Blogcritics Author: Savo Heleta

Libyan Colonel Gaddafi's Attack on Barack Obama

Savo Heleta — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:40:57 EDT

Libyan Colonel Gaddafi on Obama, African inferiority complex, and Israel
For decades, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's Libya was regarded in the West as a pariah state and one of the major sponsors of terrorism in the world. In 1992, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Libya over the Pan Am passenger jet bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Libya improved its ties with the West after it handed over the...

Beating, Raping, Burning, and Killing Foreigners in South Africa

Savo Heleta — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:58:47 EDT

In South Africa, fellow Africans are being raped, beaten, burned, and hacked to death.
Poor townships and informal settlements around the South African city of Johannesburg exploded in xenophobic violence two weeks ago, with South African black people lynching, raping, and killing legal and illegal immigrants from other African countries. The scenes of mobs of young and old holding knives, clubs, and wooden sticks and brutally...

China Arming Zimbabwe's Dictator

Savo Heleta — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:34:24 EDT

The Olympic flame now symbolizes repression in China and support of dictatorships and oppression around the world.
When China was given the opportunity to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the country’s politicians promised to improve their image and human rights record at home and abroad. That promise was never fulfilled. Chinese human rights activists still go to jail when they publicly criticize the country’s political system. When monks and...

Nelson Mandela is Still a Terrorist

Savo Heleta — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:33:44 EDT

The United States government still has Nelson Mandela on its terrorist watch list
For me, Nelson Mandela is a hero, a saintly figure, a role model.In contrast, the United States government still considers Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) as terrorists.Even today, ANC’s former and current members still show up on America’s travel and terrorism watch lists.Nelson Mandela, one of the ANC...

When Real Snipers Fire

Savo Heleta — Tue, 8 Apr 2008 12:48:50 EDT

Hillary is a tired and sleep-deprived human being. Please forgive her �misspeaking.�
Suzanne Smalley asked in a Newsweek article if it is possible that Hillary Clinton “really thought she risked her life disembarking from a plane in Bosnia and running for cover under sniper fire. Hillary has been telling the story of her visit to Bosnia in 1996 for many years, gradually adding embellishment and changing details. Perhaps she...

Some People (Europeans) Matter More Than Others (Africans)

Savo Heleta — Fri, 4 Apr 2008 20:17:59 EDT

Poor Africans and their suffering simply don�t matter.
If you are in a war zone and you are a European and your country is small, poor, not so important on a global scale, and unable to sustain itself without outside help, you will still receive a lot of attention from the international community and they will do everything to help you.If you live in a war zone and you are an African and your country...

Hillary's Lies: Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia

Savo Heleta — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:46:22 EDT

Politicians lie. That�s a fact. Sometimes they get found out.
Politicians lie. That’s a fact. They lie to get elected and to stay in power. Some lie about other countries so they can justify invading them. Others lie so they can portray themselves as experienced leaders. Hillary Clinton is a great example here. Let’s take a look at a few of the recent lies in her campaign to be Democratic...

Why Would Anybody Care About Darfur?

Savo Heleta — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:28:01 EDT

Why would anybody care about Darfur? It�s a poor and remote region in Africa.
Darfur conflict is in its sixth year. The UN and aid agencies estimate that over 2 million people are living in camps after fleeing fighting in the region. They also estimate that around 200,000 people have died in the conflict since 2003. In July 2007, the United Nations members approved the 26,000-strong force for the Darfur peacekeeping...

War. Any Time, Any Place - This is What Happened to Me in Bosnia

Savo Heleta — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:42:32 EDT

War can happen in your country, too -- wherever you live. Any time, any place.
If there is anything I would like the readers to get from my book, Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia (AMACOM, March 2008), it is this: I realize that what happened in Bosnia [during the civil war in the 1990s] could happen anywhere in the world, particularly in places that are diverse and have a history of conflict. It...

Zimbabwe's Madman, Witches, Prostitutes, and Two-headed Creatures

Savo Heleta — Sun, 9 Mar 2008 06:08:43 EDT

Many in poverty-striken Zimbabwe have nothing to lose, and fighting for their human dignity should not come as a surprise.
Once a breadbasket of the region and an example of economic prosperity in southern Africa, Zimbabwe has deteriorated into the continent’s poorhouse and is near a total collapse. Over 80% of Zimbabweans are unemployed. It is estimated that over 3 million citizens, one fourth of the population, have left the country in recent years. For those...