Bilbao fans, my favorite Iberian side, have a reputation for lefty nationalism and fearlessness in the face of Nazis. Seems one got creative, and is a Youtube sensation. Via some dopey website: "According to most newspapers, Anderlecht fans started to mess around with the Basque supporters, thus breaking the golden rule of Spanish football: You should never provoke an angry horde of Athletic fans… Some Bilbao and Anderlecht supporters invaded the pitch after the match, causing a violent riot amongst the fans, whereas other Basque fans engaged in a discussion with the Belgian visitors in the stands… two of these aficionados went a bit further, than the "usual." Sitting above the visiting fans, one of the Basques was throwing plastic cups at the opposing fans, whilst another fan decided to, literally, urinate on the Belgian fans. Some dare to call him genius, others call him simply a drunk buffoon, but everyone knows him as "el orinador" (Castelleno for "The Urinater")."
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Mali: AQIM release French hostage
by Tommy Miles • • 0 Comments
Pierre Camatte, seized by a gang near his home in Menaka and shopped to the AQIM in the desert, has returned to Bamako. Will he ever be able to go back to his longtime home? The Malians released four AQIM prisoners in exchange, we can assume under French pressure. What else each side got from France or other western nations we will likely never know. Algeria and Mauritania have withdrawn their ambassadors to Mali in protest. Mali has its problems, but in this case, it just seems everyone else's festering problems, which would cost them too much to fix at home, come to northern Mali out of convenience. The very least Algeria, Mauritania, and the west can do for Mali is is to make it harder for their proxy warriors to end up in Gao. But that's wishful thinking, I'm sure. No word on the other hostages.
Niger: Junta names Prime Minister, brings in men from Saibou era.
by Tommy Miles • • 0 Comments
Following the Monday night communique outlining the transitional authority of the CSRD, The junta President Salou Djibo has named as Prime Minister Mahmadou Danda, the former interim Communications Minister during the 1999 junta's interim rule. Danda has served the government since the 80s, and most recently as Sport Minister in 2000 (under Tandja). He was until now working for the Canadian Embassy, one of the nations most involved in uranium and gold mines. As interesting, Salou's new Personal Chief of Military Staff is Colonel Amadou Moussa Gros. Gros rose under Gen. Ali Saibou's military rule in the 80s, becoming Min. of Tourism. An old friend of Tandja's, he served the brief MNSD government of Hama Amadou in 1995 that was overthrown by Bare. Bare later reactivated him, and made him Chief of Staff. Of late he has been head of a military charitable group, the AAETN. To top this off, Salou went to visit Saibou himself to receive the blessing of the old President and his family.
Institutions: Karzai packs the electoral commission (BBC)
by Tommy Miles • • 0 Comments
Quite apart from the obvious conclusions about corruption and power, I was struck by the range – or lack of – in the discussion on the BBC today on the packing of the Afghan Electoral Commission in the run up to parliamentary elections. The removal of foreign elements from the commission was the center of concern with Karzai appointing all members of the body. First, foreign observers might be just as corrupted by Karzai, or his sponsors. But the debate never imagined any Afghan opposition or civil society taking part as a check on power. West Africa, following the civil society led wave of democratization in the 1990s, made truly independent electoral commissions (usually under the French acronym CENI) the cornerstone of electoral transparency in most nations, with wide membership of all forces in society. The current crisis in Cote d'Ivoire points to their continued importance, if imperfection. These experiences, sadly, seem ignored elsewhere.
Niger: Tandja to get Red Cross visit
by Tommy Miles • • 0 Comments
Col. Hima "Pele" Hamadou told the press this weekend that (ex) President Tandja would be visited by the Red Cross to confirm his health. Pele says that Tandja is under house arrest with his family. MNSD-Nassara VP Ali Sabo (assistant to party president Seini Oumarou and chair Albadé Abouba, both high ranking ministers whose whereabouts are not public ) has told the press that Tandja is not allowed any visitors but his doctor, and is being held not at the military school south of town, but in the "Villa Verte": a luxurious house abutting the President Palace's compound, often used for state functions, official meetings, and as home of visiting heads of state. Former Mauritanian President Ould Taya, disposed by coup, spent the first days of his exile there in 2005. Not too shabby!