Pete Almeida

Here to learn from all of you wise and courageous souls.

[TrendingPolitics.ca @TrendPolCa]

BREAKING: The Ford government is halting OSAP funding to private career colleges and referring the sector to the OPP after KPMG uncovered "serious concerns" over application integrity.

Audit red flags: shared ownership, immigration recruiters, lack of student validation, and suspicious geographic application clusters — Policorner

[Mike Schreiner @MikeSchreiner]

Let's get the timeline clear here:

1. Career Colleges Ontario warns the Ford government about suspicious OSAP activity in January 2023. Ford lets private career colleges abuse the system for years.

2. Earlier this summer, we learn that just seven private career colleges received $385M in grants, the same amount as all public colleges in Ontario combined.

3. Instead of holding bad actors accountable, Ford punishes all students who rely on OSAP.

Young people are already struggling to get by in an economy stacked against them. Doug Ford needs to reverse these OSAP cuts, take accountability for his own mismanagement, and hold the bad actors responsible instead of punishing all students.

[Thomas C. Mountain @thomascmountain]

There has to be a hidden hand behind the massive propaganda campaign accusing Eritrea of invading Ethiopia. When you think about it the most likely culprit are the gangsters with the most invested, and the most to lose, the UAE mafia. money talks, right?

[ⓉⓃ @tesfanews]

ERITREA ― Technically speaking, #Ethiopia’s declaration of war over #Eritrea began the moment PM Abiy Ahmed started openly questioning Eritrea’s statehood and sovereignty in front of his parliament three years ago, while publicly expressing ambitions to "annex" Eritrean ports by force and, if necessary, advance toward Asmara and seek to change the government, capacities aside, of course.

Since then, senior Ethiopian military officials have repeatedly made similar ambitions public, speaking about territorial expansion, redrawing of borders, and annexing Eritrean port of Assab, with little regard for Eritrea’s sovereignty or the principles of international law.

Had Eritrea not handled these provocations with remarkable restraint, the region could have been plunged into war long ago.

What is equally troubling is the response of the international community, including #Russia. While the U.S., #China, and the EU have expressed concern, very few countries, apart from #Egypt, #Sudan, and #SaudiArabia, have directly condemned Ethiopia’s threats and apparent ambitions to use force against a sovereign neighbor.

Silence, vague statements, or carefully worded diplomatic language can easily be interpreted as tolerance or tacit acceptance.

But sovereignty is not negotiable, and international law cannot be applied selectively. If continued threats and provocations leave Eritrea and its allies with no peaceful options, they may ultimately have to confront the threat directly and defend their sovereignty, regardless of the consequences.

[Sirak Bahlbi @SirakBahlbi]

There is absolutely NO rhyme or reason for #Eritrea to invade #Ethiopia. This is a blatant hoax designed by Abiy to fabricate a pretext for invading Eritrea’s sovereign territory.

Eritrea has not a single economic or political reason to invade Ethiopia.

On the other hand, Ethiopia not only has a motive to invade Eritrea, but Abiy Ahmed has openly declared his objective of securing sovereign sea access, by hook or by crook.

Whatever the outcome of Abiy’s adventure, it risks plunging the Horn of #Africa into an endless Armageddon of regional conflict.

The world needs to pay attention and act before it is too late.

[Rakeem Shabazz | Wise The Dome TV @RakeemShabazz]

None of your favorites talked like this but folks still say Pac was a “fake art school kid.”

[Sirak Bahlbi @SirakBahlbi]

Abiy has been threatening to wipe #Eritrea off the map for years. When other countries make statements like that about #Israel, numerous countries rightly react strongly. Yet when #Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed makes similarly reckless and inflammatory statements, they are met with remarkably little to no condemnation and appear to be tolerated.

[𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥 @SankaraDispatch]

In 1993, this photo of Belgian soldiers holding a Somali boy over an open fire shocked the world.

The soldiers were in Mogadishu as part of the UN-authorized Operation Restore Hope, supposedly there to protect Somalis and deliver humanitarian assistance.

The photograph became evidence in a military prosecution.

And what happened next was even more shocking.

In June 1997, a Belgian military court acquitted the two soldiers, Claude Baert and Kurt Coelus, of assault, battery and threats.

Their defence?

They claimed it was merely a “game.”

The court accepted that there was insufficient evidence that the boy had suffered bodily harm or that his life had been threatened.

The prosecution appealed.

In December 1997, the acquittal was confirmed.

Imagine being the Somali child in that photograph.

Imagine watching the men who held you over a fire walk free because a court decided there was insufficient proof that you had been harmed.

This is part of the history that disappears when Western military interventions in Africa are remembered only through the language of “peacekeeping” and “humanitarianism.”

[Chris Glover @chrisgloverndp]

🚨 Ford scandal of the day.
This one is huge.

Allegations in court documents state that Ford's Chief of Staff would give Rob Godfrey's company Keel Digital Solutions a taxpayer grant—if Rob could convince his father, Paul Godfrey, to run a Conservative op-ed in the National Post. Paul was then the CEO of the National Post.

#onpoli

[TDot Resident @TDotResident]

#ONpoli

Great writeup of the OSAP scam that Doug Ford's government facilitated:

[Amanuel Biedemariam @Amanbiede]

We saw this pattern before the Tigray war. Now we’re seeing it again—with familiar actors and familiar narratives.

Cameron Hudson raises the prospect of Eritrean intervention. Patricia Marins supplies the military rationale. Speculation reinforces speculation.

The previous cycle also involved influential Washington figures, including Susan Rice and Samantha Power, amid intense diplomatic pressure on Eritrea.

The parallels deserve attention. But speculation is not evidence, and repetition is not confirmation.

The Horn of Africa needs peace, economic development, and regional cooperation—not another devastating war.

Who benefits from keeping the region focused on confrontation instead of development?

@21WIRE @GeopoliticsDH @MintPressNews @RT_com @AlArabiya

#Eritrea #Ethiopia #TigrayWar #HornOfAfrica #RedSea #PeaceAndDevelopment

[Dagmawi M. Belay @dagmawi_belay]

BREAKING:-

ADDIS ABABA- Bole International Airport is experiencing an unusual surge of departing passengers as travelers race to leave Ethiopia. Local and foreign tourists were caught off guard following unacknowledged drone strikes by the government in Addis Ababa targeting multiple locations across the capital and surrounding regions. In response, foreign diplomats and international visitors have begun evacuating the city.

[BRITTLE PAPER @brittlepaper]

Maaza Mengiste is a 2026 MacArthur Fellow! The unrestricted $800,000 grant will support her next novel, set in interwar Berlin, along with her work translating African fiction and archiving photographs of Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia 📚✨ https://t.co/74H1CiEewV

[Ambassador Estifanos @AmbassadorEstif]

Oct 1, 2026 Asmara: Press Release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of #Eritrea concerning closure of its Embassy in Addis Abeba and the #AfricanUnion by the Federal Republic of #Ethiopia エチオピア エリトリア

[Yemane G. Meskel 🇪🇷 @hawelti]

The Potemkin Party’s latest gimmicks essentially revolve around shifting the blame to accuse neighboring countries for the intractable quagmire and multiple conflicts that it has itself incubated throughout the past three years.

This is indeed crystal clear from the chronology of events:

1. In October 2023, in flagrant violation of international law and basic tenets of the Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation signed between the two countries in Asmara in 2018, the Potemkin Party formally launched its campaign of acquiring "sovereign access to the sea... through peaceful means if possible and by force if necessary". The regime went on to launch an intensive domestic propaganda campaign to agitate and incite its domestic constituencies for a reckless round of conflict and mayhem. The toxic campaigns included utter revisions of history; repugnant denial and denigration of Eritrea's right to decolonization as well as the costly war of national liberation. The latter was often dubbed as a "conspiracy by external forces to deny Ethiopia's historic access to the sea".

2. Driven by the same illicit and delusional agenda of "sovereign access to the sea", the regime stealthily signed an MOU with Somaliland whose full contents were not divulged at the time. This was again a flagrant violation of Somalia's inviolable sovereignty and territorial integrity and an affront to the African Union coming from a regime that hosts the Organization and ostensibly "cherishes" its foundational principles

3. The PP regime has also opted to advance the dangerous interests of the UAE to host a military camp in Beni-Shangul- Gumuz region in the western part of the country for the training of RSF troops, the launching of drone attacks as well as a conduit for Mercenaries thereby exacerbating the conflict in the Sudan.

In the event, the source of regional tension is and remains the Potemkin Party regime. Eritrea, in particular, has remained a primary target of PP's reckless agenda and incessant military saber-rattling as the link below illustrates.

https://t.co/EUdUBObFSw

[Amanuel Biedemariam @Amanbiede]

This marks the end of the 2018 rapprochement. Ethiopia reopened its embassy in Asmara in 2018 as a symbol of the peace initiative that helped win Abiy Ahmed the Nobel Peace Prize. Closing it now is a complete reversal of that initiative—and a return to open hostility.

It is also a besieged regime’s blame-shifting. As predicted, the Abiy government is increasingly framing its internal failures as the product of external conspiracies. Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt are now accused of backing its adversaries—externalizing responsibility for a war the government is losing.

It is a diplomatic tantrum from a regime losing on the battlefield and lashing out at the neighbor it believes is enabling its enemies.

The embassy closure and diplomat expulsions look more like panic moves by a regime fearing internal sabotage and external coordination than a show of strength.

#Ethiopia #Eritrea #AbiyAhmed #HornOfAfrica #RedSea #Medemer #Sudan #Egypt

[Yemane G. Meskel 🇪🇷 @hawelti]

Press Release

Ethiopia’s Deplorable Acts of Hostility

https://t.co/kmkxALIAuG

*"...In reality, it is Ethiopia which has been pursuing an agenda of incessant hostility – in effect, a publicly pronounced declaration of war – against Eritrea for three years in pursuit of 'the imperative of acquiring sovereign access to the sea' through the invasion of sovereign Eritrean ports and coastal areas".

*"...Throughout these trying times, Eritrea has displayed patience and restraint in the hope of averting a dangerous escalation".

*"...In the current circumstances, however, Eritrea has no option but to reciprocate in kind and severe all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia with all the negative corollaries that this entails".

[Amanuel Biedemariam @Amanbiede]

While Ethiopia closes its embassy in Asmara, Eritrea is looking elsewhere.

In Washington, Eritrea is discussing a new chapter centered on trade, investment and regional cooperation. In Cairo, another senior Eritrean delegation is discussing investment, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, marine resources and maritime transport. Egypt itself says it wants greater economic cooperation and participation by Egyptian companies in Eritrean projects.

That is the larger picture Addis Ababa should consider. Diplomatic expulsions, accusations and another cycle of confrontation will not reverse the changes taking place around the region.

Ethiopia would be better served by finding its place in this transition—working with its neighbors, resolving its internal political conflicts and pursuing economic integration—rather than repeating the confrontations of the past.

The region is moving. Ethiopia has a choice: participate in that movement or continue fighting against it.

#Eritrea #Ethiopia #Egypt #UnitedStates #HornOfAfrica #RedSea @US_SrAdvisorAF

[Amanuel Biedemariam @Amanbiede]

Is Ethiopia as a centralized state finished? What replaces it—a negotiated federation, a patchwork of independent entities, or prolonged warlordism—depends on whether the TPLF, Fano, OLA, and others can agree on a new order. But one thing is clear to me: Abiy will not be part of it. His demise will be ugly, and he now seems a besieged leader who sees enemies everywhere.

Abiy came to power with promise and goodwill. He called it Medemer, promised unity, and pledged progress through the Prosperity Party. Instead, he presides over internal wars, fragmentation, and the growing danger of Balkanization.

His main betrayal was signing the Pretoria Agreement—making peace with the TPLF and turning against former allies, including Fano. He became a new emperor demanding “sovereign access” to the Red Sea, threatening Eritrea, and signing the Somaliland MOU that brought confrontation with Somalia. He became a conduit for Israel and the UAE and attacked Sudan, leaving it in ruins. His relationships with Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, and Somalia deteriorated.

Now, years of failures have given rise to internal conflicts against united adversaries stronger than him. So he blames the neighbors—Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea.

Thus Abiy is witnessing the inevitable transition and transformation of a nation, similar to the collapse of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev.

#Ethiopia #AbiyAhmed #Medemer #Eritrea #TPLF #Fano #OLA #Tigray #Amhara #Oromia #HornOfAfrica #RedSea #Somalia #Sudan #Egypt

[Chetuya Chinagolum @Chetuyachinago]

I appreciate your perspective, but you are conflating two completely different issues: the structural origin of a military institution and the economic conditions of a nation under siege.

My analysis was strictly a military and institutional comparison. Eritrea forged its armed forces entirely from scratch through a 30-year indigenous armed struggle, unlike Nigeria, which directly inherited the command structures, uniforms, and internal repression doctrines of the British colonial constabulary.

Also, judging Eritrea's domestic economic hardship and youth migration in isolation without factoring in decades of crippling Western sanctions, arms embargoes, and international isolation is incomplete. A nation can possess an authentically decolonized, sovereign military architecture while simultaneously suffering from extreme economic strangulation from the outside.

My post was an analysis of state security decolonization, not an endorsement of domestic living conditions.