The word bootleg used to have a more direct meaning. It used to refer to 19th-century smugglers who hid illegally acquired liquor in their high boots when they had to…
There are three traditionally crucial stages of a person’s life. There is birth. Though it is optional, marriage is another important part of a person’s social life. And, surely, death…
The Middle East is a tough cookie to swallow. Of all the different multi-ethnic regions in the world, the most complicated and unstable territory lies situated between Europe and Asia.…
What we do not do with our mobile phones! We text, we call, e-mail, Google, YouTube, trade and so much more. We are hooked so much so that we wonder…
The days seem to be changing. It is raining when it should not, and warming up faster than it should. Evenings are rarely cold anymore. Dawn has become too hot.…
The Internet, the 20th-century invention that has businesses, states and societies craving for it. It was invented as early as the late 1960s for military purposes. And if those very…
Asked for advice to young struggling filmmakers, the great German master Werner Herzog would reply, “… so long as you are able-bodied head out to where the real world is…
In the recent French presidential election, where Emmanuel Macron was declared the winner, there was much talk of voting being a civic duty. Now, this must, to some of us…
Sitting forlornly at the local barber shop, for the occasional trim, I noticed a sign written in Amharic right above one of the numerous mirrors. Roughly translated into English, it…
A North Korean defector was discussing the relationship between China and his country and rightly repeated the historical fact that there is no such thing as eternal friendship or indeed…
Ned Ludd is one of those unlucky chaps, like the Marquis de Sade, or Niccolò Machiavelli, who has had his last name nominalized into a noun with very negative connotations.…
There is an aspect of the program and government policies, dubbed affirmative actions, which I do not agree. They should not be implemented, I believe, to make up for past…
Until very recently, Turkey was a proudly democratic Middle Eastern country, with a large Muslim population, who flaunted free elections, freedom of speech and secularism; especially, in relation to other,…
The initial subject for my undergraduate dissertation paper was a weir. A weir is essentially a smaller dam, but used for less biblical purposes, like diverting the flow of rivers…
The fundamental difference between capitalism and communism is the economy. This fact seems to be lost on a lot of people, partly because governance deals with so many other issues,…
It is often very easy to assign blame, even easier to find solutions for incidents long since passed. But then again it is also very important to analyze what really…
In the books of the Revolutionary Democrats, under-development, primari...
Today, Ethiopia is the fifth largest coffee producer next to Brazil, Vi...
There is a growing anxiety at the top tier of the A...
Drought has remained a major challenge not only to Ethiopia but also ma...
In trying to write about personal integrity, I risk revealing my fragil...
The word bootleg used to have a more direct meaning. It used to refer t...
The previous week was attention captivating. Emperor Haile Selassie and...
