Semhar Araia

Last year I read several articles about him and I thought it was perfectly illustrating how many countries in Africa are undergoing a profound transformation. In this article on Kumatoo.com we can read: ‘Verone Mankou, a young Congolese inventor aged 25, is the designer of a touchpad called “Way-C” for which the entire design and architecture have been conceived in Congo-Brazzaville.’ On a side note to some people I know who still don’t know the difference:  do not confuse the Republic of the Congo, commonly referred to as Congo-Brazzaville, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or Congo-Kinshasa.

For his project, Mankou had to learn not to rely on local banks: ‘Because it is not quite common in Africa, it is important to point out that the Way-C was backed up financially by the Congolese government through the Ministry of Industrialization that put up 50% of the amount, as well as by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, a few African businessmen and the Chinese assembly plant in the form of an advance. This is how the first 5,000 devices have been assembled in China.’

China is very present in Africa, and almost everything carries a “Made in China” label. Factories should be built if we want to produce locally and provide jobs to local people, to create and sustain a thriving economy. In an article published on GlobalVoices, Julie Owono underlines: ‘In November 2010, a Zimbwabean company announced that it would sell a locally manufactured, assembled and produced laptop at the price of 200 dollars. Many Zimbabweans purchased the device to support a local initiative and the economy. Disappointment was great when it transpired in February 2011 that the Nhava laptop was “imported from China, and only rebranded Nhava“.’ Dishonest and totally counterproductive.

Since last year, I didn’t hear much about the touchpad but I hope Verone Mankou will be able to complete his project. There are many initiatives in Africa, great talents and a youth willing to exist by itself. Africans should trust in them and not wait for hypothetical or providential help. Semhar also tweeted: ‘If you’re in the US & want to support Africa, here’s an idea: LISTEN TO AFRICANS. #CivilSociety’. I listen to Africans and I can tell you, they don’t need anybody else but them to succeed. And no-one across Africa should ever doubt that!

Le sujet n’est pas le même, bien plus ‘léger’ que celui évoqué par Mona Eltahawy qui mettait en évidence les difficultés qu’ont les femmes à tout simplement exister en tant qu’être humain à part entière avec un minimum (et guère plus) de droits dans certaines régions du monde. Du côté Occidental, si la situation n’a rien à voir, il reste encore une coutume qui révèle à elle seule le long chemin parcouru par les femmes pour leur reconnaissance et leur respect. Chemin au bout duquel elles ne sont de toute évidence pas encore arrivées.

Dans Valérie Trierweiler future Hollande ? Ces Françaises qui changent de nom comme de mari, Jocelyne Robert s’attarde sur la future première dame, Valérie Trierweiler : ‘On appelle la nouvelle Première dame de France, Valérie Trierweiler. Trierweiler, c’est son nom usuel. Son nom à elle, son vrai nom, son seul nom légitime, que personne ne connaît est Massonneau [...] Elle dit vouloir garder son indépendance en continuant, depuis l’Élysée, de travailler comme journaliste. Bravo.’

Mais l’écrivaine ajoute aussitôt, interloquée : ‘Bravo oui, mais… mais un instant. Elle parle d’autonomie, d’indépendance, d’égalité féminine et s’appelle Trierweiler. Elle porte le nom de l’homme dont elle s’est séparée il y a plusieurs années, son ex-mari ! Grosse question de différences culturelles sans doute: la Québécoise que je suis est flabergastée!‘

C’est vrai qu’il y a là une certaine ambiguïté, et je suis flabergastée au moins tout autant que Jocelyne Robert, et je ne suis pourtant pas Québécoise. Elle s’étonne encore : ‘Peut-on imaginer autant d’antinomie? Et attendez, cela n’est pas tout, les Français se demandent quand, et si, elle deviendra Madame Hollande, ce qui, selon plusieurs, légitimerait son titre de Première Dame. Qu’on me pince. Je ne comprends rien à ces us et coutumes françaises, poussiéreuses et archaïques. Comment peut-on, au pays de Simone de Beauvoir, non seulement aliéner son nom en épousant un homme, mais conserver, une fois divorcée le nom de l’ex. Cela dépasse tout entendement.’

Prendre le nom de son mari, voire même celui de son compagnon, conserver celui de son ex-mari… Les femmes ont le choix car rien ne les oblige par la loi, ni à changer de nom, ni à conserver le nom de leur ex-mari. Selon Jocelyne Robert, la personnalité pourrait même en être modifiée: ‘On ne me fera pas croire qu’on puisse changer de nom comme on change de chemise (ou de mari) une fois, deux fois ou trois fois dans sa vie sans que cela n’ait d’impact identitaire !‘

Certes chaque femme est libre, et si dans l’exemple présent, Valérie Trierweiler a fait le choix (pour des raisons professionnelles et/ou par rapport à ses enfants) de conserver le nom de son ex-mari et de l’utiliser publiquement, c’est un choix strictement personnel. Mais il révèle, comme le souligne Jocelyne Robert, une pratique majoritaire en France et sur laquelle il est possible voire même nécessaire de s’interroger.

L’auteure va plus loin : ‘Il est encore bien plus sexiste de se faire croire que le nom de “femme mariée” est moins sexiste alors que le mariage n’a AUCUNE incidence légale sur le nom des époux et qu’il n’est qu’une coutume confirmant un phallocentrisme millénaire : l’appropriation de la femme par l’homme avec le mariage.’

A méditer. D’autant que cette coutume, même si elle est révélatrice, fait pâle figure au regard des autres problèmes rencontrés quotidiennement par les femmes, aujourd’hui, en France. Je ne citerais d’ailleurs que l’un d’entre eux qui a récemment fait la Une et pour cause : l’abrogation de la loi sur le harcèlement sexuel, jugée trop floue par le Conseil constitutionnel et qui de fait crée un vide juridique en la matière. Affligeant…

Mais que Jocelyne Robert se rassure, les moeurs évoluent et les habitudes changent. Pour avoir déjà discuté de ce sujet depuis très longtemps, le changement de nom ne se vit plus comme une obligation loin de là. Pas plus que le mariage d’ailleurs. C’est du côté des anciennes générations que j’ai trouvé le plus de réticences.

Un sujet à priori ‘léger’ et qui force est de constater, n’est pas aussi anodin qu’il n’y paraît.

It was clearly aimed at children with puzzles and games but Haring’s work was everywhere. I had a great time seeing the paintings, prints and murals. I even bought a black and white Keith Haring watch and a small pin (I like goodies) as a souvenir of this wonderful afternoon!

Google is celebrating the 54th birthday of Keith Haring with a homepage doodle in his honor. I though it was the occasion to write again about the artist (my posts mentioning him) since he is among my favorites.

Below, a photo I took of one of Haring’s mural.

British street artist Paul Curtis (a.k.a Moose) creates graffiti by cleaning dirt from sidewalks and tunnels; this is the contemporary form of sgraffiti. So if you thought graffiti was only about spray painting, you were wrong. Now (it has been a couple years) it is also about eco-friendly materials like moss. Anna Garforth and Edina Tokodi are moss graffiti artists and their client list includes banks, design schools and galleries.

I would consider moss graffiti artists more like stencil artists like Miss.tic or Blek Le Rat than strictly graffiti artists because they have to prepare their work before. When you use a spray can, even if you already know what you are going to paint, you have more freedom than when you use a pre-cut piece of moss or a stencil.

Moss graffiti brings the nature closer to our urban environments, it will seduce eco-friendly people and most of all the ones who can’t stand graffiti art (remember what happened to graffiti artist Revok last year?) since moss can be cleaned up pretty easily… But now, impervious anti-graffiti coatings manufacturers won’t be happy!

An example of Anna Garforth’s work below. More pictures on the HuffPost.

So here is da-eYe, wearing a pink ribbon in his hair (or whatever he’s got on top of his head…). We found him during the Easter egg hunt yesterday and he was trying to hide in some wrapping paper (weird idea!). At first we acted like we didn’t see him, but he was so cute we even took a picture. All smiles as always

Full image on da-eYe’s website.

There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.

70% of the blue water withdrawals at global level go to irrigation. Irrigated agriculture represents 20% of the total cultivated land but contributes 40% of the total food produced worldwide.

Large lakes and inland seas have shrunk, and half of the wetlands of Europe and North America no longer exist. The number of regions across the world that cannot satisfy the basic food needs of their growing populations is increasing, and in many of these places the impacts on the environment are beyond repair.

Changing rice cultivation to aerobic conditions can reduce the water use by 50%, while cutting emissions and increasing yields

Roughly 30% of the food produced worldwide – about 1.3 billion tons – is lost or wasted every year

In 2008, I used a Sama Water Tank to illustrate my point, today it’s da-eYe. He may be shallow sometimes, but he also knows water is the source of life. He wanted to make his contribution to draw attention to this special day. He celebrates water before it may too late or before there won’t be anything to celebrate anymore. Then we will all be dead… Full image on da-eYe’s website.

Although I can’t deny this media strategy worked before. Five years ago in Tall oaks from little acorns grow, I wrote: ‘Most of the people I know only discovered the crisis in Darfur in late 2006 early 2007 when George Clooney came back from Sudan’. I added: ‘Kinda confusing an actor known to be ‘the world’s sexiest man’ and a man who ‘used to be the next president of the United States of America’ [Al Gore] are the ones bringing these situations in the spotlight. I am not saying they are not legitimate or that they don’t believe in the cause they defend, they are absolutely right to use their fame the way they do. I am just saying that sometimes the gap between the glamour of the style and the hardness of the substance in the field can be baffling...’

Last week, I watched the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on the crisis in Sudan. I was watching it with a group of people: activists, Sudanese from the diaspora and ‘ordinary people’ curious to know what the Senate had to say about the plight of the people from the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, the Blue Nile and Abyei. As the hearing progressed, people were starting to talk. Even if we didn’t have the same point of view, most of the people in the room thought the hearing was interesting and we were all deeply moved by the four-minute video highlighting attacks on civilians in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. After the hearing, we spent two more hours discussing about the hearing. An enriching discussion as usual.

One word came out all the time: diplomacy. Princeton Lyman, Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan clearly said at the hearing: ‘There is no military solution to this problem’. Daniel Solomon once tweeted: ‘The deployment of a large military force to secure a humanitarian corridor in the middle of a conflict zone could endanger civilians even more [...] An increased diplomacy outreach to regional, international actors that have leverage with the Sudanese (AU, AL) should still be privileged’. I also think diplomacy is the key, as I wrote last month: In Sudan, Seeing Echoes of Darfur. And still waiting for diplomacy. Unfortunately, we have to deal with Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the first national leader to be indicted by the International Criminal Court and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

And I think this ambiguous situation is central to the many critics I read and hear. Al-Bashir’s divide and rule strategy has been a winning strategy for decades. In my post from 2008: Darfur: a World Wide Role Playing Game, I asked if we should simplify a given situation the same way we leave out parameters to simplify the form of an equation in mathematics. This oversimplification helps to quickly spread a message among the masses and to bring a short-term awareness but by avoiding some parameters, by dismissing what might be the core of the problem, removing ‘la substantifique moëlle‘ could doom any effort of grasping to failure. And this is what the discussion I had after the hearing was about and it was confirmed by what I later read on Twitter. I do my best to illustrate the topic, I don’t necessarily endorse everyone’s opinion but I always appreciate to get a wider perspective.

Let’s start with Clooney’s arrest. Mo Elzubeir (@elzubeir) suggested to Moez Ali (@his_moezness) to ‘hijack #FreeClooney with #Sudan info you want people to know. It’s an opportunity‘. Maha El-Sanosi (@MimzicalMimz) made the same suggestion: ‘Dear Sudanese tweeps, PLEASE FLOOD #FreeClooney with incidents of human rights violations & all the issues of #Sudan you can think of!‘ She added: ‘He out of all people should know that in #Sudan we are arrested, beaten, tortured, abducted & held incommunicado on a regular basis‘. Moez Ali tweeted: ‘#FreeClooney Sudan is under sanctions from the US which is hurting the ppl and not the gov‘; ‘Clooney is ignorant of the real reasons behind the conflicts in #Sudan. We dont want celebrity pity, we want professional coverage‘; ‘It’s sad that the only media attention #Sudan gets is when a celebrity gets arrested. #FreeClooney’. They are right, there is violence against civilian populations, the situation is really bad in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, the Blue Nile and Abyei but also everywhere else in the country. Western media coverage of Sudan can sometimes be incomplete even if they’re not meant to be.

Maha El-Sanosi said that in Sudan, [people] are arrested, beaten, tortured, abducted and held incommunicado on a regular basis. It is a reality Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry mentioned: ‘In the last year, Bashir has waged war on his own people in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, he’s arrested student protesters, and he has rejected viable solutions to outstanding issues in favor of aerial bombardment and bellicose rhetoric’. It was last month Sudanese police raided dormitories at the University of Khartoum, arresting hundreds of students. Radio Dabanga but also Sudan Tribune among many other websites, mention on a daily basis what in happening in Sudan. Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) just tweeted: ‘#Sudan security forces arrested five teachers for demanding better pay, scrap Islamic instruction from curriculum, free education’. We all, if not the populace at least the ones concerned about Sudan, know what is happening in the country. Unlike Moez Ali , I don’t think ‘Clooney is ignorant of the real reasons behind the conflicts in #Sudan’, neither him nor Kerry lives in a bubble, but I agree with Moez Ali when he says ‘It’s sad that the only media attention #Sudan gets is when a celebrity gets arrested. #FreeClooney’. So yes, it’s a publicity stunt (Enough Project tweeted: ‘Find out why #Clooney was willing to get arrested for #Sudan: http://bit.ly/xrHFAt’) but once again, it brought Sudan (back) on the front pages.

Amir Ahmad Nasr (@SudaneseThinker) tweeted: ‘Dear #Clooney, erm thx 4 ur well-meaning #Sudan advocacy. For real. Jz wish u’d read this &stop Nazifying Northerners‘. In his article, Amir Ahmad Nasr mentions how ‘Under him [al-Bashir] the country has witnessed a series of unjust policies and murderous practices. He has shut down newspapers critical of government actions. Many of the government’s critics were tortured in what came to be called Ghost Houses. In 1990, 28 dissenting military officers were executed after a mock trial. Corruption has spread’. He adds: ‘One must not overlook the suffering happening elsewhere in Sudan, such as in the north and in the heart of Khartoum. Let us not forget the January 2005 massacre of the Beja youth by government security forces in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, in which more than 20 peaceful Beja protesters – including women and children – were reportedly shot dead and hundreds were arrested.’ True stories but what happened in Darfur, the killings currently happening in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains draw more attention because we are not talking about 28 dissenting military officers executed after a mock trial or about more than 20 peaceful Beja protesters reportedly shot dead but hundred of thousands. A death is a death, no comparison here of course, but the scale is so different you can’t blame activists, journalists and public opinion for focussing more on these deadly situations… One doesn’t exclude the other.

And this is one of the other ambiguous situation: whether you appreciate the media buzz created by Clooney’s arrest or not, it is needed to shine a spotlight on Sudan. It is also the most effective action to make ordinary citizens aware and they are the ones who massively call their representatives to take action. More effective than any of the ’professional coverage‘ Moez Ali is asking for, to the great despair of some journalists. And yes, we are very, very far away from the so-called diplomacy approach, the one we hope could help Sudan to get rid of the ‘increasingly paranoid dictatorship‘ Amir Ahmad Nasr tweeted about. The situation inside the country is dire, dangerous. Whether you’re against the involvement of international actors in Sudan or not, we all hope for a regime-change and many wonder why Sudan is yet to see an Arab spring. Elfadil Ibrahim gives some clues in this article: ‘The state has not only become a major employer, with around 4 million employees, but its growth has robbed the civil society of the fervour it once had. The trade unions, civil service and professional bodies that played leading roles in Sudan’s previous revolutions, seem fatigued and uninterested in pushing for anything that may prolong and exacerbate instability. In addition, not only are the masses disorganised, but the desire for a revolution is often tempered by extreme prudence in a nation ravaged by a decade of civil war, and currently witnessing insurgencies in Darfur and more recently in the “New South”‘.

I would like to come back at al-Bashir’s divide and rule strategy. There would be hundreds of examples illustrating the devastating strategy, in the aforementioned article, Amir Ahmad Nasr mentions ‘divisive policy of tribalism’: ‘The Southerners, the Darfurians, the Nuba of Southern Kordofan and the Ingessana of the Blue Nile, have often been at the receiving end of al-Bashir and his entourage’s brutality. They have been one of the greatest victims of his regime’s abuse of religion and divisive policy of tribalism.’ Whether or not al-Bashir initiates a politics of war, or encourages internecine resentments among the tribes, religions, the rule still applies and he benefits from it. The latest example is the tensions between Umma & opposition parties over regime change in Sudan. For now the opposition seems too weak and fragmented to pose a serious threat to al-Bashir but a strong united opposition and a well developed civil society are the best set for an internal, peaceful change. Maybe the late John Garang and his vision should not be forgotten and inspire more people.

Back to the hearing to conclude. I sent the link to the video of the hearing to Dalia Haj-Omar (@daloya) as I was curious to know her opinion about it and she said: ‘The #SudanHearing was engaging. Recommendation to pressure Qataris, Saudi & Chinese was spot on. Let’s see if that happens #Sudan‘. China is indeed among the countries to put pressure on. In a dispute with Sudan over crude-transportation fees, South Sudan is shutting down more than 900 oil wells after accusing neighbouring Sudan of stealing its oil; China invested $20-billion in South Sudan oil infrastructure from which it is now getting nothing. Like said during the hearing, this could be used as leverage. But this shut down is not without consequences for both populations of Sudan and South Sudan. In Sudan, inflation hit 19 percent in January and according to Bloomberg, Sudan Sudan has cut spending by 26 percent a month after it shut down oil production… Once again, let’s hope diplomacy will work before the economic crisis becomes critical for both countries. Last week al-Bashir announced that he would travel to Juba for the first time since independence to meet with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir. Maybe it’s time to work together, for the sake of the people of both countries. Eventually.

Among Miss Van recent projects, artist Ramon Maiden is ‘tattooing a Miss Van beauty’. You can see a picture on Facebook and I wish I could ‘samaze‘ (you know, drawing some Sama on her sexy body) this beauty too!

Last January, Olek, the amazing crochet artist, and Miss Van had a special epic moment together in the old Barrio Gotico, Barcelona. Watch the video below and you will see Olek’s work put on the face of a doll. Don’t miss Olek’s chairs at the end of the video! I invite you to visit Olek’s website for more info on her work.

Roger Ebert even titled his article “The Artist” and “Hugo”: A very French Oscars (he could have also mentioned Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”), adding ‘It was like an episode from “The Twilight Zone.”‘. Lou Lumenick was being witty when he tweeted: ‘How THE ARTIST won Best Picture — pretty much by default’. On his article published on the New York Post, he writes: ‘It is not a film for the ages, but for the academy this year, it was probably the least objectionable choice — if a thoroughly baffling one for most Americans.’

Nathan Pippenger on the New Republic asks: “The Artist” Won Best Picture, But Does That Mean Anyone Will See It? The author argues: ‘But even though it was the favorite among the Academy types, “The Artist” is probably unfamiliar to many moviegoers: It didn’t even come close to being a top-grossing film last year. Will last night’s big win translate into bigger business for the movie?‘. I’m not sure but let’s hope so!

In an article (Chicago Sun-Times), Roger Ebert explains: ‘Hollywood has the same problem with the Oscars that the Republicans are having with their primaries. They can’t seem to agree on a candidate with a broad appeal to the base. All nine Oscar finalists were, like Mitt Romney, good enough to be nominated. But none of them appealed to average multiplex moviegoers, just as it’s said Romney doesn’t appeal to the GOP base.’

Ok. Right. However! As a huge fan of the Golden Age of Hollywood which inspired my first -unfinished- book, I think that The Artist deserves all of its awards (I explain why I like the movie so much in: Hollywood’s Golden Age is back with The Artist). And my friend da-eYe can’t agree more. He even thinks he IS The Artist and had no scruples uncrediting Jean Dujardin and put his name instead… da-eYe is so George Valentine, isn’t he?

Full image on da-eYe’s website.

Some interesting points from his article, full version here.

“Bombings, ground attacks and sexual violence — part of Sudan’s scorched-earth counterinsurgency strategy — have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in South Kordofan”

“While the Sudanese government is trying to suppress an armed rebellion in the Nuba Mountains, it is civilians who bear the brunt of the suffering”

“The Sudanese government bombed this refugee camp in November, and, just a week ago, it bombed the nearby town of Jau, in South Sudan”

“Unless outside countries enforce humanitarian access into the Nuba Mountains, we can expect more famished children like her.”

“The Sudanese armed forces try to keep aid workers and journalists out, so the story of suffering has not received much international attention”

Nick Kristof mentions the fact that unless outside countries enforce humanitarian access into the Nuba Mountains, children will starve to death. A situation nobody can accept. But there is a big ‘but’.

I discussed this topic with people from the Sudanese diaspora, doctors in West Africa, journalists, and committed citizens with very good knowledge of the issues in Sudan. Some of them are questioning the military options (such as a no-fly-zone, limited air strikes on the Sudan Armed Forces assets, a cross border emergency relief operation…), just like Daniel Solomon did on Twitter @danatgu a few days ago. Him and I replied to each other’s tweets  and I have to admit for many people I know (and several organizations), they oppose these approaches because the deployment of a large military force to secure a humanitarian corridor in the middle of a conflict zone could endanger civilians even more, Solomon argued. They also think that an increased diplomacy outreach to regional, international actors that have leverage with the Sudanese (AU, AL) should still be privileged.

After Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution aimed at stopping the ongoing violence in Syria, I posted an article: ‘Against mass killings, but business comes first. Always.’ In this article I mention the one posted on Enough Project website by John Prendergast to which I responded: ‘The power of carrot and stick: reductio ad absurdum?‘ My point with these articles is to underline how it is important to show transparency on what countries do on a classical diplomatic approach and what others don’t or work against. We definitely should expose more Russia and China’s interests and agenda in the media and stop the guilty ostrich policy (For Syria, Reliant on Russia for Weapons and Food, Old Bonds Run Deep By David M. Herszenhorn).

The same for Sudan. Why can’t we reach an agreement to take action and protect the endangered population in Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile? Which countries are against an intervention? And why? This kind of transparency would allow more people to better understand the work done on the diplomatic side, and it would also be educative because it would then explain the general public why maybe there might be no other choice left than to support military options. It will also stop all speculations about which countries are working  for their own unspeakable interests and other conspiracy theories. I know diplomacy needs compromises sometimes and silent talks but on the other side, too many people don’t care exactly because nothing is told and explained about the diplomacy approach.

But meanwhile we are discussing that matter, people are dying. Again and again. Last month I read South Sudan’s Doomsday Machine by Alex de Waal. He is an adviser of the former South African President and head of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki. He wrote: ‘Based on its principle that Sudan and South Sudan should be two viable states, at peace and mutually supportive, the African Union panel has proposed an agreement. This will keep the oil flowing, stop the unilateral diversion of southern oil by the north, and provide enough funds to cushion the economic crisis in the north. China — the main buyer of Sudanese oil — the United States and the United Nations have endorsed the African Union’s plan.’ He added: ‘This is the last chance, not only for the two to snatch a deal on oil, but also to stop an escalation into a wider north-south war’. That was a month ago.

The ‘good’ news is that China has endorsed the African Union’s plan and that Sudan Wins Five-Year Delay to Repay China Debt. The bad news is that as of today, nothing has change so far. I just found an article published on ReliefWeb 15 years ago (!), on March 1997, titled: SUDAN: Disaster ‘In The Making’ In Sudanese Nuba Mountains. I’m not what you can call an ‘interventionist’, I’m on the diplomatic side. But just like for Syria, something has to be done, and quickly. Even it has to ‘endanger’ our economic and geopolitical interests I already mentioned in so many of my previous articles posted on this blog.