As expected, interim President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has won the presidency in his own right in Nigeria’s elections. The results were not especially close, certainly not enough to cast the results in serious doubt and despite the inevitable claims of vote rigging, corruption, and general malfeasance by the opposition, observers believe it was as clean as any vote since Nigeria emerged from military rule in 1999. The PDP lost seats in the country’s parliamentary elections, indicating that the PDP stranglehold on politics is not what it once was despite Jonathan’s overwhelming victory.
Jonathan’s victory has already led to violence and recriminations in the northern parts of the country where the opposition ran strongest and suspicions of Jonathan and the PDP are greatest. With the interim label removed from his title Jonathan has before him myriad major challenges, including bringing together the fractured South and North and dealing with the oil-riven violence in the Niger Delta. Observers may have validated the elections, but the only real validation will come if Jonathan can lead effectively his fragile country going forward.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
