whether money is being disbursed regardless of beneficiaries' political affiliations..."

And who will be doing the reviews? All the independent media have been put out of commission for all intents and purposes. So, we are going to rely on the state media to update Mr Diwan on how money is disbursed to the needy? No Mr Diwan, the Woyane regime tells people what their political affiliations should be, sir. Is this one of those nice sounding one liners like PBS? Well, at least they are consistent. The issue here is not so much the disbursement of funds, as much as it is the way it is used to influence political affiliation, Mr Diwan, to put it in a diplomatic way. And in its extreme form, the money is used to coerce the beneficiaries' political affiliation.

I think the whole thing was summed up neatly by Aklilu Demissie's excellent article , "Stifling democracy through budget support" who wrote:

"Ishac Diwan can not be more Ethiopian than the deeply troubled people of Ethiopia. He can not articulate what is best by what so ever standard for the needy and marginalized Ethiopians. Be he or the World Bank would have served Ethiopians if they had the gut to stop the treachery of the régime. If they really committed themselves to democratic governance, why are they not able to stop arbitrary detentions and summary killings of political opponents? Incarceration of political opponents is still a day today phenomenon."

Mr Diwan further joked that:

"... the government has agreed to release an unprecedented amount of information about how it is spending money at all levels, "so people can lobby for good services."

What exactly does that mean? What lobby? So people have to lobby for basic good service now? Is this guy serious? The WB is now making deals with third world thugs regarding accountability? Well then, why do we need the UN? We might as well shut it down. Mr Anan, please turn off the Koffee machine, if you will, and the lights when you leave.

I don't know what is more astonishing; the fact that this hideous organization is so blatant in its excuse to continue to provide this regime with funds or our (us in the Diaspora), naivety in continuing to believe that organizations like World Bank have the best interest of the poor people in Ethiopia or the rest of the developing countries for that matter. I mean, does Wolfowitz really believe that the money given to the local governments will not somehow reach the federal government's treasure chest? How many times and in how many ways do these people have to insult the intelligence of the Ethiopian people before we wake up and see the light?

I wonder where Congressman Smith stands on this issue? Or does he even stand at all, given that you need a backbone to stand and all? But then again, the Chris Smith-backbone is surgically attached or connected to the Bush-Bone and the Bush-Bone is connected to Witzbone (as in Wolfowitz), the Witzbone is connected to the, Hyde-Bone and the Hyde-Bone is connected back to the Smith-back bone, and eventually all of them are connected to the funny-bone. Only, as they say, 'it only really hurts when you laugh'.