If PM Abiy Ahmed doesn’t challenge intellectual cowards that mix facts-and-fictions to reinforce their degenerate colonial and crony capitalist agenda, all beat on a government by, to and for the people of Ethiopia is off.
By Teshome Debake
February 28, 2019
Intellectual cowards come in many shapes and forms. Some are sellouts for self-sustenance with not substantial harm on society at large beyond themselves and their immediate surroundings. Other intellectual cowards used-and-abused to do nefarious things by the power to be with far more harm to society at large and beyond.
The legendary America fiction and playwright writer Stephen King said; ‘A coward judges all he sees by what he is’. Such self-deprecating behavior behind political and economic power with ‘pen’ and firearm unattended inflicts unimaginable pain-and-suffering for millions of people of a nation and humanity at large. When intellectual cowards are empowered under ethnic apartheid and Developmental State regime, their damage to society is a whole different ball game as we are witnessing in Ethiopia.
TPLF intellectual operatives are a prime example of cowards empowered to inflict maximum pain and suffering on the people of Ethiopia and the nation, and because of it, they bit more than they can chew; not necessarily by their own will but, trapped by their enablers to conflate fact-and-fiction to be ‘useful idiots’.
To be fair, Ethiopian national are not the only in the same predicament. The world is full of intellectual cowards hired to provide cover for the power to be — political, social, or economic.
Therefore, they justify their fairytales with caveat of facts and inflated and made up credential depending where they are needed and became a Weapons of Mass Distraction.
As TPLF warlords display their cowardness in public and making a mockery of themselves without even knowing it, what their clandestine intellectual cowards do and say disguised as a third-party is a window of opportunity to see how the mind of intellectuals for hire work and continue to do so at the expenses of the blood and treasure of the people of Ethiopia in the middle of the ongoing reform that left them butt necked for the world to see when they swivel to rescue the self-confessed terrorist group known as Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) that retreated back a self-described Tigray territory in northern Ethiopia where it started.
Incidentally, the superiority of peaceful over armed movement is its ability to strip intellectual cowards bear necked as we are witnessing when they scramble to alter their identity, posture and credential to in the next phase of their life.
They say ‘a mind is a terrible thing to waste’. When one breaks down the slogan, it simply means; the potential of a beautiful mind every human person carry on his/her shoulder is so mesmerizing for the imagination how much good it can do for humanity — only intellectual cowards reduce it other than what it was intended to do.
Regardless, cowards come in two kinds. Those that display and own it in public and other that display it as a third neutral party to hide their cowardness. The later is what makes TPLF clandestine intellectual cowards unique and dangerous to believe; they are intelligent enough to insult the intelligence of the people of Ethiopia in disguis but, not brave enough to own what they believe or not to revile who hired them – a classic definition of intellectual cowards.
No one even come close to fill that shoe than the infamous TPLF intellectual wannabe operative Dr Mehari Taddele Maru, a self-described “specialist in international human rights and humanitarian law, an international consultant on African Union affairs, and an expert in Public Administration and Management” until 2015 and “a scholar of peace and security, law and governance, strategy and management, human rights and migration issues” since PM Abiy Ahmed came to the helm of power in April of 2018.
Unfortunately, Maru must either believe his vast and everchanging self-proclaimed credentials make him top notch intellectual than any to put it out in public or he is insulting the intelligence of the people of Ethiopia and the world not to know he is a hired hand of TPLF enablers posed as expert and scholar of everything he needed to do the jobs.
Exploring the mind of intellectual cowards that won’t own it by pointing on shining object or piggybacking at someone’s expenses is a fascinating characteristic to explore. As tragic and tormenting existence it may be, there is a lesson to be learned what possible reward it may bring in what Shakespeare refers as “Cowards die many times before their death… the brave dies but only once”.
Maru like many intellectual cowards has no independent public record or credential than many he put out at will in disguise since he showed up in public on make-believe Media platforms to do TPLF’s bidding against the people of Ethiopia. Since all intellectual cowards have no public stand on anything including the fact, often than not; they are hired by their enablers’ dirty mission and use any knowledge learned or acquired to accomplish their assignments.
Therefore, Maru’s shifty behavior and credential to promote and defend TPLF led brutal and corrupt ethnic apartheid regime Ethiopians never encountered since five-years Fascist Italy occupation and ethnic apartheid implementation from 1936-41.
Such public indictment should not be taken lightly nor should be considered personal on the individual in question but on the parties that empowered him to make up as-you-go credential to defend TPLF warlords’ unthinkable crimes on the people of Ethiopia on multiple platforms, particularly on The Horn Affairs – the home of TPLF clandestine intellectual cowards posed as independent third-party experts and scholars and, Al Jazeera – the home of the petrodollar King of Qatar’s propaganda outlet in competition with his rival petrodollar Kingdoms of Saudi and the Emeritus’ geopolitical games.
The Horn Affairs led by the Chief Editor Daniel Berhane in Addis Ababa is where Maru and several intellectual cowards feels home to make TPLF instigated ethnic apartheid rule legitimate to Ethiopians and the international community ironically in Amharic |Afan Oromo | Tigrigna and the English language with their bogus credential to match their subversion — consistent with TPLF colonial mission of ethnic divide in Ethiopia. Ironically, Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrigna are not the languages of Horn of Africa countries but Ethiopians unlike the esteemed Horn Affairs clandestine fellows wanted the world to believe doing TPLF’s enablers mission on Ethiopia.
Maru’s credential on Horn Affairs reads; “international consultant on African Union affairs and a research fellow at the NATO Defense Collage” contrary to his own other professed credentials.
Here is a test of what the ‘research fellow at the NATO Defense Collage Maru’s “Initiative for National Dialogue (Concerned Ethiopians Group – CEG) Letter to the Editor in Chief of Horn Affairs” few months in the new PM Abiy Administration.
The opening reads;
“In July 2018, I participated in a discussion devoted to science and technology for social, economic and political development of Tigray. This forum was organized by The Global Society of Tigrean Scholars (GSTS), one of the biggest and independent society of scholars dedicated to paying back its dues to the community. I believe groups like GSTS, by widening intellectual and scientific dialogue, can make a unique contribution to our country and region.”
Such bizarre claim coming from a supposedly scholar of vast self-described credential on behalf of The Global Society of Tigrean Scholars (GSTS) with undisclosed names and whereabout reviles how far TPLF ethnic apartheid operatives gone posed as third-party experts and scholars.
The irony is, the same scholars that left Ethiopians in the blackout in “science and technology for social, economic and political development” are calling for National Dialogue as Concerned Ethiopians Group (CEG) not to the Free Press, not to Ethiopian oppositions TPLF warlords terrorized for 27 years, not to the PM Abiy that took responsibility for TPLF’s crimes and initiated major reform but to the Editor in Chief of Horn Affairs and not to mention without disclosing the names of ‘CEG’s members and their association with TPLF and their whereabout.
At the meantime, Al Jazeera’s kin interest on the opinion of an expert turn a ‘scholar like Maru reviles; the Qatar kingdom propaganda outlet posed as a Free Press to shape regional politics through ethnic and sectarian conflicts by mixing facts-and-fictions is as clear as day-and-night for people that see the ‘devil in the detail’.
For instance, in a span of three years since the popular grassroot revolution against TPLF led ethnic apartheid regime started that brought the ongoing reform, Al Jazeera coverage of Ethiopia with questionable guests pose as experts and scholars with captions and image that sends its main mission speaks volume who is behind it and why.
Al Jazeera entertaining Maru’s Op-Ed of July 2015 titled ‘The secret of Ethiopia counterterrorism-success’ that publicized his inside knowledge of the secret of TPLF led regime’s security and intelligence apparatus to undermine its oppositions it labeled terrorist piggybacking on the U.S. led fight against ‘International terrorism’ says more about Al Jazeera’s mission than the flyby pseudo expert-scholar with unverifiable credential claiming to be consultant at AU Al Jazeera casually pass as credible for its own regional and international agenda.
Maru public credential that changes whatever assignment TPLF gave him — from expert on university reform to religious charity management and child adaptation lawyer in the early days to security and peacekeeping expert consultant for the Africa Union (AU) until he turns an independent “scholar of peace and security, law and governance, strategy and management, human rights and migration issues” in the last hour – essentially is anything TPLF want to promote or hide against Ethiopia.
What triggered Maru’s Op-Ed PR stunt to spill his gut and expose himself as clandestine TPLF operatives was the July of 2015 visit of President Obama Ethiopia and the unprecedented endorsement of TPLF led ruling collation party as ‘democratically elected’ and reliable U.S. partner in its counter terrorist effort while Maru was AU consultant on peacekeeping mission Al Jazeera failed to unravel for not doing basic background on Maru posed as terrorism expert to milk it for what it worth.
In that Op-Ed, not only Maru displayed TPLF’s secret “Supremacy of politics’ – counterterrorism (CT) and counterinsurgency (COIN)” he referred as “Ethiopian Doctrine” but unwittingly exposed TPLF terror network against the people of Ethiopia aimed in silencing its oppositions and subdue the population to live under the old colonial ethnic apartheid rule TPLF enablers engineered Al Jazeera Editors that dig dirt from any regime that won’t fit their own editorial agenda deliberately missed.
A year passed since Maru milked the new fame of “Ethiopian Doctrine” strategy he fantasied TPLF got out of President Obama’s endorsement (insult) until everything broke loss a year later with the popular revolution to oust TPLF’ itself. The State of Emergency TPLF led regime enacted to apply its ‘Ethiopian Doctrine’ strategy with Agazi death squad to salvage its proxy colonial occupation terrorizing the population posed as ‘military command posts’ failed to contain the grassroot movement to force it to retreat in its self-imposed ethnic enclave of ‘Tigray Region’ where it started.
By then, Maru’s professed credential as “specialist in international human rights and humanitarian law, an international consultant on African Union affairs, and an expert in Public Administration and Management” was rendered useless by self-inflected wound instigated by low expectation of the Obama Administration on TPLF and its operatives when the international community made mockery of the Obama Adminstriation’s unholy relationship with the brutal TPLF proxy ethnic apartheid regime held together with the help of the Former Senior National Security Adviser Susan Rise and the Former USAID Administrator Gale Smith to undermine the democratic rights of the people of Ethiopia Al Jazeera conveniently ignored.
Unfortunately, and as faith would have it with all coward intellectuals, Maru that flaunt his credential as a badge of honor nor Al Jazeera that took him at face value to know better didn’t even acknowledge when President Obama insulted the ruling party in front of the world partly because Maru was fixated with his assignment to save TPLF instigated ethnic apartheid regime by any means that undermined his own self-professed credential and partly because Al Jazeera was fixated with its own mission to promote ethnic and sectarian conflict by conflating fact-and-fiction posed as a Free Press to arrive to a predetermined mutual outcome with TPLF.
Few years later and six months after the new PM came to power and acknowledge the crimes of TPLF led ethnic apartheid ruling party and announce major reform, Maru came as “a scholar of peace and security, law and governance, strategy and management, human rights and migration issues” to fit the occasion with an Op-Ed of Oct 2018 to match it titled ‘Why the US is engineering political change in East Africa’ on the same Al Jazeera to blame the U.S. for TPLF demise.
Apparently, Maru rant as a ‘scholar’ has nothing to do with ‘political change in East Africa’. After all, nothing much changed in East Africa except the Ethiopian popular revolution against its ethnic apartheid divide-and-rule and massive corruption that marginalize TPLF from the ruling party and the speed of peace making between Ethiopia and Eritrea led by the new PM Abiy Ahmed where Maru hoped will never happen as a leverage for TPLF survival. `
What stimulated Maru and his associates’ is Eritrea they fought so hard to cut off and isolate from Ethiopia and the world and Ethiopians divided and isolated along ethnic line that failed in a matter of days by the new PM peace-making and Ethiopians unity that render TPLF leverage useless unlike what he blubbered with fact-and-fiction in his Op-Ed.
When the plea for the US not to abandon by 100% ‘democratically elected’ TPLF led ruling party and partner in fight against political opposition it labelled terrorist and their ‘sponsor’ Eritrea isolation that kept TPLF warlords alive failed, the new ‘scholar’ Maru in his last desperate attempt came up with yet another Op-Ed to match it titled “Why Africa Love China” to internationalize TPLF survival and, once again on Al Jazeera.
Mind you, the steamed scholar Maru did not say TPLF loves China nor African despotic regimes love China as he should but, ‘Why Africa Love China’ – so much for ethnic apartheid scholar turn Pan Africanist overnight and against his new self-professed credential as “a scholar of peace and security, law and governance, strategy and management, human rights and migration issues” contrary to his claim Why Africa Love China. For sure nothing China regime does to its own people compatible with Maru’s latest credential to arrive with his claim “why Africa Love China’.
Fortunately, he unwittingly confesses his credential is a means to the end for TPLF survival — consistent whit all scholars for hire. The question of who hired Maru & Associates is also consistence who helped TPLF to cause so much havoc on the people of Ethiopia in the last two decades and there are many to list.
Regardless, credit is due for the late TPLF Chairman turn PM of Ethiopia Melse Zenawi — the mastermind of the ethnic apartheid rule of his enablers and ‘Ethiopian Doctrine’ that came with it out of the cut-and pasted old colonialist apartheid playbook and Developmental State out of the new Communist China economics playbook to build his ethnic apartheid empire and make-believe legacy gone to the grave with him unceremoniously. He, a pseudo intellectual in his own right alone made a generation of pseudo ‘scholars’ like Maru with bogus credential to mix facts-and-fictions as a strategy to save TPLF hegemony. Unfortunately, it worked as-long-as it lasted and, continue to be irritation on the people of Ethiopia and the region as its operatives like Maru desperately search for anything to save the rejected TPLF.
There is unspoken truth about contemporary intellectual in general adapting any political ideology and economic philosophy from the textbooks to maintain their political relevance and as a means of self-preservation at the expenses of the people as human nature dictates. But the coward kind go beyond to do anything as needed to rake society on behalf of their enablers. The Intellectuals for Hire or ‘intellectual prostitutes’ as the Ghanaian-American economic Professor and the Founder and Chairman of Free Africa Foundation Gorge Ayittey like to refer them have no restraints how far they will go to accomplish their enablers’ mission and, Maru disguised as a third-party scholar to save the status qua is no different.
His January 2019 Op-Ed ‘Why Africa love China’ happen to be design in the last hope-against-all hope to save TPLF from total disgrace reaching out to China to save it in a complete contradiction to his own as-you-go credentials.
One may ask, how is it an ethnic apartheid peddling TPLF operatives like Dr Mehari Taddele Maru ended up to be a “scholar of peace and security, law and governance, strategy and management, human rights and migration issues” to tell the world ‘why Africa love China’ by itself demands investigation by nonother than the self-professed Free Press Al Jazeera that afforded him a free reign to make mockery of ‘peace and security, law and governance, strategy and management, human rights and migration’ common to all governments’ sponsored Media that remained in power uninvited including Al Jazeera sponsoring regime of the Kingdom of Qatar.
Regardless, Maru’s attempt to sound a scholar out of desperation on the latest Op-Ed of Why Africa Loves China than the Oct 2015 ‘The secret of Ethiopia counterterrorism-success’ as “a specialist in international human rights and humanitarian law, an international consultant on African Union affairs, and an expert in public administration and management” shows the evolution of TPLF political hack forced by the reality he ignored since he fall in secret love with TPLF – so much what blind love can do to a ‘scholar’
Therefore, the Op-Ed reflects; TPLF operatives are blinded by their love for TPLF to grasp the reality of its rejection by the people of Ethiopia. Maru jumping on the US-China rivalry wagon with his conclusion of “As things stand, China is already winning the hearts and the minds of Africans. The West will have to either change tact or forever play catch up” is expected from a desperate cadre that wants to save TPLF than a scholar that deals with facts to save the people from TPLF.
But, no one knows why Maru believes pleading China can save TPLF when pleading US failed to do so. But, again, with TPLF terror network still causing havoc in Ethiopia and its Development State still promoted and presented as alternative by unfettered propaganda, no wonder village warlords and their ‘scholar’ operatives like Maru hoping to save TPLF out of the chaos of world politics. After all, terrorist, mercenaries, Mafias and despotic regimes relevance and survival depends on internal or external chaos. And, the new ‘scholar’ Maru and associates reflects that reality to make TPLF warlords look legit and relevant in Ethiopian politics and economy as they are on shopping spree for weapon from China to create more chaos in Ethiopia as they did with donated weapons and cash from the US in the name of fighting terrorism to remain relevant.
Chaos is the name of the game for tyrants, terrorist, mercenaries and Mafias and their sponsors. Unfortunately, throughout the 44 years history, TPLF warlords has been one and all and some. The million-dollar question is, why Maru and his associates ‘scholars’ believe; saving TPLF warlords with the list of crimes as-long-as the Nile River as oppose saving the victims of its crime spree of the last 27 years is important? The answer is clear as it was outlined on their call for dialog as Concerned Ethiopian Group (CEG).
Scholars for Hire and Mercenaries for Hire are where the reform problem began and must end as we see them make fairytales and conflicts real to create more chaos throughout the country and the region to undermine the new PM Abiy’s reform effort.
The Free Press that supposedly identify Scholars and Mercenaries for-Hire are undermined by Journalist-for Hire in make-believe Medias. Likewise, Democratic parties that supposedly bring about political change are undermined by Politicians-for-Hire. Economist that supposedly reform the economy are undermined by Economists-for-Hire and so on.
For instance, in recent staged interview on unknown Media called Africa Renascence Tv Station (Arts Tv) ምጣኔና ሀብት program hosted by a person named Mesfin Felke presented the infamous TPLF operative Dr. Konstantnople Behre as expert economist and Yarid Halemeskel as investment consultant regarding foreign exchange shortage. After a long lecture on the theory of foreign exchange, either the host nor the two esteemed individuals presented as experts on foreign exchange mention the reported TPLF warlords that laundered billions of dollars’ worth of foreign exchange that match the national debt as the main problem of the shortage not by accident or by ignorance but, by deliberate ‘omission and commission’. With that kind of intellectual crowdedness to reach a predetermined conclusion, no problem can be solved as the operatives agonize to mix fact-and-fiction to preserve the status qua.
A closer examination of the background of the two ‘experts’ reviles; their clandestine political, social and economic ploy to save TPLF presented on a propaganda outlet they set up posed as independent experts that benefit them and continue business as usual in the middle of a reform. As ironical as their insult to the intelligence of the people of Ethiopia it is, nothing will stop experts and scholars for hire until the cost of their belligerence is high enough to cost them more than they gain.
For instance, ‘Dr’. Constantinople bogus credential are many to list. Public record shows he is everywhere claiming every credential he wanted at will for the occasion. His fraudulent diplomas of PhD in Public Policy from Century University and MS in Management that landed him a lecturer job at post graduate level in Addis Ababa University tuned out to be from a bogus online diploma mill of two weeks out of New Mexico state of the US as reported by Addis Voice. Yet, he was presented as expert Economist in foreign exchange on Africa Renascence Tv Station (Arts Tv) run by its CEO Yarid Halemeskel that was also presented as investment consultant on the same Media he run.
Constantinople vast inflated credential is better understood by the clandestine TPLF operatives run Horn Affairs Online Magazine that was conducted in May of 2014 interview regarding Ethiopia’s credit-rating in the international market.
Likewise, a self-described engineer turn investors’ adviser Yarid Halemeskel public records shows, beside running the same Africa Renascence Tv Station (Arts Tv) out of Addis Ababa he came on as investment consultant are many to list. His employee Mesfen Felke interviewing his boss himself failed to tell the audience he is conducting a staged drama with TPLF operatives is the very meaning of Journalist for Hire.
The fact they are still out there defrauding the public says, the ongoing reform is slow enough for them to feel confident to show their face doing what they do best instead of hiding in shame as they should for what they have done on behalf of TPLF and its enablers and as well as their own economic interests whatever it may be.
It is clear and not surprising, TPLF operatives and surrogates are on propaganda offensive against the PM reform effort disguised as experts and scholars on make-believe Media outlets they set up while the warlords are on proxy military offensive from their hideouts.
Therefore, to change the paradigm in favor of the people of Ethiopia aspiration to be free and ruled by democratic regime accountable to the people, Intellectual-for-Hire like Dr Mehari Taddele Maru, Dr. Constantinople Berhe, Yarid Halemeskel and 1000s more must be dealt with by what will cost them more than what they gain in pay check or profit peddling fiction dramas against the people of Ethiopia and the PM reform effort. Until then, as the saying goes; ‘whoever pays the piper calls the tunes” as they sing the tunes of their enablers on the way to the bank.
At the meantime, here is a test of what European colonial apartheid and crony capitalist narrative on Ethiopia reflected by David Pilling and Leonel Barber of Financial Times in Addis Ababa against PM Abiy reform titled Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed: Africa’s new Talisman less than a year since he came to power and Hibir Radio in collaboration with the infamous Ze Habisha online spin via the infamous investment consultant turn investor Zemdenehe Nehgatu the FT refers as an Ethiopian Banker as oppose Hiber Radio refer as Ernest Young of U.K. investment adviser doing yellow journalism to their end.
FT article quoted the ‘Ethiopian Banker’ Negatu saying;
“The biggest challenge for Abiy is not politics. It is jobs, jobs, jobs” and, the article went quoting him; “With 800,000 students in university or college and 2.5 m Ethiopians born each year, lack of opportunity could quickly catalyse unrest, he adds” – plugging his own investment interest once again by reducing the people of Ethiopia struggle for freedom and democracy to his desire to earn the highest return for his shady private equity fund of unknown individuals.
Mind you, Financial Times gave Negatu a new citizenship and credential in public as ‘Ethiopian Banker; he never claimed publicly to be an Ethiopian citizen nor a Banker in his entire engagement in Ethiopia when in reality, the Former East Africa Manging Partner of the renowned investment Consulting and Advisory Group Ernest Young of U.K that consulted the Melse regime is a US citizen running a US based Fairfax Africa private equity fund investor in Ethiopia of undisclosed ‘individuals’. If the world’s supposedly renowned financial publication FT can’t get its act together to violate basic journalism standard to know who its reporters are presenting as experts who can? At the meantime, if Hibir Radio and the infamous Ze Habesha spin his credential to fit their own narratives against the PM reform who is going to stop them?
The sooner Free Press operators set up Media monitoring group to identify propaganda Medias and Journalist for Hire to push the European colonial and crony capitalists’ agenda of exploiting the people and ripping the nation off, the better the PM reform effort would be to take more giant steps in the right direction for democratic rule and economic justice. At the meantime, the slower the reform respond making public data available to inform the people and Media operators and coward journalists accountable for fraudulent coverage and propaganda they peddle the more it empowers TPLF operatives and surrogates as well as their foreign enablers make a mockery of the reform as FT steamed reporters David Pilling and Leonel Barber did and many others continue to do to undermine the PM reform.
The renowned French philosopher, author and journalist Albert Camus known for the rise of the philosophy of Absurdism articulated; “A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed up on this world”.
When you think about it, intellectual cowards and their enablers’ ‘absurdism’ is the source of all the problems facing the people of Ethiopia and the reformist PM. The sooner the new PM get rid of them, the sooner he accomplishes what he set out to do. But it requires empowering the people of Ethiopia by first releasing public data to let the citizens make informed decision to support his reform.
As Albert Einstein said “we believe that an informed citizenry will act for life and not for death”
Therefore, the entire reform depends on informed citizenry for life verses uniformed citizenry for death respectively. Spin doctors, be it self-described experts, scholars, politicians or journalists make undignified living at the expenses of the people because citizens are uniformed of the reality of who-is-who and what.
*The article is dedicated for PM Abiy Ahmed’s bold step to transform his party from a 19th century ethnic apartheid party to a national democratic party of 21st century to end TPLF and its surrogates’ enablers agenda on Ethiopia to rest with the late ethnic apartheid PM. It is one giant step in the right direction to democratic rule all Ethiopians must defend by all means necessary.
