''It's hard-pressed to comprehend here how this could have gone so wrong in terms of Kenya being on its way to some stability and then having this election turn into such a violent situation.''Word usage aside (what's hard-pressed?) why are they portraying Kenya as unstable? It's unstable now, because we've demonstrated what happens when a country just lets one candidate steal the election, and the Kenyans don't want to end up like us. But, the election results really started it.
Arkadyevitchizing America since 2006
By the time you panic, it is way too late -- Lee Raymond, New York Times, July 6, 2008
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies a theft from those who are hungry and not fed; from those who are cold and not clothed. This world-in-arms is not spending money alone; it is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. Dwight D Eisenhower, 11/16/53
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Unforced cluelessness on Kenya?
In Dana Perino, the White House has finally found a press secretary whom no one ever expects to actually have a grounding in any sort of knowledge. Usually, when she says something breathtakingly misleading or incorrect, you can match it to some nefarious interest of the Bush Administration with a little reflection. After all, they make their own reality, and the press secretary shares that reality with us. But, I'm having trouble finding their interest in
The IRIN is reporting that Kenya is now in the throes of a humanitarian “national disaster”
ReplyDeleteI am following the story on the Wordlview blog.
www.worldvieww.blogspot.com
Thanks, Trevor. I've got to say, I've always thought of Abilene as more of a paradox than a place.
ReplyDeleteI actually thought this
ReplyDeletewas pretty funny.
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua downplayed the violence, saying it had only affected about 3 percent of the country's 34 million people. ''Kenya is not burning and not at the throes of any division,'' he said.
Well, three per cent in a week is actually fairly pervasive. And three per cent of thirty-four million is about a million. So, that's a little like saying, "You're not in danger. It's just that the plank supporting you over the chasm is on fire."
Raila Odinga thinks 1E6 people is a lot.
Odinga has said he will go ahead with plans to lead a ''million man'' protest march in the capital Thursday even though the government has banned it.
So, maybe they've politicized the significance of a million people.