Friday, March 09, 2012

Manhunt: Catching Kony - Uganda, October 2010

Uganda, the void of sanity. I thought there were big game hunters in Uganda, no?

In this July 2006 file photo, (click here) members of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army are seen as their leader Joseph Kony meets with a delegation of Ugandan officials and lawmakers and representatives from non-governmental organizations, in the Democratic Republic of Congo near the Sudanese border. Invisible Children launched a viral campaign to 'Stop Kony' on Tuesday to mobilize the next generation of young Americans to help end the conflict in northern Uganda.


Sometimes bush drivers are necessary to find the game one is looking for.  Look, I thought drones had a purpose in Africa.  

...As with their previous campaigns  Displace Me and How it Ends, Invisible Children launched Stop Kony 2012 on Tuesday to mobilize the next generation of young Americans to help end the conflict in northern Uganda – except this time, they called on their mostly white, privileged, and educated youth followers to get involved through web-activism on their FacebookTwitter,Tumblr and YouTube accounts....


To be honest, killing Kony will result in the rise of another.  Uganda has only the experience of people like Idi Amin.  But, if the heinous murderers of children begin to understand they will be treated like the next al Qaeda field marshall, it might have an effect.  At least children can find windows of escape, but, there will have to be refugee camps for them to flee to and those camps need to be secure.  If it works in Pakistan, who is to argue.


Idi Amin, who has died at an age thought to be 78, (click here) was one of the most brutal military dictators to wield power in post-independence Africa.
While chief of staff of the Ugandan army, under Dr Milton Obote's civilian government, he seized power in 1971. He made himself president, with the rank of field marshal, and after eight years of power left Uganda a legacy of bloodthirsty killings and economic mismanagement. Parliament was dissolved; no elections were held; secret police - most of them in plain clothes - exercised absolute power of life and death; and the courts and the press were subjugated to the whims of the executive....


The moral men and women of Africa have raised nations of children from the ravages of HIV, I think they are up to returning innocence and hope to the children of Uganda, if given half a chance.  
Uganda in its current state is not a sovereign country and to that end there are huge impositions upon natural resources and we all know the score.  The more damage to the nation and its assets by rebel bands such as this the less wealth the leaders have to manage.  If Africa is to have a place in the global community, it has the capacity to find a way to transform nations so damaged by brutal dictators.


And, oh yeah, Uganda doesn't have nuclear weapons or PEACEFUL use of the technology, so let's keep it that way.

My, my, my. Publicly Traded Private Equity Firms. Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle. I think that is called an oxymoron, right?


They want to do more of what they already do.

Yep.

THEY are running out of liquid assets.  Their CASH is going back the other way under this administration.  Gee, why do I miss George W. Bush so much?

The Carlyle Group reveals (little about) IPO plans (click here)

Posted by Cardiff Garcia

 Sep 06 15:05

It took long enough for David Rubenstein’s firm to formally declare its intention of joining Blackstone, KKR and Apollo as a publicly traded PE firm, but we’ll have to wait a little longer to get any meaningful details.
Carlyle Group has filed an S-1 with the SEC, and according to the press release the proceeds will be used to “repay indebtedness and for general corporate purposes, including general operational needs, growth initiatives, acquisitions and strategic investments and to fund capital commitments to, and other investments in and alongside of, its funds.”
In other words, it’s going public so it can to do but more of it what it already does. The $100m amount is just a filler; it will be changed later. We also don’t know offering terms (price, number of units), which means we have little guidance on the company’s expected public market value....


So, in determining to REMAIN 'viable' Carlyle is mortgaging every asset available.  Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank have to get in on this in order to have enough clout to back an IPO?  Really?  All the biggies from 2008.  How great is that, huh?  I wonder why I prefer GM to have its own equity and maintain sanity in its use rather than investing in empty opportunities?  Go figure.  I must be crazy worried about the USA economy again.

Thu Mar 8, 2012 11:57pm EST
(Reuters) - Private equity company Carlyle Group CYL.UL,(click title to entry - thank you) which filed for an IPO last September, has added banks including Barclays Plc (BARC.L), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) to help with the sale, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and UBS AG (UBSN.VX) would also work on the offering, Bloomberg quoted the unidentified sources as saying.
Carlyle Group has filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $100 million, with JPMorgan, Citigroup and Credit Suisse as its underwriters....


Hm.  And no major wars on the horizon, either.  Gee, I guess 'the people' of the world are finally having their way!  What was the word?  Hm.....oh, yeah, peasants.  It looks as though the peasants revolt is taking hold.


IPOs for private equity firms.  Hey, good luck with that!  


Hey!  GM!  Show me the money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Up to now the Senate has disagreed regarding the approach to Syria. Now there is a third stating no more militarization of Syria.


(CBS News) Something must be done about the Syrian government's (click here) ongoing violence against its own people, but the U.S. "can't just jump up one morning and say, 'OK, let's go drop some bombs on Syrian tanks," Sen. John Kerry said Thursday.


Appearing on "CBS This Morning," the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pushed back against colleagues, notably Sen. John McCain, who has advocated for a U.S.-led military intervention.


"I'm very sympathetic with John McCain's passion about this. I think we all share a sense of deep frustration. Nobody wants to be sitting on the sidelines watching people be killed against the tyrannical efforts of the military and a small governing fleet, which is what it's reduced to now," the Massachusetts senator said....
The Third Party is Kofi Annan.  He has a along standing expertise and a respected resolve.  He knows the plight of the Syrian opposition and does not want them harmed anymore, perhaps, he can find a way to end this expediently without further destabilization and massacres of innocent people.


Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan talks during a press conference with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby, not pictured, at the Arab league headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, March 8, 2012. (AP)


March 9, 2012 5:41 AM



(AP) BEIRUT - The leader (click title to entry - thank you) of Syria's main opposition group on Friday rejected calls by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan for dialogue between the government in Damascus and the opposition, describing them as unrealistic.
In a telephone interview from Paris, Burhan Ghalioun told The Associated Press that Annan already has disappointed the Syrian people.
Annan, who has been appointed joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, has said his mission was to start a "political process" to resolve the conflict in the country. He is due this weekend in Syria where he will meet with Assad.
In comments made in Cairo on Thursday after talks with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby, Annan warned against further militarization of the Syrian conflict and urged the opposition to come together with the government to find a political solution.
"I hope that no one is thinking very seriously of using force in this situation," Annan said. "I believe any further militarization would make the situation worse."
Annan also said he would be making "realistic" proposals to resolve the conflict. He did not elaborate....