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Tom's Take
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/16/christianetom.jpg caption caption="Sr. Writer for Amanpour, Tom Evans, works on scripts with Christiane"]
On AMANPOUR. today, we look at Nigeria. With its vast oil wealth and immense reserves of human capital, it should be the powerhouse of Africa. Instead, the country faces a sea of troubles, with a president who is absent and an unresolved insurgency. Complicating the situation is Nigeria’s ethnic politics - the divisions between the President, a Northern Muslim refusing to turn over power to his Vice President, a Southern Christian. Among our guests today is one of Nigeria’s literary lions, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. Now here are some perspectives on some other news in the headlines today.
Tom Evans
Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
PAKISTAN – Will death of Pakistan Taliban leader lead to a new direction for the insurgency?
– Three Taliban sources tell CNN Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died while on the way to Karachi for medical treatment
– Government has been looking into reports Mehsud died after being wounded in a suspected U.S. drone attack last month
– Drone attack came a few days after Mehsud appeared in a videotape with man thought to be the suicide bomber who killed eight people at a CIA base in Afghanistan on Dec. 30
QUESTION: Will death of Mehsud open a window for negotiations between the Pakistan Taliban and the government in Islamabad?
IRAN – Will Tehran’s new uranium enrichment program, which began today, end the possibility of further negotiations with world powers?
– Iran today began enriching uranium to 20 percent level, up from 3.5 percent, a point that many say opens a pathway for Tehran to begin building nuclear weapons, a path Iran says it rejects
– Tehran says higher level enriched uranium required to fuel a research reactor which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients
– Iran’s top nuclear envoy to IAEA tells AMANPOUR. the window for nuclear negotiations is still open, but Western countries now saying sanctions all but inevitable
QUESTION: Where does this evolving showdown over Iran’s nuclear ambitions go now?
UKRAINE – Is political crisis deepening after apparent election of former Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich as President?
– Yanukovich’s chief rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, refuses to concede and plans to demand recount in some districts even though intl. election monitors said Sunday’s runoff vote was “professional, transparent, and honest”
– Yanukovich leading with almost all the votes counted. He has 48.94%, Tymoshenko 45.48%
– Yanukovich says Tymoshenko, the current prime minister, should begin preparations to step down from power
QUESTION: Is this the end of the “Orange Revolution” that swept pro-Western political leaders into power in 2004?
TOYOTA – Will automaker’s new recall be a turning point in its efforts to repair its battered image?
– Toyota recalls more than 400,000 of its 2010 hybrid models, including its popular Prius, due to problems with its anti-lock braking systems
– Company’s president, Akio Toyoda, apologizes for “inconvenience and concerns we’ve given to customers”
– This comes on top of recall of millions of other Toyota vehicles that may have problems with accelerators or floor mats
QUESTION: Will Toyota’s much heralded reputation for quality and dependability ever recover from this setback?
@camanpour on Twitter
It's a pity the Nigeria finds itself in this situation. It will be in the best interest of Nigeria, if the western world would put every official in the Nigerian govt on the no flight list until they truly improve the living standard of Nigerians, these officials are all corrupt and only interested in what will benefit them alone and not the Nigerian people.
Indeed Nigeria is a wealthy country but the wealth is misapropriated by the leaders.Therefore the president will never handover the power to the vice president as long as he is alive because he(the president) hopes that he will recover soon to continue looting the wealth.
Having wasted 78 days and huge sum of money wasted, the National Assembly just passed a resolution that the VP should act as President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. This put lie to the Executive Council of the Federation's resolution that the President is fit to perform the duty of his office. How do we handle these old fat liars?
It is very easy for people to point fingers at our leaders and constantly find faults, indeed Nigeria–leaders and its people alike–are in need of a complete turnaround. COnsidering Nigeria's history of colonialism and extreme debt, unstable post colonialism and post dictatorship, Nigeria has in some ways, co me very far. It is not unique to Nigeria the cursed blessing that a Natural resource poses for such a place where the average person lives on less a dollar a day.
With the case of the current president Yaradua, the VP has obviously taken on his role by being able to lead meetings and call troops as he has recently. It is unclear to me how much more one takes over the President. In calling for Yaradua's removal from office, it is important for the Nigerian people to consider their own history: that of anarchy and dictatorship.
Christianne,
In your introduction you mentioned christian south and muslim north. There is nothing like that in Nigeria. Nigeria as an entity has both Muslim in the North and in the south. Nigeria Problems are ethnic based – under the comflag on religion.
On issue of Yaradua, It is so unfortunate that a cabal comprising of both people from the north and south wants to maintian the status quo for their selfish interest.
For a contry with a poplulation of 150 million and with the level of diversity that is unequalled anywhere in the world, we will have issues, but managing this issues should have been something long perfected but for the elites!
Nigeria is a country blessed with human and material resources, but some self-serving individuals have succeeded in dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines. This is employed as a means of distracting the masses, while the massive looting of the treasury goes on unchecked.
It is an unfortunate and sad commentary on the state of affairs of Nigeria. Attorney General Aondooka is one of the many shameless and vacuous men/women, who lying through their teeth sell their soul to the devil.
It is quite obvious to all and sundry that there has been a vacuum in the state of affairs, especially the political leadership.
Here in Nigeria corruption can't stop. It begin from school were the future leader's learn to pay for grades then continues until the topmost man. Its the only way we can survive. If you are not corrupt you'll be calling from L.A. like Soyinka. If you are in this country you ought to be corrupt to survive. I see no headway!
I don't tink there is any possible way the problems of Nigeria can be solve when the"sets" of our politicians stil breathe.
Nigeria lacks leadership to put it bluntly. There will be no end to this ridiculous state of affairs in this nation until political power holders are held accountable for their actions. Lets start with a review of the obsolete and misguided constitution that has held the populace in bondage for these number of years. The west must also wake up to its responsibility and stop aiding these corrupt officials who stash their stolen funds in their financial institutions.
As much as Nigerians laud the opportunity for Prof. Wole Soyinka to really give a true picture of the national decadence we also disagree totally with Amanpour's portrayal of Nigeria as Religiously divided entity.
Nigerians also do not accept that Abdulmutalab's crime is of any inclination to the interest of any Nigerians because his actions are simply alien to the Nigerian situation. We all are first of all Nigerians before the religious influence. The clashes we face in the Northern Part of Nigeria are simply ethno-political which are easily piloted under the masquerade of a religious division. We are Not religiously divided. In every Nigerian home there are a mixture of Muslims and Christians thus
The resolution by the National Assembly is only a political Solution without a legal nor constitutional backing. Thus we are still in the same boat as we were since the absence of Yaradua. We are still in Square one.
However we are happy that Prof. Wole Soyinka did give the world a better picture of the true situation despite Christiane Amanpour's interjections preventing the flow of information from the Don.
I really think the Attorney General has globally disgraced himself by exhibiting his most irresponsible attitude to a greater public.
Dear Christian, thanks so much for your presentation on Nigeria. Text messages may have helped to perpetuate panic and fear but they did not instigate the Jos violence by any means. The Citizens' Monitoring Group has a 65 page report of the remote and immediate causes of the crisis as well as its nature and impacts on unsuspecting residents. The report contains eyewitness accounts of what happened to spark the initial outbreak of violence and to spread it around Jos and environs. How can we send you this report? What is important for the world to know is that although the violence is the fall out of the politicization of religion and ethnicity, the Jos crisis is not unconnected with an Islamic extremist agenda.
CMG interviewed people at the scene of the outbreak of violence as well as other eyewitnesses to attacks around the city and neighboring villages. Most of the eyewitness suffered greatly in the crisis many lost their loved ones, homes and livelihoods. Findings from the interviews and from events in the aftermath of the crisis provide clear evidence that what happened in Jos was not a spontaneous outbreak but a premeditated, well-planned and orchestrated attack on helpless residents through the mobilization of ethnic and religious hatred in pursuit of a political agenda. Another major thing, made clear from our investigations is that media images do not always capture the true story because, in this case, there was deliberate attempt to falsify evidence through an effective propaganda machine. We encourage all who want the inside story to read the report.
Pakistan: There will be no change in situation. Unless you pump money at the bottom of Talibans you can not develope faith in each other nor you can make judgement of good talibans. The most important point is to bring them back to civilised society. One must cultivate trust in each other and that is possible only by improving quality of life of people involved.
Betrothed to grief, We waited patiently, Admiring the diademed shackles by which our souls were bound.
Even the shameless nakedness of our corruption was lost to us, As we queued on cue for our minuscule share of d national cake.
Like abbattoir-bound cattle, we were daily led, Blind but willful to our interminable doom. The neo-colonialists fed fat on our gloom, While some animals became more equal than the rest in an Orwellian tragic tale.
FREEDOM!! ©
NIGERIA MUST BE FREE !!!
WITH THE ACTIONS OF OUR POLITICAL CLASS IT IS A POINTER THAT NIGERIA IS NOT YET RIPE FOR DEMOCRACY
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There a few interesting points over time here but I don’t know if I see them all center to heart. There exists some validity but Let me take hold opinion until I look into it further. Very good post , thanks and now we want more! Included with FeedBurner at the same time
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