George Ajjan | Official Website

"Le Débat" sur France24 - "Super Tuesday" et les primaires républicaines

2012-03-08T02:03:00.001-05:00

"[Les partisans de Romney] devraient être un peu deçus, parce que c'est vrai qu'il a gagné 6 des 10 états de Super Tuesday, mais si on regarde les délégués: il n'a même pas touché 40% des délégués hier. C'est le 'chiffre magique' que tout le monde regarde - 1,144 délégués qu'il fait avoir à Tampa en fin août pour la Convention Nationale du Parti Républicain, et pour le moment Mitt Romney a à peu près 400 délégués, Santorum avec 169, Gingrich avec 103, et Ron Paul avec 41. Donc, Romney a 400, il doit avoir encore 700 délégués. Il est toujours très loin du but."

"Il y a toujours plein de chômage, surtout dans les états de la 'ceinture de ferraille', comme le Michigan, l'Ohio, la Pennsylvanie, des états qui seront compétitifs en novembre, et ça sera difficile pour Obama. C'est la colère contre Obama qui va faire l'unité du parti républicain: ça, c'est sûr."

Translation:
"Romney's supporters should be somewhat disappointed, because while it's true that he took 6 of 10 states on Super Tuesday, if we look at the delegates, he didn't even get 40% yesterday. It's the "magic number" of 1,144 delegates necessary going to Tampa at the end of August pour the Republican National Convention, and for now, Romney has about 400, Santorum 169, Gingrich 103, and Ron Paul 41. So Romney's got 400 and needs another 700 - he's still far from the goal."

"There is still a great deal of unemployment, especially in the Rust Belt states like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania - these states will be competitive in November and will be difficult for Obama. But it's anger against Obama that will unify the Republicans, that's for sure."

analysis of the media coverage of the Syrian crisis on AJE's "Listening Post"

2012-03-03T03:30:00.000-05:00

"The international media has just been too quick to adopt this heroes and villains, black and white narrative."

"It's basically the latest verse of a song that they've been singing for the past 40 years, which is: everybody's against us, there's a big foreign conspiracy, and we are the Syrian nation. The thing that I found quite humorous actually about the [Syrian state TV clip] was the music playing in the background, turning it into some kind of dramatic Hollywood piece. It's just really over-the-top propaganda."

"There's nothing other than the placards being held by the person behind the camera indicating what the context of [groups of people dancing on the street] is. So it's not entirely clear that there's a correlation between what's being indicated on the placards and what's actually on the minds of those doing the dancing down below."

debating the impact of Capitalism on the BBC's "World Have Your Say"

2012-02-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

click to listen to the audio (skip to 38:19)

on the "Occupy" movement:

Without being explicitly anti-capitalist, it's people who have sensed that something is quite wrong. Even those of us who are defenders of the capitalist system - who tend to be more conservative in our political orientation - recognize that something is not right. Cost of living has gone up around the world, including in the UK, the US, other regions in Africa in the Middle East where I consult. So in that sense, it's easy to sympathize with those who are protesting, but the question is: what are they really looking for, and is the movement being led astray into something that's not going to lead to anything better or lead to any improvement and in fact will make things quite worse for the economies in question.

on an alternative to Capitalism:

I'm sure there is, but it's not going to be a very good system, and it's not going to represent much of an improvement for those who are unhappy with the current system. Capitalism has been responsible for the most growth in people's prosperity, including workers, it's the greatest engine of human prosperity that's existed in human history. So if something's gone wrong, it's not because capitalism has flourished, quite the contrary: it's because pure capitalism has been suppressed by too much regulation, by faulty regulation, by centralization of power, by corporate greed, which has allowed a very small number of people to influence policy, and THAT is what has been detrimental to the working class, to the middle class, to the entrepreneurial class.

on Capitalism being an "amoral system":

With the growth of technology, and people able to manage things remotely, there are people who are at the head of companies who are detached from the communities. But if you look at the history of capitalism, if you look at the so-called "Robber Barons" in the United States during the earlier industrial period, those are some of the greatest philanthropists who have existed in our recent history. Those are people who gave back to the communities in which they built their factories, in which they enabled workers. This is the history of Capitalism.

on the cause of global poverty:

This is the way that governments and financial systems manipulate. This is they way that power is concentrated in the hands of governments, banks have too cozy a relationship with those governments, it creates a distortion of monetary policy, it creates massive inflation and THAT is what stops people from having enough purchasing power to lead a decent life.

on reforming the capitalist system:

I agree that the system needs reform, that's not in dispute. But the crux of the problem is that Capitalism has been suppressed. And what's happened is that governments have taken too much control they have imposed too much regulation on business, and it's created a society in which people assume that government is responsible to take care of all the ills of society, and is not what Noel and I agree was the case in their capitalist period of the industrial era, in the 19th century when government's role was much more limited, and therefore philanthropy flourished and a concept of charity also flourished in society. Those who benefitted from the workers that they employed and the factories that they built felt a responsibility - and in fact they did have a responsibility to give back to the society; they weren't hoarding money. The point is now people say, "why should I give money to a charity when I'm already being taxed and my money's being sent to places like Ghana, etc."

on "5 years before runaway climate change":

We can go back in time to when I was in grammar school, and we heard about the crisis of sulfurous oxides and nitrous oxides, where are those problems today? They've been eradicated, because the market has dealt with them, and those were real toxins. The idea that CO2 is a toxin on the level of sulfurous oxides or nitrous oxides is ludicrous.

--
my contribution was broadcast live on via satellite from the BBC studios in Beirut in the wake of the "Occupy St. Paul" protesters being forcibly removed from the premises of the London Cathedral.

Thanks to my counterpart Noel Douglas for a lively discussion.

quotes from the Chicago Tribune on the role of lobbying in African elections

2012-02-03T03:38:00.001-05:00

"It's smart on the part of Wade. This is a technical issue. It's a legal issue," said George Ajjan, who is in Senegal pitching consulting services to the candidates running against Wade.

Ajjan said the real problem is not that Wade hired lobbyists, but that none of the 13 opposition candidates running against him thought to do the same. "It's not like the main opposition candidates are poor. And they have a lot of sympathy in Washington. Everyone is saying that Wade should step down. They could have made an effort to get their side heard."

quotes from an interview with the BBC on the Senegalese Constitutional Crisis

2012-01-31T19:31:00.001-05:00

"I think [the protests] could fizzle out; a lot of it depends upon how the opposition leaders react. Clearly, there's a division within the opposition with respect to how to approach the whole idea of protests. The opposition candidates that are well organized recognize that Wade is vulnerable in the election, which is taking place on February 26. So they've got 4 weeks to go head-to-head and make sure that they pass through to the 2nd round, which will then take place on March 18. So those opposition candidates that are confident of their performance in the upcoming election - remember, the campaign officially starts on February 5, so there's not a lot of time to lose; every day that's spent on street protests is a day that's not spent focused on the campaign and the issues, trying to paint a difference between themselves and Wade, and between one another."

"On the other hand, there are opposition candidates less well organized that are probably - not to be cynical about it, but - somewhat pleased to see a bit of turmoil, hoping that the election might be prolonged, and that might give them more time to get themselves organized."

"The international community has not come out and condemned - by any stretch of the imagination - what the Court has done. They may have voiced some disapproval, they may have done a little bit of wringing of the hands, but they've basically said, 'This is the process, it's not our business and we're not going to intervene at this point. You've got to go to elections.' So those that are prepared to go to elections and know what they need to do in order to win, or at least try to win, are content to move forward and do that."

"Of course, they'll still be giving some lip service because there is a lot of anger on the street, but this is a county that has a track record of successful elections since 1960; it's not like what we're seeing in the Arab countries that don't really have a culture of free, democratic elections. So the protests can only accomplish so much. It's unlikely that we can imagine a situation in which Wade would just step down because he sees some people out on the street. It's not reached anywhere near that level of involvement yet on behalf of the people."

"[Boycotting the election] would be the absolutely most foolish thing that [the opposition] could do. I think what the opposition needs to do - each candidate individually, really - is continue to keep the pressure on the international stage. It would be wise for an opposition candidate who wanted to show himself at the front of the pack to pursue the critique of the so-called 'constitutional coup d'état' at the international level, while still focusing on the real prize, which is making sure that they perform well in the February 26 election and that they move into the 2nd round, which takes place on March 18. So if they really want to beat Wade - assuming that Wade will have enough juice to get him through to the 2nd round - those opposition candidates need to figure out who's going to be in the #2 slot and who will have to go up against Wade face-to-face on March 18."

summary of the current situation in Syria, as published on antiwar.com

2011-07-02T03:34:00.001-04:00

If Assad does prove he is in control and succeeds in bringing these meaningful changes at the cost of less than a few thousand casualties, he will have triumphed. Those who perished during the protests will be remembered as martyrs, and Syria will have taken a gigantic leap forward. Assad could still emerge a hero, but the window is closing fast and hopes in him are duly fading.

If, on the other hand, he can’t manage to deliver that much after 11 years as President and when stakes are this high, then quite frankly he’d be best described by the term he once infamously used to refer to the compliant rulers of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia: a “half-man”.