Mereja.Forum

[temari]

I am really worried about where the current Ethiopian government is heading with its foreign relations especially with the west. For me it looks like the government is substituting good diplomacy with misplaced empty patriotism and is in the process of slowly but surely destroying our long term good relations with the west.

This should send an alarming signal to all sane Ethiopians. The empty patriotic rhetoric is misplaced in my view even though it may draw the support of many in Ethiopia but is very ill-advised and very harmful when it comes to foreign relations. What is needed instead is a good dose of intensive diplomacy and lobbying. This of course is not easy as empty patriotic slogans but needs a dedication, hard work and money to invest. The government should stop to try to substitute the needed hard work of diplomacy with empty patriotism. It is high time for good diplomacy skills and intensive lobbying and not for misplaced patriotism.

Ethiopia's future is highly intertwined with its capacity to transform itself in the economic sector. Without a successful economic achievement in the coming decades the political instability of the country will only worsen and the capacity of the state to cope with the challenges will only be reduced to the point of no return. Everyone who is pushing for patriotic rhetoric should think twice and know the fact that there will be absolutely zero chance for Ethiopia to achieve economic transformation without having the west as its partner. Anything else is a big DELUSION!

If we continue with the very poor performance of foreign policy and diplomacy as we are doing now and continue to hide our a$$ behind empty patriotism and victim hood mentality, we may then have our misplaced patriotism but we will lose our country for sure. If the PM Abiy government is not very careful, it will be heading in the stupid Derg self destruction path i.e. having patriotism without a country. The west is too important to play misplaced patriotism games on.

[Noble Amhara]

Well explain to us how Ethiopia can maintain good relations with angry agame Susan Rice led EU and US NGOs.

[Sam Ebalalehu]

What do you mean when you wrote “ if we continue with the very poor performance of foreign policy ?” Even poor is not to your satisfaction, and you have to add very. Do you think accepting whatever lie the West convoy is good performance of foreign policy. The West as you imagine is not a charity camp. It gives expecting something in return most of the time. Remember Meles milked the war on terror to embolden TPLF. He knew the West needs security, and he needed to create a TPLF no one dare to challenge. Both got something out of it.

[temari]

Well explain to us how Ethiopia can maintain good relations with angry agame Susan Rice led EU and US NGOs.

Do the same thing what the woyanes did and win her over instead of crying about unfair world. The world is unfair and unjust. Stop acting like a saint in this unjust world and play the game. Pay her, lobby those who you see are important and win them over. That is the world we live in. Foreign relations has nothing to do with justice and human rights etc. That are just cover ups. It is all about interests and wining over influential people and bringing them to your side by hook or by crook. If you can't play the 'dirty' game then go to Gedam and leave the game to others!

[Noble Amhara]

ያልተማረ,

I am no friend too yo Amharaphobic Tree Planting PP government go address the issue and email Gedu Andagachew or yo PP Ambassadors, I am not a person you can correct. Anche Jil

[temari]

What do you mean when you wrote “ if we continue with the very poor performance of foreign policy ?” Even poor is not to your satisfaction, and you have to add very. Do you think accepting whatever lie the West convoy is good performance of foreign policy. The West as you imagine is not a charity camp. It gives expecting something in return most of the time. Remember Meles milked the war on terror to embolden TPLF. He knew the West needs security, and he needed to create a TPLF no one dare to challenge. Both got something out of it.

Let me try to quantify what I mean with "a very poor performance of foreign policy".

When it comes to foreign policy two actors are very crucial for Ethiopia for its long term stability and prosperity. Our neighbors and the west.

Sudan just until recently was one of the most close friends of Ethiopia and sided always with Ethiopia and never allowed any rebel group to attack Ethiopia from their soil. In just a few months we have turned Sudan from a close friend to an enemy state that is actively trying to destabilize Ethiopia by supporting rebels etc. I think such a bad performance of foreign relations in such a very short period is a candidate for the Guinness book. Please stop blaming the generals in Sudan and what not. Woyane in comparison could handle them all well. Blaming others for one's own failure and hiding behind victim hood mentality is unacceptable.

After losing one of our crucial neighbors we are now in the process of losing our most important partner, the west. Still we are blaming the other side and hiding behind "but they don't love us" mentality. If we really lose the west, I can assure you we are done! Because of economic pressure which will result in instability the possibility of state collapse will not be far fetched.

Instead of crying foul about Sudan and the west, it is time for us to look at the mirror and admit how incompetent we have become in foreign relations and start doing something in the field. Empty patriotism is misplaced and will never substitute our incompetence in this area. We are about to follow the failed Derg path which says "the Arabs hate us, Sudan hates us, the west hate us, everybody hate us" victim hood mentality. That is a recipe for disaster.

[TGAA]

I agree with Temari's assessment. 1. We can be emphatic about our stance to the west without being confrontational. 2. The show of burning US flag in front of the US embassy in Addis Ababa or Down, Down American imperialism, is not going help us neither with our dealing with America nor Europeans. we had traveled that route during Mengestu era and the end result was that we ended up in the palms of Weyanes. However, it doesn't mean we have to bow to America's or Eurpian's unjust demand. We should show that we still value them as Ethiopian partners, but we have to point out that they are wrongheaded, and insist on that. So we can be stiff in our resistance without being inimical. There is a big difference between the two. However, our politicians did fail to see that distinction. So bowing to American whimsical demand is not a requirement. But we don't need to posture ourselves against them. Cause with the west against us, we cannot go further. We have interest and they have interest whenever possible we don't need to go against theirs, but when we do have a conflict of interest, we state them and we stick with our decision and we should be ready to pay whatever is necessary to protect our interest. So let us be stiff with our resistance but useless rhetoric and sloggring on the street of Addis Ababa would do us no good. We can collect signatures and give them to American Embassy. We can lobby congress members, we can hire lobby firms on our behalf just as weyanee stooges have done . We can let go off their assistance. Do you remember after 2005 election meles told them to keep their money in their pocket while he called them his partners? Do the same. Mainly work on the unity of the Ethiopian people. That is the antidote to all this madness.

[gearhead]

Diplomacy is poor! However, no amount of diplomacy can cure the ill effects of a stolen transitional roadmap and its attendant consequences. keep in mind that Tigray is already Libya, furthermore, with the thieves model of Ethiopia vouching to extend its reach throughout all the kilils, they will be. extending Libya through their proven Libya making process!

Eritrea's defiant and unchallenged presence kills off the sovereignty/patriotism arguments! The Thieves have now turned 'afro-centric', calculating that the west will back-off and leave them to complete their path of disaster!

Their method is not without calculation however! They have figured that they will outlive any seating democratic government as has done Isayas! So too, they believe that the west will dole out money out of fear of hurting the population and creating the migratory condition that it is trying to prevent. A catch 22 while holding the population hostage. As far as going punitive on specific targets, they calculate that the govt's term will end while going through the long, legal process!

I cant say their calculation is without merit. There are millions who abhor seating near these magots, yet the three person axis of evil has a good chance of success because west's success is constrained through many legalities and social pressure to continue humanitarian aid! Earth favors the
unscrupulous!

BTW, the demonstrations will be viewed as a social contract to eliminate OPP. Honestly, this time around, no one will come to their rescue!

[Horus]

temari,

My feeling is your uncertainty about the outcome of foreign relations is driving your opinion. You seem to have a grasped of the essence of national interest. A countries foreign relations are driven by its national interest. That is the motivation question.

But how do you conduct foreign policy? You have missed that fundamental issue, that is power. Foreign policy is a power game, it you don't have power (which includes both hard and soft power), you are not a player; you are a follower, a receiver and a dependent.

Your strategy seems to be appeasement, not equitable transaction, negotiation or reasonable compromise. Or if you are the powerful one, you impose your will on the weak.

So when did Abiy refuse negotiation, compromise and give and take with the US? You are wrong and unfair and simply blaming the Ethiopian side because you hold appeasement to be the easy way out and less demanding to pursue.

If you believe in the national interest, what is Ethiopian national interest? You have a fuzzy idea of economic transformation. But the the issues involved are many. Even taking economic development as our singular national interest, why does the US oppose the GERD? Why does US chooses Kenya to become the regional power of East Africa, not Ethiopia?

so you need to think deeper!

Ethiopia is smaller nation than US for her to be an equal partner with America. That does not mean to bow down and hold on to the illusion of appeasement. Ethiopia must use all its available sources of influence and power including her name, location, history and other soft powers in order to stop America from interference and bullying.

Ethiopia has a lot of influence in Africa, a soon to be 5th world power.

So my friend, politics (diplomacy) is war by peaceful means. There is no politics, there is no diplomacy without power.

If you advise Abiy to carry out successful diplomacy, what are the Ethiopian powers he should use to do his job? This is where you are mistaken.

The people of a nation are the greatest source of power for a government. Abiy's mobilization of 120 million people and 5 million diaspora in support of the Ethiopian national interest which is called public diplomacy is in fact a mark an excellent strategy and effective diplomacy.

You cannot be member of free nations of the world by compromising your sovereignty and appeasement.

America must respect the independence and sovereignty of Ethiopia !!

[Sam Ebalalehu]

temari has a gross misunderstanding of foreign policy, but he claims the Ethiopian government is the one with “ very poor” performance. I wholeheartedly defend the government. temari wrote “ Sudan just recently was one of the close friends of Ethiopia and never allowed any rebel group to attack Ethiopia from their soil.” Had not read many articles of temari before, I say here comes a TPLF cadre. Sebhat Nega could not make a better sentence than that. Time matters. temari should specify when the Sudan friendship ended. Was it when TPLF retreated to Tigray ? The TPLF leader, without being torched, publicly admitted Sudanese are more close to Tigreans than the Amharas. Is that feeling should not be reciprocal ?
Abiy in his early premiership went to Sudan to settle the internal problem they had. He was applauded for it. temari conveniently forgot about it. In fact, not only that he forgot the Egyptian role to create a Sudanese government they control to some degree.
Should the Ethiopian government accept the Sudan and Egypt ultimatum ? No. One of the best consistent leadership the Abiy government was opting not be dictated about the dam. In fact, all Ethiopians would be proud of that unwavering stand. Does temari feel the same ?
temari seems to believe Ethiopia will no longer exist if the West stops supporting her. I am not exaggerating. temari wrote “ if we really lose the West ... we are done.” Oh! That is a very disturbing statement. Without an iota of the West help, Ethiopia will continue to exist and even flourish. The West helps Ethiopia to feed herself. Period. When Abiy says we produce more wheat so that the West do not dictate its policy on us, he was telling the truth. Aid is not as free as it seems. Take Egypt . Egypt gets around 3 Billion US dollars annually. Most of the aid is in military equipment. The Egypt government buys the military stuff from American companies. In other words Egypt gets the military equipments, and the American defense contractors get the money. What does America get from a peaceful Egypt. Free merchandise transport through Suez Canal to name one.
I like the Abiy approach. We produce more food to feed ourselves, and that means we no longer necessarily needs their aid.
Do not forget Abiy do not choose to pick a fight with the West. They did by disseminating false narrative about TPLF and what was going on in Tigray. What did temari expect Abiy to have done ?
The Abiy administration is doing fine. An Abiy administration that allows an American government dictate where and when the Ethiopian defense force moves within Ethiopia is a disgrace. An Abiy administration that says it is outrageous is a government that smells Ethiopian.

[gearhead]

The axis of evil is not Ethiopia! Infact, 10million would march against this axis, had it not been the case that it will be gunned down w/ helicopter machine-guns! The axis is relatively ruthless!

I wonder how much more EU/US would be incapacitated if and when China annexes Taiwan? EU/US cant even handle three to five men acting with impunity, let alone Han China, and its Red Army!

The three-man axis-of-evil is showing the world that NATO can be tied down by its own bureaucracy and social responsibility!

[sun]

I am really worried about where the current Ethiopian government is heading with its foreign relations especially with the west. For me it looks like the government is substituting good diplomacy with misplaced empty patriotism and is in the process of slowly but surely destroying our long term good relations with the west.

This should send an alarming signal to all sane Ethiopians. The empty patriotic rhetoric is misplaced in my view even though it may draw the support of many in Ethiopia but is very ill-advised and very harmful when it comes to foreign relations. What is needed instead is a good dose of intensive diplomacy and lobbying. This of course is not easy as empty patriotic slogans but needs a dedication, hard work and money to invest. The government should stop to try to substitute the needed hard work of diplomacy with empty patriotism. It is high time for good diplomacy skills and intensive lobbying and not for misplaced patriotism.

Ethiopia's future is highly intertwined with its capacity to transform itself in the economic sector. Without a successful economic achievement in the coming decades the political instability of the country will only worsen and the capacity of the state to cope with the challenges will only be reduced to the point of no return. Everyone who is pushing for patriotic rhetoric should think twice and know the fact that there will be absolutely zero chance for Ethiopia to achieve economic transformation without having the west as its partner. Anything else is a big DELUSION!

If we continue with the very poor performance of foreign policy and diplomacy as we are doing now and continue to hide our a$$ behind empty patriotism and victim hood mentality, we may then have our misplaced patriotism but we will lose our country for sure. If the PM Abiy government is not very careful, it will be heading in the stupid Derg self destruction path i.e. having patriotism without a country. The west is too important to play misplaced patriotism games on.

What some of these foreign notables are doing is utter shame old world rogue colonialist behavior partly because now the global balance of power is shifting in which case many governments out there are not any more stable and self confident actors about their future in the world, but yet the Ethiopian government need not over agitated and burn the bridge from behind even though they have enough reasons and enough causes to behave the way they are behaving, but play smarter tactical games of push and pull diplomacy or delay tactics. In a way even Haile Selassie used to play one super power against the other claiming neutrality options and in that way used to get what he wanted, even though he was labelled as a spoiled child of the West.

I never thought even in my dreams that Biden's government for whom we have been campaigning non stop for several years will come to attack Russia head on instantly after coming to power, calling its leader as a killer while at the same time attacking the Chines and its leader direct in the face. Biden's domestic policy is very good and a success story. But his foreign policy is simply a disaster to say the least. But luckily it seems that he is gaining some balance now when he promised to meet with the Russian leader as well as also removed sanctions from the Russian gas export pipeline(Nordstream).

Now the Chinese vaccine and international diplomacy strength and trustworthiness is rising and filling the vacuum left behind by the incoherent, moody and trust lacking diplomatic behavior of the Biden administration. But of course Biden have been in power only for a short time now, in which case he still have time for self correction and self education in theses constantly shifting power relationship dynamics and foreign policy.

[Noble Amhara]

this Bilisigna party of the Ethiopianist Oromia regime says i do not understand politics kkkkkkkkkk and because of my Amhara identity I should go to the ገዳም

My first question to this Abiy Ahmed worshipping brat is when did I become the leader of Ethiopia this pp acting like Amhara is in control of Ethiopia LoL, I know you are useless Oromo your PP party is fandia

OPP and it’s [deleted] APP doesn’t have the IQ to not follow its bloody predecessors no wonder why your INSA spy Abiy Ahmed got caught killing so many folks in the country he’s the worst spy ever his IQ is below 30 he helps those amharaphobes who would slaughter him if they could in Addis and also he’s a b@stard along with those who say Ethiopia prevails they are all b@stards that don’t know how to play the game smoothly like Haile selassie and Meles zenawi

Well explain to us how Ethiopia can maintain good relations with angry agame Susan Rice led EU and US NGOs.

Do the same thing what the woyanes did and win her over instead of crying about unfair world. The world is unfair and unjust. Stop acting like a saint in this unjust world and play the game. Pay her, lobby those who you see are important and win them over. That is the world we live in. Foreign relations has nothing to do with justice and human rights etc. That are just cover ups. It is all about interests and wining over influential people and bringing them to your side by hook or by crook. If you can't play the 'dirty' game then go to Gedam and leave the game to others!

[sun]

this Bilisigna party of the Ethiopianist Oromia regime says i do not understand politics kkkkkkkkkk and because of my Amhara identity I should go to the ገዳም

My first question to this Abiy Ahmed worshipping brat is when did I become the leader of Ethiopia this pp acting like Amhara is in control of Ethiopia LoL, I know you are useless Oromo your PP party is fandia

OPP and it’s [deleted] APP doesn’t have the IQ to not follow its bloody predecessors no wonder why your INSA spy Abiy Ahmed got caught killing so many folks in the country he’s the worst spy ever his IQ is below 30 he helps those amharaphobes who would slaughter him if they could in Addis and also he’s a b@stard along with those who say Ethiopia prevails they are all b@stards that don’t know how to play the game smoothly like Haile selassie and Meles zenawi

Well explain to us how Ethiopia can maintain good relations with angry agame Susan Rice led EU and US NGOs.

Do the same thing what the woyanes did and win her over instead of crying about unfair world. The world is unfair and unjust. Stop acting like a saint in this unjust world and play the game. Pay her, lobby those who you see are important and win them over. That is the world we live in. Foreign relations has nothing to do with justice and human rights etc. That are just cover ups. It is all about interests and wining over influential people and bringing them to your side by hook or by crook. If you can't play the 'dirty' game then go to Gedam and leave the game to others!

Really??

Keep twerking baby as we keep watching!

[Axumezana]

I agree with the writer Abiy is following the directive of Isaias in his foreign relationship and he is acting irresponsibly while he claims that he is the leader of 110m people. No matter he tries to cover up his diplomatic failure and his crime in Tigray by drawing the card of empty patriotism he is deceiving himself.

[sun]

I agree with the writer Abiy is following the directive of Isaias in his foreign relationship and he is acting irresponsibly while he claims that he is the leader of 110m people. No matter he tries to cover up his diplomatic failure and his crime in Tigray by drawing the card of empty patriotism he is deceiving himself.

You are telling big lies even when you may lie small lies. Your tplf have be come just a simple homeboy of Misir and street vendors for nechi sewocu who are using you to bad mouth great African leaders for their own self interest. PM Abiy is a once in a life time transformational leader, never seen never heard even in 3000/500 years of Ethiopian history whom you may not like because he dared and made peace with " alleged your enemy, Eritrea and through that effectively cut off tplf's lucrative war economy and war business profit making and contraband trading monopoly. Envy and jealousy is what makes you talk bad and negative but yet change has come to stay with no going back to the usual tplf shooting and looting sadistic era. BEQA!

[Abe Abraham]

I agree with Temari's assessment. 1. We can be emphatic about our stance to the west without being confrontational. 2. The show of burning US flag in front of the US embassy in Addis Ababa or Down, Down American imperialism, is not going help us neither with our dealing with America nor Europeans. we had traveled that route during Mengestu era and the end result was that we ended up in the palms of Weyanes. However, it doesn't mean we have to bow to America's or Eurpian's unjust demand. We should show that we still value them as Ethiopian partners, but we have to point out that they are wrongheaded, and insist on that. So we can be stiff in our resistance without being inimical. There is a big difference between the two. However, our politicians did fail to see that distinction. So bowing to American whimsical demand is not a requirement. But we don't need to posture ourselves against them. Cause with the west against us, we cannot go further. We have interest and they have interest whenever possible we don't need to go against theirs, but when we do have a conflict of interest, we state them and we stick with our decision and we should be ready to pay whatever is necessary to protect our interest. So let us be stiff with our resistance but useless rhetoric and sloggring on the street of Addis Ababa would do us no good. We can collect signatures and give them to American Embassy. We can lobby congress members, we can hire lobby firms on our behalf just as weyanee stooges have done . We can let go off their assistance. Do you remember after 2005 election meles told them to keep their money in their pocket while he called them his partners? Do the same. Mainly work on the unity of the Ethiopian people. That is the antidote to all this madness.

What you are asking is being done by the experienced diplomats. The situation is like what Malcolom X said " It is America that is trying to land on the Horn - Horn of Africa - not vise versa . "

However, it doesn't mean we have to bow to America's or Eurpian's unjust demand. We should show that we still value them as Ethiopian partners, but we have to point out that they are wrongheaded, and insist on that. So we can be stiff in our resistance without being inimical.

So bowing to American whimsical demand is not a requirement.

[Horus]

What does America want from the Horn of Africa? Why do they try to tell Ethiopia what to do?

America wants 6 things:
1. America wants access to oil, minerals, and other resources
2. America wants the political support of the countries of the region (Horn as an American sphere of influence)
3. America needs a market to export her goods and services. HoA is 200 million consumer market
4. America needs to avoid (check) terrorism, immigration, and drug & weapon illegal markets
5. They want access to ports on the Red Sea and Indian ocean
6. More generally, they want to remain the hegemonic super power in the region.

Objectives 2, 3, 4, & 5 ... they will have to get them through acceptable engagement, negotiation, cooperation, and compromise. As Blinken is trying to do, if they want achieve these goals by means of coercion, bullying, threats, isolation, embargoes and coups, it can only arouse Ethiopian national anger and our instinctive self defense.

What does Ethiopia want?
1. The security and inviolability of her independence and sovereignty
2. Ethiopia want to secure her national unity and territorial integrity
3. Ethiopian want support of other counties including America
4. Ethiopia wants her own economic development including GERD
5. Ethiopia wants markets for her export goods and services
6. Ethiopia wants to avoid terrorism and migration of her population
7. Ethiopia wants to have access to ports
8. Ethiopia , being the 2nd largest nation in Africa, wants to become the an African regional power.

When you look at the national interests of America & Ethiopia, US support of TPLF terrorism or its intervention in Ethiopian internal tribal matters clearly shows who is at fault.

What Ethiopia needs is cooperation from the USA not appease or bow to US hidden and unjust needs and demands on Ethiopia.

[Axumezana]

I agree with the writer Abiy is following the directive of Isaias in his foreign relationship and he is acting irresponsibly while he claims that he is the leader of 110m people. No matter he tries to cover up his diplomatic failure and his crime in Tigray by drawing the card of empty patriotism he is deceiving himself.

You are telling big lies even when you may lie small lies. Your tplf have be come just a simple homeboy of Misir and street vendors for nechi sewocu who are using you to bad mouth great African leaders for their own self interest. PM Abiy is a once in a life time transformational leader, never seen never heard even in 3000/500 years of Ethiopian history whom you may not like because he dared and made peace with " alleged your enemy, Eritrea and through that effectively cut off tplf's lucrative war economy and war business profit making and contraband trading monopoly. Envy and jealousy is what makes you talk bad and negative but yet change has come to stay with no going back to the usual tplf shooting and looting sadistic era. BEQA!

If you want you can worship Abiy. Be objective and try to see the reality. Abiy is under the control of Isaias and he has to free himself to bring peace to Ethiopia.

[Sabur]

Mental defeat is deadlier than the Sword. And If already in the blinking mode, then succumbing ushers no time.