Mafé Tiga

The Wall Street Journal is now in the hands of the same man who owns millions of MySpace profiles, not to mention is taking a sizable cut of the profits from this week's #1 movie, and, of course...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/news-corp-expands-its-reach.html

If there's ever any doubt about the quality of life in Conakry (and in Guinea, in general), this article published last week from the Associated Press should serve as a reminder of the desperat...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/conakry-then-and-now.html

Recently 300 laptop computers were donated to students in Nigeria through the One Laptop Per Child program—despite many students lacking the electricity to recharge them. But never mind that...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/reuters-shocked-nigerians-use-laptops.html

Swedish Professor Hans Rosling may not be the most compelling speaker you'll ever hear, but he sure knows how to use data and statistics to reveal surprising trends in human development, and th...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/hidden-value-of-data.html

Organizers of this year's Festival of Pan-African Music (FESPAM) in the Republic of Congo drew criticism from human rights activists after housing a group of Baka pygmy performers in tents at ...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/room-with-view.html

The calmative powers of a good wine cannot be overstated. An impromptu wine-tasting broke out at a dinner party in Washington DC (not far from the old haunts of two Mafé Tiga contributors) whe...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/from-robbery-at-gunpoint-to-group-hug.html

Mauritania is renowned for its extreme heat, sprawling geography of sand, and utter desolation. The three qualities are at their most inescapable as you ride atop the iron ore train that rumbles...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/last-train-to-nowhere.html

I'm taking a break from our usual all-Africa programming for a special, if unimportant, comment: I cannot make it through more than thirty seconds of SportCenter's new segment "Who's Now? " ESP...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/im-taking-break-from-our-usual-all.html

"For 40 years all the summits have failedOur micro-states have no future," proclaimed Muammar Gaddafi, the president/dictator of Libya, during his stop in Conakry last week. Gaddafi, longtime e...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/07/united-states-of-africa.html

African Update has posted an interview with author, ROBERT CALDERISI, WHO spent three decades working on international development, most of it with the World Bank where he held several senior pos...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/trouble-with-african-aid.html

Guinean Prime Minister, Lansana Kouyaté, fulfilled one of his long-promised governmental reforms yesterday with the nominations of seven new governors and 30 new prefets for Guinea (out of a po...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/prefet-precarity.html

Foreign Policy released its 2007 failed states report, and guess who made the list . Of course, Guinea isn't the most spectacular failure of a country (that honor goes to Sudan). Guinea ranked...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/guinea-gets-f.html

Libertarian Kenyan economist, James Shikwati , has made a name for himself by providing a counterpoint to the conventional wisdom that increased aid from western countries is the only antidote f...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/price-of-aid-in-africa.html

It was an all-too-common sight during my time in Guinea: often when I visited my neighbors, I'd be introduced to a young girl I had never seen at the school ironing clothes, making dinner, or sw...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/household-slavery.html

Who ever said the French don't know how to have a good time? Looks like the meeting with Vladimir Putin during the G8 conference a few days ago went well beyond the staid diplomatic chit-chat: A...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/sarkozy-unplugged.html

I have fond memories of Mr. Herbert as I grew up watching him on Nickelodeon . His show was always entertaining—especially the one where he made the volcano blow up. He almost, but not quite,...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/mr-wizard-dead-at-89.html

You may have seen news reports (like this one) on Friday how multi-billionaire, Bill Gates , the Harvard dropout, finally received his degree from his alma mater. Like you, I didn't pay the st...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/from-those-to-whom-much-is-given-much.html

Between losing a war in Iraq and myriad other crises punctuating the Bush administration (where Bush's recent approval ratings have tied his all-time low at 32%), Condoleezza Rice took a brea...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/06/30-minutes-for-guinea.html

The French seem to have suddenly fallen under the spell of the new president, Nicolas Sarkozy . This article in the International Herald Tribune talks about how after a contentious election, Sa...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/05/kennedy-has-come-back.html

Last week, Venezuelan president and avowed socialist, Hugo Chavez , took another step in radicalizing his country's socialist revolution by shutting down the country's oldest private television ...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/05/revolution-will-no-longer-be-televised_28.html

Far too many hours in Guinea were passed with fellow blogger, ñamaku, and me lounging on the stained cushions of the Labé regional house reading to each other excerpts from the modern day clas...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-expect-that-i-will-be-talked-about-at.html

Guinea appears once again on the brink of chaos as soldiers have taken to the streets in recent weeks demanding new uniforms, promotions, and long-promised wage increases by firing their weapons...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/05/army-of-darkness.html

You may have heard about the nationwide May Day immigrant protests a few days ago. While most were peaceful, in Los Angeles, things got ugly. The protests were interrupted by a police crackdown...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/05/you-may-have-heard-about-nationwide-may.html

In a few days, France will choose its next president. Last night, French citizens had their first opportunity to see the two opponents duke it out head-to-head, without pause, for more than two...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/05/elections-la-franaise-deuxime-partie.html

Human Rights Watch , one of the few NGOs doing good work in Guinea (though I can't comment on the controversy over their reporting in Israel), published their report on Guinea's recent riots...

http://mafetiga.blogspot.com/2007/04/dying-for-change.html