Timur

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Posts posted by Timur

  6. Posted

    As Somalia's historic post-transition election period rolls forth, a great number of new and old faces come to the surface to woo the parliamentarians and traditional elders who will decide which of them will go on to lead Somalia into its next stage.

     

    Among the many faces in the crowd are ex-warlords, resigned politicians, and unfamiliar diaspora figures looking to make their mark in Somalia for the first time. But one man stands out in remarkable fashion among the crowd--Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali.

     

    Who is he?

     

    Dr. Ali is currently the prime minister of Somalia and the most recent candidate for president. Days before entering Somali office he lived in the United States and worked as a professor of economics at Niagara University in New York.

     

    Prior to earning his PhD in Economics from George Mason University, Ali obtained a Master of Economics from Vanderbilt University, then later received a Certificate of Taxation from Harvard Law School, and served as a Joel Leff Fellow of Political Economy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree decades prior from the now-defunct Somali National University. After earning his academic credentials the prime minister served as a research and forecast manager for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

     

    Before his academic and professional trials in the United States, Ali served in various capacities in the Somali government during the regime of Siad Barre, first as Director of the Excise Tax Department of Somalia's Federal Ministry of Finance and Revenue, and later as Assistant Director in the Research and Statistics Department. In his later career in exile, Ali worked in consulting for the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program and currently serves as a member of the American Economic Association, the Southern Economic Association, and the International Atlantic Economic Society.

     

    For over a decade prior to his entrance into Somali political office, Dr. Ali was involved in Somali activism in the diaspora, often taking leave from work to travel to Somalia and assume small leadership roles in regional development initiatives.

     

    Why Dr. Ali is right for Somalia

     

    Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali is by far the most educated and professionally experienced candidate as well as among Somali public figures across the globe. Not only does he bring academic credentials and prior public office experience to the table, but he also has a strong understanding and background with international institutions that will allow him to carefully navigate Somalia through the intimidating world of global geopolitics.

     

    Dr. Ali's greatest asset is that is an economist first and a politician second. Somalis are entrepreneurial people and what they need most to thrive is a set of policies and guidelines that allow their natural abilities and mercantile arts to flourish, and the brilliant professor has exactly the curriculum to make it happen.

     

    What is most strikingly admirable about Dr. Ali is the way in which he balances his concern and patriotism towards Somalia with his tactful deployment of diplomacy. He is not fooled by a blind nationalism that substitutes genuine love of one's country with a vain brand of patriotism. Somali leaders in the past failed their nation--either in foreign or domestic affairs--because their pride did not allow them to think long-term and of the consequences of their misplaced priorities. Oppositely, Dr. Ali understands Somalia's place in the world and how exactly to maneuver it against greater powers in a way that allows the nation to reap the maximum benefit.

     

    One fine example of Dr. Ali's brilliant and necessary pragmatism is his February interview with the Observer newspaper during the London Conference on Somalia. When asked how he would achieve development in Somalia, Dr. Ali stated simply that the only way to bring big dollars to Somalia was to work with Western investors and offer rewards in the form of natural resources for those involved. The statement caused some controversy as the international community has been awkwardly silent about Somalia's resource potential, but the prime minister was spot on. Somalia has a great number of natural treasures that lay idle, but can be used for the benefit a nation in need of urgent stimulus. Dr. Ali's solution to Somalia's development woes is akin to those of any industrialized nation--growth through exploitation--and it is a proven method. Critics of his type of methodology for fixing Somalia's problems are usually in favor of taking aid or loans, two alternative strategies which have only ever caused more problems than they fixed, especially in Africa.

     

    A chance to correct the past

     

    Somalia has a golden opportunity to fix up and join the rest of the modern world. A wise and learned figure is for the first time in the nation's history putting himself forth as a potential candidate for leadership, and it is an opportunity that Somalis must take advantage of. Referred to by some as the 'CEO of Somalia,' Dr. Ali has the capacity to turn Somalia into a vibrant and flourishing economy. Somalia doesn't need politicos and it doesn't need elders for leaders, it needs a business-minded figure to take the helm. Somalia deserves Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali as its future president.

     

    DissidentNation.com

     

    http://dissidentnation.com/the-man-somalia-deserves-as-president/

  7. Posted

    Blackflash;846366 wrote:
    Billionaires from what? I don't understand how anyone deserves to become rich off of Somali oil. I'd rather live as an average Iranian or Malaysian rather than a rich Qatari, you can't buy the feeling of knowing your country will still exist when your oil fields are depleted.

    Do you know what oil billionaire means? It means the people who provide logistics, catering, and other services. Are you saying that the first man in Bari to establish an oil trucking franchise doesn't deserve his wealth?

     

    What do you mean you don't understand how anyone deserves to get rich off Somali oil? If Somalis shouldn't get rich off the oil, then who should?

  9. Posted

    Odey;842711 wrote:
    There is the small thing of financing the project which they have yet to clarify.

    Oil money, are you not aware? South Sudan is selling off resources, so is Uganda, and now Kenya and soon Ethiopia. These countries aren't broke by any means.

  16. Posted

    Xaaji Xunjuf;818337 wrote:
    Africa Oil Corp., meantime, recently hit pay dirt in neighboring Somaliland, a breakaway enclave in the north of strife-torn Somalia west of Kenya.

    lol Somaliland, I think they had a bit of a gaff there.

     

    Imagine being a secessionist who reads that, then looks up the information and finds out that it happened right next door. Heart-attack waiting to happen. :D

  22. Posted

    Naxar Nugaaleed;811502 wrote:
    lol, the sad thing is that used to be a provence of Iran

    You clearly don't know your history. Iran used to be a province of Azerbaijan. It was the Azeri Safavids who took over Iran and converted them to Shi'a. There is a large Azeri minority in Iran but they were the ruling class of Iran in previous centuries, not the other way around.

  24. Posted

    Probably one of the most broken societies on earth. This is what happens when nomads equate shiny buildings to quality of life.

     

    Does Kazakhstan have high literacy and education standards? Relatively yes, but so does every non-African region on earth. 90%+ literacy is the norm outside of Sub-Saharan Africa.

     

    Otherwise, Kazakhstan is simply living off of massive energy and mineral reserves. Take that away and they are back to their squalor in no time. This is the opposite of a model society. Even the worst of Oman and Saudi Arabia are gold by comparison.

     

    And Kazakhstan is nowhere near stable. They and the rest of Central Asia are still dealing with last generation's Soviet governors for leaders, and the friction will lead to genocide, skipping the civil war phase.