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When I say Nigeria’s cement policy has been a complete failure, this is exactly what I mean. The Goverment is tweeting this out without irony
Cement is an input. You can’t eat or drink it. On its own it’s useless. So as a government, if you decide to have a cement policy, the biggest mistake you can make is to set your success benchmark simply as increasing the amount of cement produced. But this is what Nigeria did
If you’re going to have a policy supporting the production of an input, the only sensible way to measure the success of that policy is to measure the things that that input goes into.
So you say - we want to have a cement policy to support the construction of x number of houses over x number of years. Or to build x amount of infrastructure. That is how you measure the success of a cement policy
But what did Nigeria do? The only measure of success has been we were producing x amount of cement in 19xx and now we are producing xx amount of cement in 20xx. Clap for yourselves, everyone go home. We even have a cement billionaire!
In support of the Buhari admin\u2019s plan to construct 300,000 houses for low-income Nigerians, under the Econ Sustainability Plan (ESP), cement manufacturers have reached an agreement with @NigeriaGov to charge discounted prices. VP @ProfOsinbajo visited one of the sites Jan 2, 2021 pic.twitter.com/T757goNs6A
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) January 3, 2021
Cement is an input. You can’t eat or drink it. On its own it’s useless. So as a government, if you decide to have a cement policy, the biggest mistake you can make is to set your success benchmark simply as increasing the amount of cement produced. But this is what Nigeria did
If you’re going to have a policy supporting the production of an input, the only sensible way to measure the success of that policy is to measure the things that that input goes into.
So you say - we want to have a cement policy to support the construction of x number of houses over x number of years. Or to build x amount of infrastructure. That is how you measure the success of a cement policy
But what did Nigeria do? The only measure of success has been we were producing x amount of cement in 19xx and now we are producing xx amount of cement in 20xx. Clap for yourselves, everyone go home. We even have a cement billionaire!
Over 10% of Indonesians are Christians.
The “Moluccas have almost been ignored in recent times even by writers of travel books and fiction”
https://t.co/u0QS7R1Rin
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in November 1975, after twelve days of independence, evoked reaction from human rights groups, journalists, and intellectuals in the West.
Linguist diversity of East Timor
It has long been observed that the Austronesian languages of Wallacea display Papuan influences. Some linguists have attempted to define linguistic Wallacea in terms of this hybridity.
https://t.co/fEGJn09JLI
The “Moluccas have almost been ignored in recent times even by writers of travel books and fiction”
https://t.co/u0QS7R1Rin
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in November 1975, after twelve days of independence, evoked reaction from human rights groups, journalists, and intellectuals in the West.
Linguist diversity of East Timor
It has long been observed that the Austronesian languages of Wallacea display Papuan influences. Some linguists have attempted to define linguistic Wallacea in terms of this hybridity.
https://t.co/fEGJn09JLI
From 🇪🇺: One of the three German politicians vying to lead Merkel’s CDU party became the first major European voice to link today’s mass arrests in Hong Kong with the EU-China investment deal.
A prominent critic of the deal in the European Parliament asked: “Democracy in HK is dying before our eyes, and the priority of our dear European leaders is to sell us their investment agreement with Beijing. How can we be so out of time?”
Interesting take
EU Commission spokesman @MamerEric defended the bloc’s decision to reach an investment deal, and added the need to engage China on issues like climate change, when asked about the impact of the human rights situation in Hong Kong on EU-China relations.
“The coordinated arrest of over 50 pro-democracy activists on accusations of subversion under the National Security Law sends a signal that political pluralism is no longer tolerated in Hong Kong. The EU calls for the immediate release of those arrested,” @ExtSpoxEU says.
Mehr als 50 Oppositionelle wurden in #HongKong festgenommen. Grundlage ist das neue #Sicherheitsgesetz, das #China als Waffe gegen die Demokratie dient. Wenn \U0001f1ea\U0001f1fa ein Abkommen mit \U0001f1e8\U0001f1f3 schlie\xdft, dann darf es dessen Methoden, inklusive Vertragsbruch & Unterdr\xfcckung, nicht ignorieren. https://t.co/VEXeVm1w2Z
— Norbert R\xf6ttgen (@n_roettgen) January 6, 2021
A prominent critic of the deal in the European Parliament asked: “Democracy in HK is dying before our eyes, and the priority of our dear European leaders is to sell us their investment agreement with Beijing. How can we be so out of time?”
Des dizaines d\u2019opposants arr\xeat\xe9s \xe0 Hong Kong. La d\xe9mocratie HK meurt sous nos yeux. Et la priorit\xe9 de nos chers dirigeants europ\xe9ens est de nous vendre leur accord d\u2019investissement avec P\xe9kin... Comment peut-on \xeatre \xe0 ce point \xe0 contre-temps? https://t.co/zy1xaqIYdB
— Raphael Glucksmann (@rglucks1) January 6, 2021
Interesting take
2) Also shows that BJ doesn't have a clue about how EU works or simply doesn't care if the CAI-deal really goes through. What BJ is doing in HK will make it even less probable that the EU parliament will ratify CAI.
— Dana Heide (@Dana_Heide) January 6, 2021
EU Commission spokesman @MamerEric defended the bloc’s decision to reach an investment deal, and added the need to engage China on issues like climate change, when asked about the impact of the human rights situation in Hong Kong on EU-China relations.
“The coordinated arrest of over 50 pro-democracy activists on accusations of subversion under the National Security Law sends a signal that political pluralism is no longer tolerated in Hong Kong. The EU calls for the immediate release of those arrested,” @ExtSpoxEU says.
speech started
sharing highlights below
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah
sending condolences to Imam Mahdi (ajtf) and the Muslims of the world on the occasion of the martyrdom of Sayyeda Fatima Zahra (as)
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah:
sending condolences to Imam Khamenei, Muslims, the scholars, students, and family of Sheikh Misbah Yazdi who passed away in the past couple of days
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah
sending condolences to the family and friends of Hezbollah's Mohammad Abbas al-Mousawi (Abu Ayman) who passed away affected by the corona virus
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah:
It has been a year since the martyrdom of Haj Qassem Soleimani and Haj Jamal Jaafar (Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes). We renew our congratulations on this honor and condolences on this loss to the Iranian and Iraqi people and the families of the martyrs.
sharing highlights below
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah will deliver a speech on Sunday 3/1/2021 on the first anniversary of the martyrdom of the leaders Hajj Qassem Soleimani and Hajj Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes at 6 pm Beirut time.
— aya (@political_aya_) December 30, 2020
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah
sending condolences to Imam Mahdi (ajtf) and the Muslims of the world on the occasion of the martyrdom of Sayyeda Fatima Zahra (as)
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah:
sending condolences to Imam Khamenei, Muslims, the scholars, students, and family of Sheikh Misbah Yazdi who passed away in the past couple of days
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah
sending condolences to the family and friends of Hezbollah's Mohammad Abbas al-Mousawi (Abu Ayman) who passed away affected by the corona virus
Sayyed Hassan #Nasrallah:
It has been a year since the martyrdom of Haj Qassem Soleimani and Haj Jamal Jaafar (Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes). We renew our congratulations on this honor and condolences on this loss to the Iranian and Iraqi people and the families of the martyrs.
So Nazis are posting about Black serial killer Samuel Little and claiming that "all serial killers are white" is an anti-white myth. So it's time for debunking. Yes, it's a myth that all serial killers are white, but it's a myth that only serves white supremacy. (thread)
Any serious sociological study will show that when controlled for other factors, the rates of seral murder are pretty evenly dispersed across ethnicity in the US. Murder is linked strongly to gender however, both in the US and worldwide - men always murder much more than women.
So why is there a perception, both among white people and POC, that serial killers are only white men? The basic reason is that these kinds of murderers get such a high body count because they go for easy targets. Easy targets are 1) close in proximity and 2) will not be missed.
Marginalized women of color, especially survival sex workers, are especially easy targets. And within that group Black women and Native women have been especially targeted. These are also the women whose lives are least valued by our racist society.
So Black serial killers like Little or Anthony Sowell the Cleveland Stranger operated for years under the radar. If they were white and had targeted women of a higher social standing, they would have been caught sooner and more lives would have been saved.
Samuel Little, the serial killer who confessed to more than 90 murders across the country and who was serving multiple life sentences in prison, has died at age 80 at a hospital in California, officials say. https://t.co/qQ04n7fYIZ
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) December 31, 2020
Any serious sociological study will show that when controlled for other factors, the rates of seral murder are pretty evenly dispersed across ethnicity in the US. Murder is linked strongly to gender however, both in the US and worldwide - men always murder much more than women.
So why is there a perception, both among white people and POC, that serial killers are only white men? The basic reason is that these kinds of murderers get such a high body count because they go for easy targets. Easy targets are 1) close in proximity and 2) will not be missed.
Marginalized women of color, especially survival sex workers, are especially easy targets. And within that group Black women and Native women have been especially targeted. These are also the women whose lives are least valued by our racist society.
So Black serial killers like Little or Anthony Sowell the Cleveland Stranger operated for years under the radar. If they were white and had targeted women of a higher social standing, they would have been caught sooner and more lives would have been saved.
This is some audacious spin. What actually happened: Pompeo endorsed the results of a rigged election in DRC after a private security company working for a Congolese autocrat back channelled with Giuliani and other Trump allies. Our investigation: https://t.co/WjO7hPmfZv
In negotiations, the US maintained it wouldn't allow then-DRC president Joseph Kabila to run for a third term. So the private security company, Mer, helped Kabila craft a new plan to control his country: a secret power-sharing deal with another candidate. https://t.co/WjO7hPmfZv
The deal might've stayed secret—except somebody leaked the real vote count, showing Kabila's candidate, Tshisekedi, lost in a landslide to Martin Fayulu, who vowed to end corrupt mining deals. @FinancialTimes did great work confirming the data was legit:
With the real results public, the US was left with the question of whether to endorse the official result or denounce it, as the African Union and the European Union did. US officials in charge of DRC foreign policy debated. Here's how it played out:
US has a long history of undermining democracy in Congo. CIA backed the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, DRC's 1st prime minister. US presidents supported Mobutu's 34-yr dictatorship. Kabila won US support the way other modern-day autocrats have: with the facade of democracy.
In negotiations, the US maintained it wouldn't allow then-DRC president Joseph Kabila to run for a third term. So the private security company, Mer, helped Kabila craft a new plan to control his country: a secret power-sharing deal with another candidate. https://t.co/WjO7hPmfZv
The deal might've stayed secret—except somebody leaked the real vote count, showing Kabila's candidate, Tshisekedi, lost in a landslide to Martin Fayulu, who vowed to end corrupt mining deals. @FinancialTimes did great work confirming the data was legit:
With the real results public, the US was left with the question of whether to endorse the official result or denounce it, as the African Union and the European Union did. US officials in charge of DRC foreign policy debated. Here's how it played out:
US has a long history of undermining democracy in Congo. CIA backed the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, DRC's 1st prime minister. US presidents supported Mobutu's 34-yr dictatorship. Kabila won US support the way other modern-day autocrats have: with the facade of democracy.
THREAD – 1/20: Unfortunate that @ForeignAffairs chose to run a dubious piece full of speculation & uncorroborated claims. At its core, the piece & its authors (@Fromagehomme & Yohannes) are misguided in their assumption that @AbiyAhmedAli is experiencing a crisis of legitimacy...
2/20: The reality is that Ethiopians have rallied around the flag as they always do. Ethiopians have rallied around the flag b/c #Ethiopia was brazenly attacked by belligerents attempting to return to power by overthrowing the constitutional order @ForeignAffairs @Fromagehomme
3/20: In addition to the misguided & out of touch headline, the piece makes 4 baseless claims regarding: 1) myth of an insurgency/insurrection; 2) false equivalence b/w TPLF & Tigrayans; 3) ongoing reform agenda; and 4) prospects of democratization in #Ethiopia. @ForeignAffairs
4/20: First, the piece is rife with unsubstantiated speculation regarding a “sustained, bloody insurgency & insurrection” in #Tigray. Although analysts propagated this baseless & highly inflammatory narrative from the onset of the conflict, this prognosis has not materialized...
5/20: In fact, rather than "insurgency & insurrection", the evidence suggests 3 developments: 1) the federal govt of #Ethiopia conducted a highly contained, efficient & effective operation against the treasonous TPLF leadership that committed an act of war...
@Fromagehomme and Yohannes Woldemariam argue that the war in Tigray could exacerbate Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed\u2019s crisis of legitimacy.https://t.co/SByxw8yS7S
— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) January 1, 2021
2/20: The reality is that Ethiopians have rallied around the flag as they always do. Ethiopians have rallied around the flag b/c #Ethiopia was brazenly attacked by belligerents attempting to return to power by overthrowing the constitutional order @ForeignAffairs @Fromagehomme
3/20: In addition to the misguided & out of touch headline, the piece makes 4 baseless claims regarding: 1) myth of an insurgency/insurrection; 2) false equivalence b/w TPLF & Tigrayans; 3) ongoing reform agenda; and 4) prospects of democratization in #Ethiopia. @ForeignAffairs
4/20: First, the piece is rife with unsubstantiated speculation regarding a “sustained, bloody insurgency & insurrection” in #Tigray. Although analysts propagated this baseless & highly inflammatory narrative from the onset of the conflict, this prognosis has not materialized...
5/20: In fact, rather than "insurgency & insurrection", the evidence suggests 3 developments: 1) the federal govt of #Ethiopia conducted a highly contained, efficient & effective operation against the treasonous TPLF leadership that committed an act of war...
It has been 60 days since @AbiyAhmedAli declared #WarOnTigray. 60 days on, the war still rages across Tigray & the region is still under almost full communication, banking and transport block out. From the limited info that comes out, millions of people are starving 1
due to lack of access to power, cash to buy supplies as banks are still closed and bank accounts every Tigrayan suspended, & absence of trade activities. UNICEF reports that more than 2m children in Tigray are completely cut off from humanitarian assist https://t.co/ylWJQ0u0NF 2
Civilians killed and displaced: According to UN-OCHA, there are reportedly over a million internally displaced people with no humanitarian assistance. Families in their hundreds of 1000s are separated. We also hear that supplies of humanitarian assistance are deliberately
curtailed by the regime. Despite Eth-UN agreements to allow unfettered humanitarian access, areas outside Mekelle are inaccessible for humanitarian actors.
Ethnic profiling: travel restrictions have been placed on #Tigrayans across #Ethiopia.
Tigrayans across Ethiopia face #ethnicprofiling in their workplaces (many have been laid off or told to stay at home, mostly without pay), their homes are arbitrarily searched, are constantly harassed & arrested by security forces.
Impoverishing Tigray:
The emotional toll of the #WarOnTigray
— Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel (\u1270\u12bd\u120b\u12ed) (@TeklehaymanotG) December 9, 2020
It has been 36 days since @AbiyAhmedAli\u2019s regime in Ethiopia declared #WarOnTigray. The entire region has been on complete lockdown for over five weeks; including no banking, telecom, power, transport services. (1)
due to lack of access to power, cash to buy supplies as banks are still closed and bank accounts every Tigrayan suspended, & absence of trade activities. UNICEF reports that more than 2m children in Tigray are completely cut off from humanitarian assist https://t.co/ylWJQ0u0NF 2
Civilians killed and displaced: According to UN-OCHA, there are reportedly over a million internally displaced people with no humanitarian assistance. Families in their hundreds of 1000s are separated. We also hear that supplies of humanitarian assistance are deliberately
curtailed by the regime. Despite Eth-UN agreements to allow unfettered humanitarian access, areas outside Mekelle are inaccessible for humanitarian actors.
Ethnic profiling: travel restrictions have been placed on #Tigrayans across #Ethiopia.
Tigrayans across Ethiopia face #ethnicprofiling in their workplaces (many have been laid off or told to stay at home, mostly without pay), their homes are arbitrarily searched, are constantly harassed & arrested by security forces.
Impoverishing Tigray:
