This morning after I read a couple of the wonderful diaries devoted to the recent peace gatherings in Washington D.C., I mentioned to a few friends (West African friends) that people were protesting in Washington D.C. against the war in Iraq.  (I am currently living in a West African country.)

Thank you President Bush.  You have officially restarted the cold war between the US and Russia.  

You’ve managed to accomplish this in addition to putting the US in a horrible quagmire in Iraq, increasing the income gap between rich and poor with your tax-cuts-for-the-rich scheme, and saddling future generations of this country with a crippling deficit.

You must be proud President Bush.

On April 29th, 2007 Mali held a democratic presidential election (fourth since 1992) resulting in the re-election of incumbent president Amadou Toumani Toure (known as ATT).  Elections were described using words such as peaceful, calm, quiet, and transparent.

News from West Africa rarely reaches western media outlets, and when West African news does make headlines, it is usually for all the wrong reasons:  Charles Taylor; recent violence in La Guinee; continuing hostility in Cote D’Ivoire; and then there is the recent election in Nigeria, of which international observers have described as being among the worst they’ve ever seen.  Here is some good news about democratic progress in the West African country of Mali.