2017 is finally here. The new term for President Paul Kagame – the great manipulator – has already begun. Those who are awaiting the results from the August 2017 elections are dreamers. Power was already grabbed since 1994, through the grab of 2000, elections of 2003, 2010, and via Machiavellian manoeuvrings of 2015 and 2016. It appears to be “game over.”
But can it ever be “game over”? Besides herding Rwandans like sheep into giving him life presidency, the great Rwandan manipulator has an additional reason to believe that it is “game over.” The U.S. and the U.K. that were making a bit of noise in 2015 and 2016 about Kagame’s power grab will not do so anymore – both are currently consumed by their domestic agendas. The Trump Administration probably doesn’t even know who’s who among African rulers, let alone who the heck Kagame is. The Trump White House has yet to name the deputy Secretary of State for Africa in any event. British Prime Minister May is busy with Brexit.
It would therefore appear to be game over in Kagame’s republic – except one thing. It is often stated that “History is merely a list of surprises” and that history “can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.” Even a great manipulator is not immune from history’s surprises. The German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel put it best – “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” He also said that “What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” Oblivious to this, Kagame imagines that he will rule forever.
But why do we call Kagame “the great manipulator”? This gentleman deserves a global award for manipulation. The dictionary definition of manipulation is “to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one’s own advantage.” Here is a graphic representation of manipulation. FULL STORY
