Thanx Galleh for sharing. I share your sentiments and anxieties. For solace, I share that the condemnation of violence and coup d'etats are only public posturing. Privately, all of these folk help one way or the other to oust clueless idiots. Trust me. It is only when coupists turn into wayward criminals that their goodwill is soured. But those coupists who become idiots can also be castrated because they did not seize power in a vacuum. They are just made to believe that. Our problems will begin when a rogue government sponsors a coup. That is when you have long-serving dictators. We are close to exhausting the likelihoods of that scenario. I am with you and as long as I have a breath in me, dictators and tyrants will be an endangered species.

In a message dated 2/19/2010 11:19:21 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

Another Reuters story on the Niger coup. I am just struck by the nauseating hypocrisy of ECOWAS, the AU, France, the United States and other memebrs of the so-called international community. They condemn the coup as violent and unconstitutional. Was Tandja's move to change the coutry's constitution in order to stay longer in power not unconstitutional? Was it not violence of the worst imaginable sort that one man inflicted on a whole nation? Where was this so-called international community then? Oh yes, they were right thre; their greedy eyes fixed on the prize - Niger's mineral resources. And no, no one was ready to rock the boat, to be in Tandja's bad books and risk not having a generous slice of the national booty. If the US president or the French prime minister dare not even think of meddling with their country's constitution, why is it considered okay for Tandja and other African despots to do so without the least censure? And then when they are kicked out by a bunch of equally greedy soldiers, everyone starts shouting foul and calling for a return to constitutional rule. Constitutional rule indeed!! How about constitutional misrule and abuse of power?

Here's a link to one of the Reuters stories.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61I4BR20100219

Baba

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