Mohammed Sameer's Online Aggregator

Former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the sort of visionary African leader everyone on stage and in the crowd would wish for Africa. She’s challenged with summing up four days of discussions on “Africa, the next chapter”.

I’ve followed the work of Noah Samara with Worldspace satellite radio for almost a decade. I’d heard he was a passionate man, but I hadn’t realized how passionate until I had long discussion with him two nights ago - he got down on his knees to make a point to me, a point I’d already happily conceded. He’s one of the most charming and inspiring men I’ve met in recent years.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete took the stage with Dr. Larry Brilliant of Google.org and Bruce McNeighbor of Technoserve. Dr. Brilliant announces his support for “Believe, Begin, Become,” a national business plan competition, modeled on the successful experiment Google and Technoserve operated this past year in Ghana. He emphasizes the importance of job creation and business development as critical parts of economic development.

الحياة تماحيك

مش دايما سعيدة، ومش دايما النية خالصة

لكن بنفضل نتمحك في الدنيا وتتمحك فينا

Another nostalgic gem from youtube. Check it out..

Apparently, the editor of the program himself uploaded a significant number of episodes to youtube which you can find links to on the right :) . Pretty progressive for a TV employee.

The music and the keyboard solos are amazing!

MERIP has a roundtable of Israeli and Palestinian views on 1967. I thought this point by Samera Esmeir was particularly worth highlighting:

Interesting interview from the BBC of a former Egyptian pilot remember his dogfight with Israeli jets on 6 June 1967. Note that in terms of the technology used, it was basically Egyptians flying slower Soviet MiGs against Israelis in French Mystere and the newer Mirage jets. What comes across in this as in so many Egyptian testimonies is the inexcusable degree of unpreparedness for the attack, despite the high tensions at the time. No wonder the pilot has this to say:

Ory Okolloh asks, “what’s image got to do with it?” She tells us that our images of Africa focus on the negative stuff - the poverty, the corruption and the disease. People assume that as a Harvard-educated African, these aren’t issues that are personal for her. But she tells us, “I know what it is to grow up without money.