Response to Asfha's article

By Wossen HM

I read Asfha's article on Meles Zenawi receiving a purchased "Peace Prize." Asfha's arguments are solid; we need to try to verify before we jump on fanning a news story. However, in this case, it looks Asfha missed the point. It was not an Ethiopian web site that reported the news first. It is the Chinese government owned Xinhua that reported the story. Walta (Legesse's web site) waited on the wings, like it did not know about the prize. It took a nap for some two days, and when the Ethiopian web sites were raging with the award to an Eritrean agent, Walta joined the fray and told us Meles was a Peace champion. I think we should not blame the Web sites that are doing a marvelous job without any significant help from any one of us. If they were not there, we could have slept content with what Xinhua reported, and the hidden originator, i.e. Walta, reported to the world. Thanks to them Meles is now laid bare as another political misfit in our country. Caution should also be exercised that Xinhua often echoes what the Meles regime issues as a statement. The government tips Xinhua first. And without verifying the story, Xinhua circulates the government propaganda. Xinhua is different from Walta only because it can speak Chinese.

Wossen HM

Osaka, Japan

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