07-16-2020, 08:47 PM
*** 17-Jul-20 World View -- Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam now filling with water, alarming Egypt
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** News events in Ethiopia, Egypt, Lebanon, Armenia and Azerbaijan
****
![[Image: g200716b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g200716b.jpg)
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is reportedly now filling with water (Reuters)
For many years, I used to write an article every day, 365/366 days per
year, and cross-posted them on Breitbart. However, in the last couple
of years, I no longer have the energy to do that. One reason is that
I was royally screwed by the a--holes at Breitbart, and the other
reason is that, even though I have thousands of regular readers,
nobody is willing to pay me a regular salary, and most of them
consider the articles equivalent to a comic strip that they enjoy
reading, as long as it's free.
Nonetheless, there's so much nonsense, ignorance and stupidity, in the
mainstream media, especially about international events. Even the BBC
is turning into a left-wing sewer like CNN, probably because the BBC
receives a lot of money from PBS and they have to do as they're told.
And I've been told by many people that they depend on my web site,
which apparently the only web site in the world with honest, unbiased,
non-ideological descriptions of what's going on in the world.
The result is that I actually feel guilty about not doing more. So
the purpose of this article is to briefly summarize some major
international stories that are very important, but which nobody knows
anything about. It's not as good as three major articles on three
consecutive days, but it's almost as good.
****
**** Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam now filling with water, alarming Egypt
****
There's a really interesting story about Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam, which has been under construction since 2011. I've
written several stories about it while it was under construction, and
about the controversy: Once the dam has been constructed, it has to be
filled with water from the Blue Nile, and the region to be filled is
so enormous that it will take about seven years to fill the dam.
However, the Blue Nile supplies most of Sudan's water, and about 90%
of Egypt's water. Both Egypt and Sudan are already short of water,
and there are drought seasons that are worse. So this seven-year
filling period is potentially a disaster to Sudan and Egypt. There
have been years of arguments and negotiations, to no avail.
So now, in July 2020, the time has come for Ethiopia to start filling
the dam. Nothing much has happened yet, but if Egypt and Sudan
suffer from lack of water, there could well be a war.
****
**** Military clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh
****
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been arguing for years about an
Armenia-governed enclave called Nagorno-Karabakh in the middle of
Azerbaijan. There was no problem when both countries were part of the
Soviet Union, but they had a bloody war after the Soviet Union fell
apart in 1991. There have been occasional clashes, most recently in
2016. But in the last week, major fighting has begun, and people in
Azerbaijan have been marching on the capitol building in Azerbaijan's
capital city Baku, demanding that Azerbaijan declare war on Armenia
and force Armenia to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Generally speaking, Azerbaijan is a Turkic country aligned with
Turkey, and Armenia is an Eastern Orthodox (Armenian Apostolic)
country aligned with Russia. Furthermore, memories of the massacre of
Armenians in Turkey in 1916 ("Armenian genocide") are being revived.
Turkey has vowed to defend Azerbaijan, and Russia has offered to
mediate. I would say that this situation could lead to a regional
war, but there's already a small regional war going on. The war could
expand into a war between Turkey and Russia, two countries that are
also at odds with each other in Syria and Libya.
****
**** Lebanon: A country in free fall
****
The country Lebanon is on the verge of collapse. Nearly 50% of the
population are living in poverty, and that was before the Wuhan
Coronavirus crisis began, which is making things much worse. Lebanon
has two problems. The Iran-controlled terrorist group Hezbollah runs
the country, but is receiving less money from its puppetmaster Iran,
thanks to US sanctions. And second, there is massive government
corruption, stemming from its "confessional system of government,"
where power is divided based on sectarian affiliation or confession
(Sunni, Shia, Christian), as I've described in detail in the past.
The confessional form of government has worked fairly well in
resolving disputes in both Iraq and Lebanon, but it gives each
sectarian group unrestricted access to the funds of the portions of
government it controls, leading to a situation where government
officials take all the money for themselves, and let the people freeze
and starve. Now, for the first time, there is massive anger growing
against Hezbollah in both Lebanon and Iraq, and Lebanon's government
may collapse completely.
The country is in free fall. The currency has collapsed. The
unemployment rate is over 30%. A tainted fuel oil scandal revealed
enormous corruption -- bribes, forged documents, and falsified tests.
Protesters have blocked roads with burning tires and are demanding
that the entire government resign. A crisis seems imminent.
Sources
Related Articles:
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan,
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Blue Nile,
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Apostolic Church,
Lebanon, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- News events in Ethiopia, Egypt, Lebanon, Armenia and Azerbaijan
- Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam now filling with water, alarming Egypt
- Military clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh
- Lebanon: A country in free fall
****
**** News events in Ethiopia, Egypt, Lebanon, Armenia and Azerbaijan
****
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is reportedly now filling with water (Reuters)
For many years, I used to write an article every day, 365/366 days per
year, and cross-posted them on Breitbart. However, in the last couple
of years, I no longer have the energy to do that. One reason is that
I was royally screwed by the a--holes at Breitbart, and the other
reason is that, even though I have thousands of regular readers,
nobody is willing to pay me a regular salary, and most of them
consider the articles equivalent to a comic strip that they enjoy
reading, as long as it's free.
Nonetheless, there's so much nonsense, ignorance and stupidity, in the
mainstream media, especially about international events. Even the BBC
is turning into a left-wing sewer like CNN, probably because the BBC
receives a lot of money from PBS and they have to do as they're told.
And I've been told by many people that they depend on my web site,
which apparently the only web site in the world with honest, unbiased,
non-ideological descriptions of what's going on in the world.
The result is that I actually feel guilty about not doing more. So
the purpose of this article is to briefly summarize some major
international stories that are very important, but which nobody knows
anything about. It's not as good as three major articles on three
consecutive days, but it's almost as good.
****
**** Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam now filling with water, alarming Egypt
****
There's a really interesting story about Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam, which has been under construction since 2011. I've
written several stories about it while it was under construction, and
about the controversy: Once the dam has been constructed, it has to be
filled with water from the Blue Nile, and the region to be filled is
so enormous that it will take about seven years to fill the dam.
However, the Blue Nile supplies most of Sudan's water, and about 90%
of Egypt's water. Both Egypt and Sudan are already short of water,
and there are drought seasons that are worse. So this seven-year
filling period is potentially a disaster to Sudan and Egypt. There
have been years of arguments and negotiations, to no avail.
So now, in July 2020, the time has come for Ethiopia to start filling
the dam. Nothing much has happened yet, but if Egypt and Sudan
suffer from lack of water, there could well be a war.
****
**** Military clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh
****
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been arguing for years about an
Armenia-governed enclave called Nagorno-Karabakh in the middle of
Azerbaijan. There was no problem when both countries were part of the
Soviet Union, but they had a bloody war after the Soviet Union fell
apart in 1991. There have been occasional clashes, most recently in
2016. But in the last week, major fighting has begun, and people in
Azerbaijan have been marching on the capitol building in Azerbaijan's
capital city Baku, demanding that Azerbaijan declare war on Armenia
and force Armenia to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Generally speaking, Azerbaijan is a Turkic country aligned with
Turkey, and Armenia is an Eastern Orthodox (Armenian Apostolic)
country aligned with Russia. Furthermore, memories of the massacre of
Armenians in Turkey in 1916 ("Armenian genocide") are being revived.
Turkey has vowed to defend Azerbaijan, and Russia has offered to
mediate. I would say that this situation could lead to a regional
war, but there's already a small regional war going on. The war could
expand into a war between Turkey and Russia, two countries that are
also at odds with each other in Syria and Libya.
****
**** Lebanon: A country in free fall
****
The country Lebanon is on the verge of collapse. Nearly 50% of the
population are living in poverty, and that was before the Wuhan
Coronavirus crisis began, which is making things much worse. Lebanon
has two problems. The Iran-controlled terrorist group Hezbollah runs
the country, but is receiving less money from its puppetmaster Iran,
thanks to US sanctions. And second, there is massive government
corruption, stemming from its "confessional system of government,"
where power is divided based on sectarian affiliation or confession
(Sunni, Shia, Christian), as I've described in detail in the past.
The confessional form of government has worked fairly well in
resolving disputes in both Iraq and Lebanon, but it gives each
sectarian group unrestricted access to the funds of the portions of
government it controls, leading to a situation where government
officials take all the money for themselves, and let the people freeze
and starve. Now, for the first time, there is massive anger growing
against Hezbollah in both Lebanon and Iraq, and Lebanon's government
may collapse completely.
The country is in free fall. The currency has collapsed. The
unemployment rate is over 30%. A tainted fuel oil scandal revealed
enormous corruption -- bribes, forged documents, and falsified tests.
Protesters have blocked roads with burning tires and are demanding
that the entire government resign. A crisis seems imminent.
Sources
- Ethiopia Renaissance Dam / Egypt / Sudan / Rising Tensions Over The Nile River Basin [Updated] (Memri, 16-Jul-2020)
- Azerbaijan-Armenia Clashes Highlight Turkey-Russia Rift (VOA, 16-Jul-2020)
- Hezbollah / Lebanon's New 'Great Satan' (Gatestone Institute, 16-Jul-2020)
Related Articles:
- Egypt accused of 'dirty deal' to sabotage an Ethiopian dam project (05-Feb-2017)
- Armenia-Azerbaijan escalating conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh threatens the entire region (03-Apr-2016)
- Violence surges in street protests in Lebanon as economy collapses (19-Jan-2020)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan,
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Blue Nile,
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Apostolic Church,
Lebanon, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
