[BBC] Africa is not a country. It is a continent that feels like it has come of age. Despite the very real problems of poverty, corruption and the sense you sometimes get in some quarters, that no-one is held to account, business types hail Africa as the "final frontier". After nearly 12 years reporting this region, for me it feels like a place where one grows up.
I have met priests and politicians, warlords and entrepreneurs, gangsters and teachers. Ordinary mums and dads. Each of them has helped to shape my impressions and many have become firm friends.
One of the first lessons I learnt in Kenya was survival. There is no safety net here when times get tough.
In the early days on a visit to the slum known as Kibera, an elderly lady called me over as she stirred her supper in a thick black cast iron pot. "Hey sister, where are you from?" she asked. "London," I replied. "Yes, but where in London?" I was rather puzzled as she pressed me further. "I know London," she nodded, sagely. "In fact, I know Paris and Berlin, too."
It emerged that this friendly stranger had once been a glamorous stewardess for a international airline. She had drunk the best champagne and visited the fanciest European hotels but when times got hard in the 1980s and the airline folded, she lost her job.
#1
There is no safety net here when times get tough.
I don't suppose she would somehow link this statement to the 'coming of age' she's seen in 12 years. 'Safety nets' in the west taking civilization the exact opposite direction.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Sultanate of Oman’s decision to join the Saudi-led anti- terrorism coalition is a welcome development and a major boost to the 40-nation Islamic Military Alliance created on Dec. 15, 2015 to enhance regional security. ISIS, al-Qaeda and affiliates continue to take advantage of the fragile political and security climate across the region to gain more influence and territorial control. Major General Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesperson, recently told news hounds that more than 2,000 Saudis are currently fighting in the ranks of faceless myrmidons abroad and that over 70 percent of them are stationed in Syria. The report is an alarming reminder of the urgent need for military preparedness to combat the threat of terrorism within Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and abroad.
Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, stated that Saudi Vision 2030 includes plans to boost the military industry and to raise the level of security services within the Saudi army. He stated that the Kingdom would be restructuring many military deals to be linked to Saudi manufacturing.
He also added, that the Kingdom is in the process of establishing a holding company for military industries. He said, "It will be later in the Saudi market, also for ’transparency’, so a citizen can know the military deals, the company’s performance, sales, deals and industries very clearly." Developing a strong Saudi defense industry is a national priority.
Foreign military assistance
In line with the new vision and the alarming threat of terrorism, seeking military cooperation with major industrial powers is critical to prevent dangerous situations. The drive for self-dependency and the setting up of our own parameters of defense is a step in the right direction. It is time we build our own defense mechanisms. For years, we have been entirely dependent on foreign military assistance and that has weakened our status in the global community and has allowed many to take advantage of our vulnerability. The new vision opens doors for us to import and develop our own indigenous technology to suit our needs and environment.
The official visit of the high-level delegation of the Italian frigate Nave Carabiniere on Dec. 28 to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry presented an opportunity for our business community to view state-of-the-art naval ships and products. The commanding officer La Belle Francesco Pagnotta explained that the purpose of the visit was to foster cooperation and to demonstrate the newest and most advanced navy projects that are not only for military purposes but also for civilian tasks that include providing power and water supply, humanitarian assistance, hospital services and logistic support with medical care capacity.
Members of the delegation included ship building business leaders who offered services to provide technology transfer of the latest naval ships and electronic warfare and defense equipment. They shared their expertise in surveillance and cyber intelligence systems with the aim of deterring the threat of faceless myrmidons or other illegal activities.
Our region must work on a strategy for the efficient transfer of military technology and the creation of policies to foster relations to build partners and not remain recipients in the evolution of technology. If we do not develop our military mechanism and spend wisely on defense, we will be easy prey for warmongers and terrorist organizations.
Saudi Arabia and the Islamic military alliance have an important task ahead not only to train their armed forces, but also to develop a stronger military industry with advanced weapons to defend Moslem territories. The Middle East can no longer afford to be at the mercy of the superpowers that control the sales of arms and exercise their hegemony over our region.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
#1
...One tiny lil' problem with this plan: you've got a few generations of Saudis who believe that manual labor (as in assembling/maintaining weapons and weapons systems) is beneath them. They'll end up going right back to TCNs to do everything, but this time the Saudis may very well not be able to afford the salaries they shelled out in the past. Short version: I think the Saudi government is starting to go full Iranian (wild claims about capabilities, indigenous weapons, etc).
And you never go full Iranian.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/01/2017 8:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Translation: with oil prices of today can't afford western toys (which our military can't operate anyway) anymore.
[Daily Caller] Charles Krauthammer harshly criticized President Barack Obama during a panel discussion on Fox News Thursday evening.
The conservative pundit called Obama’s new executive order raising sanctions against Russia for its government’s alleged role in influencing the 2016 election "anti-democratic" before chastising POTUS for seeking to "lock in" Trump to a fractured Oval Office.
"This is about as anti-democratic as you can get. You were in office for eight years -- you got your mandates -- and on all of these issues... he is doing all these things that have been explicitly rejected by his own party," Krauthammer lamented. "Then he doesn’t have the courage of his own convictions, getting them done to lock in his successor."
#1
i suspect the DJT Express to roll right over bambis bleatings like an Union Pacific SD -45 going downhill: the congressional RINOs will pose a bigger problem than ex-POTUS Big Ears
[DAWN] THE state’s lukewarm efforts to take up the counter-extremism fight are compounding the madressah challenge. It neither realises the scale of the challenge, nor has any clue about the problematic contours of these institutions of religious education. It perceives madressahs as a security challenge and wants to respond through curriculum reforms.
When state institutions fail to understand the nature of a challenge, they tend to propose old, traditional solutions. The same is happening in the case of madressahs. Introduce English language, mathematics and computers in madressah curriculums and that will transform the institutions. This is what the interior and religious affairs ministries recently proposed.
A review of initiatives taken under the National Action Plan to reform madressahs indicates how the state is dealing with the issue. Those spearheading NAP attached priority to regulating madressahs and gave the task to the federal interior ministry. Initially, the interior minister formed two committees for madressah regulation under his supervision. He also assigned madressah leadership the task of preparing a counter-narrative that could alienate the murderous Moslems.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2017 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Daily Caller] Charles Krauthammer harshly criticized President Barack Obama during a panel discussion on Fox News Thursday evening.
