Contending images of world politics

A Algerian voter casts his vote, Thursday, Dec.12, 2019, at the Algerian consulate in Marseille, southern France. Five candidates have their eyes on becoming the next president of Algeria in Thursday's contentious election boycotted by a massive pro-democracy movement. less A Algerian voter casts his vote, Thursday, Dec.12, 2019, at the Algerian consulate in Marseille, southern France. Five candidates have their eyes on becoming the next president of Algeria in Thursday's ... more Photo: Daniel Cole, AP Photo: Daniel Cole, AP Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Image 1 of 3 A Algerian voter casts his vote, Thursday, Dec.12, 2019, at the Algerian consulate in Marseille, southern France. Five candidates have their eyes on becoming the next president of Algeria in Thursday's contentious election … [Read more...] about Algerians are choosing a new president in contentious poll

Montana governor Steve Bullock, right, and former Maryland congressman John Delaney, left, at the Democratic primary debate July 30 in Detroit. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images For months now — and, in some cases, years — a handful of senior Democrats have been whispering to donors, activists, strategists, and pundits that they should take a serious look at Montana governor Steve Bullock. Here’s a guy who’s actually won a statewide race deep in Trump Country, an anti-dark-money crusader with a solid liberal record, who could be the non–Joe Biden, folksy sorta-centrist voters might be looking for, they said. In a normal political world … they’d muse about his prospects, their voices trailing off wistfully. Despite the latent potential, Bullock was one of the last candidates to jump into the 2020 race, and as a result, he didn’t even qualify for the first set of debates in June. He’s polling between zero and one percent, … [Read more...] about Steve Bullock’s Big Introduction

Julian Castro, 44, unloaded on Joe Biden, 76, about his age at the Democratic debate Thursday night, implying the former vice president was having memory problems in a not so subtle shot at concerns about Biden's advancing years. 'Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?,' Castro snapped at him during a fierce back-and-forth on healthcare as the audience gasped at the attack line. 'Are you forgetting already what you just said two minutes ago?,' he repeated as Biden looked shocked at the punches coming his way.   The image of one of the youngest candidates on the stage attacking one of the oldest comes as Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, has faced increased questions about his health.  Biden was the main target of the night from the start of the debate when he got into a three-way tiff with liberal rivals Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on healthcare. Julian Castro, 44, attacked Joe Biden, 76, about his age on the Democratic debate … [Read more...] about ‘Have you forgotten what you said two minutes ago?’ Julian Castro, 44, astonishes Democrats by hinting that Joe Biden, 76, is struggling with his memory as they clash on health care

Democrats unleashed their most direct and personal attacks on one another of the 2020 election during Thursday night's presidential debate in Houston, with attacks based on age, ideology, and the legacy of Barack Obama. With increased urgency of top-tier candidates to distinguish themselves, and for lower-tier candidates to rise to close the gap from behind the top three poll leaders, contenders threw jabs in multiple directions at the third debate, with health policy as the chief battleground. Sanders went after Biden early on for having attacked his own Medicare for All plan for its explosive $30trillion price tag, claiming the status quo would cost even more. 'Well, let me tell you something, for a socialist, you got a lot more confidence in corporate America than I do,' Biden told Sanders, a self-described Democratic Socialist who caucuses with Senate Democrats. Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, 44, tore into Biden, 76, appearing to question his memory during an angry … [Read more...] about The Democrats’ family feud: Insults fly as the top 10 candidates go head-to-head for the first time with Joe Biden targeted for his age, bitter disputes over healthcare and candidates wrestling over who is the TRUE heir to Obama

By MACHARIA MUNENE More by this Author Kenya, in colonial and postcolonial times, served as a global weather vane on freedom and independence. Colonial Kenya was a contradiction of two images involving freedom and slavery. The first image was that of “White man’s country”. They deprived Africans, called “natives”, of freedom and sovereignty and created poverty as a governing mechanism.MAU MAUThe second global image is that of “natives” rejecting and violently challenging the belief that Kenya was “white man’s country”. It happened particularly through the Mau Mau War for which Jomo Kenyatta was sent to jail. The two images were dominant in 1963 as Kenya attained independence with Kenyatta as the head.Subsequently, postcolonial Kenya rulers struggled with the challenge of maintaining freedom in an independent country struggling to find its niche in the Cold War community of nations. Kenyatta’s team struggled to balance … [Read more...] about It’s been a long hard road, and still a way to go, on meaning of freedom