Defending your point of view is of course a plus. It’s what you live it, it’s what you think would work for the world, it’s what you think the world has been losing all this time. Of course that doesn’t mean everything you painted as gold-plated might not appear as such for others. There would be others who would vehemently argue that your ways don’t work and even claim that they might be the stupidest ideas anyone ever came up with. Well if only the rhetoric of the other side makes you drop your guard than maybe your ideas weren’t firmly rooted.
Well, who am I to say that! But while you stick to your own ideas while trying to drag face down in the dust without any clear reasons as to your opposition well that doesn’t give you good reputation. Yes they say being tolerant and respectful to the ideas of others is the civilized way of doing things.
Recently a friend who phones me from somewhere in the States tells me a very preposterous and shocking story. It was about a four-some group of friends who he says were the perfect team to which one could refer to as the perfect example of what real friendship could be. They had quite a lot of years behind them having immigrated more than a decade and half or so back. They were loyal voters with three of them loyal democrats and one a loyal Republican. He says they always enjoyed arguing about their political choices. (Just musing, do our compatriots over there have that much spare time to argue about politics, which at times sound as ‘mysterious’ as a Robert Ludlum bestseller, in a society where you’re supposed to sweat profusely for every dollar and also in these economically challenging times to argue about their political leanings?)
So this time around there was no reason to expect anything out of the ordinary to happen. It did happen. To the shock of those close to members of the group, the group practically falls apart under their very eyes. The story was that after the results were announced they were engaged in those lively discussions and arguments. The guy who told me the story says there was no clear info as to how things went off the rails and which side was in the wrong; but things descended into complete chaos two against one! But the two democrat fans seemed to take things more personally now than they ever did and the four-letter words soon dominated the discussions to the point where one of the two jumps up and puts his hands around someone who was not thier adversary; one of the best friends! They say in reflexive move to defend himself he catches his attacker on his jaw with a really hard punch. Other Ethiopians who witnessed the violet actions get in between and separate the two and everybody goes home.
Now the guy who tells me the story and others who were quite close to the group members decide to get into things and mend fences. At first they thought it might be an accident which happened at the spur of the moment said none of them really wanted to go into physical altercation. In fact they were among the most reserved guys and no one ever thought they would throw punches against each other for that matter!
It was not to be at all easy. They later learned that the time of the chaos they were discussing about the plans to deport millions of immigrants. So what has this to do with them as they had been in the States for a decade and half and even longer? None of them wanted to talk until one of the two democrat fans, perhaps unwittingly blurted something which sent the shockwaves through the peacemaker friends. He says something like the other guy was celebrating because so many undocumented illegal immigrants would be departed and there would be more work opportunities.
So why should this infuriate him! Well here is where the real explosive was dropped. He yet doesn’t have the legal papers. What? He has been there for so long and doesn’t yet have the papers? Even the other democrat fan was shaken the bone! And they thought their friend was already an American citizen. And how come he voted when he didn’t have his papers! Another shock was to come. He admits he was all through lying of going to the voting stations while in fact he never did! This friend tells me it was a heartbreaking story which sadden even the Republican fan who had the humility to apologize to his friend in the presence of other friends.
While this story would mean a lot to those who are out there facing uncountable challenges we have been hearing for long that the number of our compatriots over there without the legal papers is not as little as we would have wished it to be. There are those who haven’t stepped on whom ground even for decades. Many of them, so it said might not have the legal papers to allow them to make the return trip. Yes it’s said not only to those who crossed over in more recent times even those who have been there for quite a long time could feel the heat. That was not the only worry. Even for those with legal papers, another friend tells me, bringing family members might be far more difficult.
Lately I’ve read Facebook posts calling for Ethiopian lawyers over there to come to the aid of their compatriots over there most of whom don’t have the financial means to have legal representatives. Wouldn’t that be the most humane things to do? Nothing could be more fulfilling’ than helping helpless country folks who find themselves in trouble but don’t have the means to stand on their own two feet and face the challenges.
Even some back home are worried that their kin over there might be deported. It is not at all worry without reason. Few if any would know what would actually happen once the deportation campaign begins. If what we read and see on social media is anything to go by many even think that once the whole thing is set in motion it would be nothing less than a tsunami!
God help our compatriots! Save them from the tsunami!
Yes, Third World War could Happen!
Those of us who thought all the talk of a possible Third World War looming was nothing less than one of those conspiracy theories meant to scare the hell out every one of us. “How can any rational thinking persons with all the screws intact in their brains think there will be a World War in this age of far-reaching civilization?” It has been sometime since warnings of a possible world war began being voiced. Maybe, just maybe it seems the world has not been listening as keenly as it should have. The Ukraine/Russia war had all the signs of growing into more devastating episodes and the mainstream media was in ‘don’t see, don’t hear, don’t talk’ mood when it came to the real issues of hows and whys of the conflict.
All the talk was about how the days of Putin were numbered, about how the Russian bear would be tamed, about the Ukrainians will turn all the tables and the world order would take a newer western-friendly stature. It seems politics in many countries especially the so-called free world taking all sorts of unexpected and in places probably unappealing detours the writing was already appearing on the walls that ours wasn’t going to be that peaceful place we would like it to be. Politicians who seem to pose themselves as the newest trend setters, as the geniuses who claim they would put their respective nations on top of the rest of the world seemed to be setting all the scenes as they would like them to be. Their world view is so twisted and so arrogant they failed to see that their gung-ho type of approach would take the world in the wrong direction which we should have avoided.
Now we’re seeing the results of choosing the confrontational highway while the highway of peace is far less populated and calling for attention. It’s sad, very sad. Looking back at things years down the line things were different. The very places where we hear war drums were the places calling for armed conflicts In Africa or elsewhere to be resolved peacefully. “Get your a*&%^ to the table and talk peace. How can you be so naive in the twenty-first century acting and thinking like medieval warlords!” And then the finger-wagging and warnings; “Talk peace or else you aren’t going to get another cent for development projects or whatever!”
In fact the peacemakers were usually sent from the ‘free and civilized’ countries as the so-called third world countries don’t have the humility to look after their own backyards. Why aren’t they able to see the peacemakers who have all through kicking dust into the faces of so-called third world countries and their people embroiled in armed conflicts with “These people never listen when they are told to lift their fingers from the trigger!” So the question as to why these same places failed to talk peace themselves would remain one of the most intriguing riddles until the cat starts coming out of the bag a paw at a time. Something must have happened at that time when the expectation was the two sides were about to sign some sort of agreement and suddenly it didn’t happen!
No sooner has President Biden given the green light the Ukrainian brass didn’t lose time as it started launching those lethal missiles against Russia. Frankly speaking that was what could have been termed as the escalation of the conflict because the Russians have been warning if such a move is taken it would be tantamount to kicking off the third world war. But the mainstream media failed to use that word and when the Russian missiles came in they started talking about escalation of the one thousand-plus days’ war.
By the way the Russians have confirmed they test-launched a new ballistic missile that would be very hard to intercept. Look while the type of weapon the Russians might use was another issue it wasn’t lost on anyone that they would hit back, and try to hit back as hard as they can. And all this time the initial victims are Ukrainians who already have allegedly lost far more than a half a million of their people. That’s insane! Though there still isn’t any reliable information as to the loss of life on both sides repeated reports claim the Ukrainians have lost some six hundred thousand lives and Russia too has lost as many. And this is not the eighteenth century but the age of Artificial intelligence!
The question most of us were asking was why President Biden made this momentous decision especially at this time when nothing about this world seems to be normal! Of course this wasn’t only about the horribly polarized current American politics but could also turn into existential crisis for the rest of the world with Europe probably in the front rows. But even it was about American politics, a move designed to frustrate president-elect Donald Trump’s peace plans as the conservatives put it, shouldn’t the very interest of the American people most of whom don’t seem to be having very good times precede everything? One of the outstanding promises of Mr. Trump was to ensure peace in the Ukraine/Russia, Israel/ Hamas & Hezbollah wars. He promised that he’d avoid a Third World War. After all the very scary fact about the next global is that there would be no winners and hundreds of millions could lose their lives with no part of the word spared.
If what we’re hearing is anything to go by things are likely to get worse. Ukraine having launched US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles and Russia hitting back with new conventional intermediate-range missile” which is said to be impossible to defend things might get really bad. The rhetoric coming for all sides does nothing to damp worries. Zelensky saying the launch of the new missile “…yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace,” and Putin warning, “Russia could attack military facilities of those countries which allowed their weapons to be used for this purpose,” the world could only pray the worst would be avoided by any means.
Yes, Third World War could happen!
BY EPHREM ENDALE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 24 NOVEMBER 2024