The Learners' Den

Photo: The Atlantic President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping of China The most prominent sentiment put forward by so many people in the discussion of geopolitical rivalry or shift in the global balance of power between the United States of America (USA) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) is that Washington's global preeminence is rapidly declining while Beijing is growing in an unprecedented manner. Often, this sentiment is not true in its entirety. Although I must concede that China's tremendous progress in the last decades has been astonishing. According to some nebulous economists, the United States of America's global hegemony is "declining rapidly" in the face of China's rapid economic growth in the last few years. This argument may be valid if Xi Jinping had not changed the orientation of the Chinese economy recently. It is pertinent to know that China under Xi Xinping today is more like any other ruthless authoritarian regime, focusing on how to ge...

Hon. Bashir Machina: APC Candidate for Yobe North Senatorial Seat 2023 In my previous piece on “How Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan Disgracefully Lost His Yobe North Senatorial Seat,” I said that if proper precautions are not taken, the Senate President would become a target of public mockery. My prognosis is starting to become a reality. The man is exposing his poorly inflated self-esteem, which might have been successfully saved if he had accepted what had befallen him. After the Federal High Court verdict on the 28th of September 2022 in Damaturu, Yobe state capital, that dismissed Ahmed Lawan's lawsuit against Bashir Machina's legitimate candidacy for the Yobe North Senatorial Seat, I promised to reserve all of my comments about the Senate President political foolhardy. This concession occurred after our leader, Bashir Sheriff Machina, informed us to cease trading pointless brawls between us and Lawan's camp. However, Ahmed Lawan's camp has been making a fairly illogical and ba...

Photo: Reedsy Blog To aspiring writers like myself… Writing is arguably one of the simplest journeys anyone can embark on in our society to convey fictional or non-fictional information. Although there is a popular belief that staunchly argued writing is a journey reserved for the very few talented people. However, after going through the journey, I found that even those who marvelously write get better at it by continuously writing every day. Although there are certain fundamental guidelines that you must follow to establish yourself as an experienced writer. This is what this article will try to elucidate.  According to experienced writers, you can be a writer regardless of your background of studies or innate ability. The point is that you simply have to have a drive — something that pushes you. As far as I know, it takes a few minutes of your commitment each day to someday wake up and genuinely say “I am a writer.” The journey can be arduous, though. However, your e...

Photo: NotSalmon.com The most daunting task most of us face today is determining who we are and what we want from our life. Most of us — including myself — are susceptible to a variety of external pressures or human manipulations. Because our internal operating systems are still out of sync. For this reason, to know ourselves and have control over what enters and exits our bodies, we must begin asking ourselves difficult questions. For example, you might begin by asking yourself basic questions such as how you feel about the speed of your life: is it too slow, too quick, or just right? Crucially, we all have an inner critic that drives us to accept unnatural identities. This inner impostor may inform us that we are insufficient or prevents us from realizing our God-given potential. In other words, our inner critic may be a force for good or evil depending on how we respond to what it advises. Furthermore, most of us are aware that we live in a saturated culture with a great deal of ext...

Photo: Reuters Joe Biden at the 77th UNGA The 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77) could not have arrived at a better time. I have a strong feeling that the world has never been in such disarray and such desperate need of the United Nations prompt action since the end of World War II and the heightened tensions of the Cuban nuclear crisis in 1945 and 1962 respectively. For example, Russia declared war on Ukraine earlier this year; China is lurking in the dark to incorporate Taiwan; A few days ago, North Korea tested what experts believed to be an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead (even though this came after the UNGA77); US-China-Russia relations have risen to unprecedented heights; Rising living costs and insecurity in Africa are at an all-time high; Europe is experiencing an energy crisis. These are only the tip of the iceberg. As far as I understand, the 77th UNGA has come at a better time thanks to t...

Climate change does not need too much explanation as to why people should start taking action to avert the looming unprecedented catastrophe. Right now, you are a witness, the world is going through a shift in climate that has never been recorded in recent history. Regardless, I want you reading this now to pause and reflect on how your surroundings are rapidly changing and how natural and man-made disasters are unfolding all around the world. Climate change, as defined by the United Nations, is a "long-term" shift in "temperature and weather patterns." These changes might be natural; however, climate experts think that the current shift in climate is a consequence of human actions such as the use of fossil fuels, coal, and reckless exploitation of natural resources since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Besides, did you know that the food leftovers you toss away in the trash have a significant impact on the rapid rate at which the ozone layer traps green...

  I have a strong feeling that it's not yet over in the Russia-Ukraine war thanks to Vladimir Putin's recent escalation. Such as the partial military mobilization, civilian targeted bombardments, and the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions occupied by the Russian military since the war broke out early this year. Some experts suggest that the reason Putin is intensifying this war is that his armies are losing large swathes of occupied regions and at the same time, losing his personnel in unprecedented numbers. Last week, a few hours after the Ukrainian troops captured some parts of the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine and made some encouraging advances in other regions, spurred  Putin to call for "partial" military mobilization whose numbers are expected to reach 300, 000 personnel. Although Putin asserted that these recruits are going to be reservists in case his forces need some reinforcement in the later stages of the war. Nonetheless, this action made exper...

It astonishes me to see that out of the 54 nations in the African continent, only South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Gabon made a neutral comment on the happenings in East Europe. However, there isn't a country that sided with Russia, but it doesn't sound great for the world democracies to keep mum on this issue. I expected the entire African leaders to rally each other and form a unified and formidable front against Vladimir Putin's approach. I expected them to strongly condemn his regime for this unlawful war on the peaceful people of Ukraine. But they chose to pretend as though women, children, and innocent civilians are not involved. For example, Vladimir Putin is setting a precarious precedent for other countries to undermine their weakest neighbors. Because as it seems to me, he's ready to wage war at the expense of innocent lives if his dream of reviving the old Soviet Union would be fulfilled. He's feeling stern enough to keep undermining the world ord...

5/2/2022 This article discusses why the imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia portends dire consequences for the rest of the world. Currently, this is the most talked-about topic around the world. Therefore, I deem it fitting to share the crux of the topic with you. But first and foremost, let's have a look at the brief historical background of the old Soviet Union. The Soviet Union which was officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was created during the 1917 Revolution when the House of the Romanov of the Russian Empire was ousted. Vladimir Lenin led this political upheaval in his pursuit to form the first constitutionally socialist state. His Bolsheviks army spent about five years fighting those who were against his philosophies. Following the Bolsheviks' victory in 1922 that was when the Soviet confederation of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian was achieved. The economy and governance were centralized. But rapid industrialization, e...