Oh, wait! The Farce Gates are still open....wide.

Interesting article the BBC had—and by interesting we mean crazy.

In What Next for Freed Ethiopian Leaders?, Elizabeth Blunt tells us that:

blah… blah…

But again, when the council comes up for re-election - which should be next year - the ex-prisoners are free to compete.

Whether they will be successful is another question. In his press conference the prime minister hinted that the CUD opposition leaders are now yesterday's men.

Only hinted? Hm, pretending to be a democrat must be taking its toll on the prime minister because, usually, Ato Meles’ intellectually iffy, drama queen promulgations are very accessible. Oh well. Time for Bereket Simon to make a pharmacy run.

But then again, Ato Meles also thinks people who oppose him a) belong in jail b) should cool their heels at concentration camps and/or c) be handcuffed with their necks beneath feet as he lectures them on the beauty of democracy and the importance of respect for the constitution… so, we’ll take his hints with a shot of electro shock therapy, thank-you-very-much.

Having boycotted parliament for two years, he said, it might not be so easy to get re-elected.

Because if there is one thing the prime minister knows it is how to get, um, elected.

And here comes the dizzying part.. in three… two… one…

And besides, he said, he believed that the CUD leaders had misunderstood why so many people voted for them in 2005.

Oh he went there. Seriously? Seriously.

In his opinion it wasn't out of enthusiasm for the opposition's ideology - which he subtly suggested was Amhara supremacism.

Ahh. You would think plundering and pillaging the country for 15 years would have helped soothe Ato Meles’ hard on for the bad, bad Amhara. Alas, not even exercising, um, anointed, supreme power has been able to expunge whatever childhood neurosis and inferiority complex the good prime minister still harbors against his phantom enemies. We had underestimated just how scarred Ato Meles has been by those mighty Amhara. Hug it out, Mr. Prime Minister. Just hug it out.

And just when you think it could not possibly… oh, please.

It was a protest vote against the failings of the ruling party, failings which - he said - the party had now taken measures to address.

Yeeeeeah, baby. All that wooziness about votin’ ‘n rallyin’ n’ talky-talky of the democracy… solved! In other words, if the EPRDF held a vote tomorrow it would have to stuff only, let’s say, 3/4^th of the ballots. It is what the astute political analysts within Melesocracy call “taking Amhara supremacy and making it our own 101.”

It sounded like his first speech of the election campaign.

We think Elizabeth meant “erection” campaign, but who are we to…

The prime minister said they were bound by their promises in their letter asking for pardon.

A letter, apparently, that was written in –daggammit!- Amhar(a)ic. He can’t win for trying.

And although the letter only appears to bind them to behave within the constitution - not a difficult thing to promise - they may also find there are, in practice, other boundaries which they may not cross.

Gosh, you think, Elizabeth? Actually, the first time Ato Meles is confronted by someone with actual knowledge of economics or when he has to deal with that irksome thing the goddam Amhara do where they tell him he knows jack shit about democracy… oh, yeah, someone’s gonna know exactly where the boundary is ‘cause that certain someone is a-gonna be slapped with an “attempted genocide and outrages against the prime minister’s sensibility” charge… and this time it won’t be all pretty where EPRDF judges dress up and pretend to play a round of habeas corpus. This time it will be serious.

So here’s the thing about Ms. Blunt’s reporting… notice how many times the prime minister is quoted. Then notice how many times she attempts to get even a lousy off the record quote from anyone within the opposition just to balance things out. “So far none of the [opposition] leadership has made any formal statement” is as far as she goes. C’mon, sister. Would it have been so hard to find someone who could have at least guffawed at the assertion that the EPRDF has, ahhhh, addressed all the peoples’ grievances? Is it still reporting when all you do is summarizing Ato Meles’ gracelessness?

You want to know what’s next for the leaders. How about, I dunno, fucking asking them??

And while you are at it, ask them how they can teach Ato Meles how to handle his Amhara trauma.