solbil:


the armata is better than the Abrams; the Sukhoi series are better than the othe Falcons; the S-300 is better than any SAM in the US arsenal; the AK series are still better than the m16s. What exactly does the US possess better than Russia? Only thing i can come up with is still the F22 and with the coming of the T50, its doom for the US!

Deetosin:


The nail on your smallest toe is smarter than me wow! (That nail of yours must surly have a master degree from Harvard).. Ode

Actually yes.
Maybe not from harvard, but from one of the top 10 colleges in the world. And on a fully paid scholarship, btw.

Deetosin:


What the point of you knowing every HISTORY.. When at the end you are dumb?

bukiboy:
It’s good to be home. My fellow Americans, Michelle and I have been so touched by all the well-wishes we’ve received over the past few weeks. But tonight it’s my turn to say thanks. Whether we’ve seen eye-to-eye or rarely agreed at all, my conversations with you, the American people – in living rooms and schools; at farms and on factory floors; at diners and on distant outposts – are what have kept me honest, kept me inspired, and kept me going. Every day, I learned from you. You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.

I first came to Chicago when I was in my early twenties, still trying to figure out who I was; still searching for a purpose to my life. It was in neighborhoods not far from here where I began working with church groups in the shadows of closed steel mills. It was on these streets where I witnessed the power of faith, and the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss. This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.

It’s the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been self-executing; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union.This is the great gift our Founders gave us. The freedom to chase our individual dreams through our sweat, toil, and imagination – and the imperative to strive together as well, to achieve a greater good.

For 240 years, our nation’s call to citizenship has given work and purpose to each new generation. It’s what led patriots to choose republic over tyranny, pioneers to trek west, slaves to brave that makeshift railroad to freedom. It’s what pulled immigrants and refugees across oceans and the Rio Grande, pushed women to reach for the ballot, powered workers to organize. It’s why GIs gave their lives at Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima; Iraq and Afghanistan – and why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were prepared to give theirs as well.

So that’s what we mean when we say America is exceptional. Not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change, and make life better for those who follow.

Yes, our progress has been uneven. The work of democracy has always been hard, contentious and sometimes bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back. But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all, and not just some.

If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history…if I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, and take out the mastermind of 9/11…if I had told you that we would win marriage equality, and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens – you might have said our sights were set a little too high.

But that’s what we did. That’s what you did. You were the change. You answered people’s hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.

In ten days, the world will witness a hallmark of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one freely-elected president to the next. I committed to President-Elect Trump that my administration would ensure the smoothest possible transition, just as President Bush did for me. Because it’s up to all of us to make sure our government can help us meet the many challenges we still face.

We have what we need to do so. After all, we remain the wealthiest, most powerful, and most respected nation on Earth. Our youth and drive, our diversity and openness, our boundless capacity for risk and reinvention mean that the future should be ours.

But that potential will be realized only if our democracy works. Only if our politics reflects the decency of the our people. Only if all of us, regardless of our party affiliation or particular interest, help restore the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.

That’s what I want to focus on tonight – the state of our democracy.

Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders quarreled and compromised, and expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity – the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.

There have been moments throughout our history that threatened to rupture that solidarity. The beginning of this century has been one of those times. A shrinking world, growing inequality; demographic change and the specter of terrorism – these forces haven’t just tested our security and prosperity, but our democracy as well. And how we meet these challenges to our democracy will determine our ability to educate our kids, and create good jobs, and protect our homeland.

In other words, it will determine our future.

Our democracy won’t work without a sense that everyone has economic opportunity. Today, the economy is growing again; wages, incomes, home values, and retirement accounts are rising again; poverty is falling again. The wealthy are paying a fairer share of taxes even as the stock market shatters records. The unemployment rate is near a ten-year low. The uninsured rate has never, ever been lower. Health care costs are rising at the slowest rate in fifty years. And if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our health care system – that covers as many people at less cost – I will publicly support it.

That, after all, is why we serve – to make people’s lives better, not worse.

But for all the real progress we’ve made, we know it’s not enough. Our economy doesn’t work as well or grow as fast when a few prosper at the expense of a growing middle class. But stark inequality is also corrosive to our democratic principles. While the top one percent has amassed a bigger share of wealth and income, too many families, in inner cities and rural counties, have been left behind – the laid-off factory worker; the waitress and health care worker who struggle to pay the bills – convinced that the game is fixed against them, that their government only serves the interests of the powerful – a recipe for more cynicism and polarization in our politics.

There are no quick fixes to this long-term trend. I agree that our trade should be fair and not just free. But the next wave of economic dislocation won’t come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes many good, middle-class jobs obsolete.

And so we must forge a new social compact – to guarantee all our kids the education they need; to give workers the power to unionize for better wages; to update the social safety net to reflect the way we live now and make more reforms to the tax code so corporations and individuals who reap the most from the new economy don’t avoid their obligations to the country that’s made their success possible. We can argue about how to best achieve these goals. But we can’t be complacent about the goals themselves. For if we don’t create opportunity for all people, the disaffection and division that has stalled our progress will only sharpen in years to come.

There’s a second threat to our democracy – one as old as our nation itself. After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America. Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. I’ve lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were ten, or twenty, or thirty years ago – you can see it not just in statistics, but in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum.

But we’re not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children – because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America’s workforce. And our economy doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women.

Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination – in hiring, in housing, in education and the criminal justice system. That’s what our Constitution and highest ideals require. But laws alone won’t be enough. Hearts must change. If our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, each one of us must try to heed the advice of one of the great characters in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

For blacks and other minorities, it means tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face – the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like he’s got all the advantages, but who’s seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and technological change.

For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ‘60s; that when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; that when they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our Founders promised.

For native-born Americans, it means reminding ourselves that the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish, Italians, and Poles. America wasn’t weakened by the presence of these newcomers; they embraced this nation’s creed, and it was strengthened.

So regardless of the station we occupy; we have to try harder; to start with the premise that each of our fellow citizens loves this country just as much as we do; that they value hard work and family like we do; that their children are just as curious and hopeful and worthy of love as our own.

None of this is easy. For too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or college campuses or places of worship or our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. The rise of naked partisanship, increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste – all this makes this great sorting seem natural, even inevitable. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there.

This trend represents a third threat to our democracy. Politics is a battle of ideas; in the course of a healthy debate, we’ll prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts; without a willingness to admit new information, and concede that your opponent is making a fair point, and that science and reason matter, we’ll keep talking past each other, making common ground and compromise impossible.

Isn’t that part of what makes politics so dispiriting? How can elected officials rage about deficits when we propose to spend money on preschool for kids, but not when we’re cutting taxes for corporations? How do we excuse ethical lapses in our own party, but pounce when the other party does the same thing? It’s not just dishonest, this selective sorting of the facts; it’s self-defeating. Because as my mother used to tell me, reality has a way of catching up with you.

Take the challenge of climate change. In just eight years, we’ve halved our dependence on foreign oil, doubled our renewable energy, and led the world to an agreement that has the promise to save this planet. But without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change; they’ll be busy dealing with its effects: environmental disasters, economic disruptions, and waves of climate refugees seeking sanctuary.

Now, we can and should argue about the best approach to the problem. But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations; it betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our Founders.

It’s that spirit, born of the Enlightenment, that made us an economic powerhouse – the spirit that took flight at Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral; the spirit that that cures disease and put a computer in every pocket.

It’s that spirit – a faith in reason, and enterprise, and the primacy of right over might, that allowed us to resist the lure of fascism and tyranny during the Great Depression, and build a post-World War II order with other democracies, an order based not just on military power or national affiliations but on principles – the rule of law, human rights, freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and an independent press.

That order is now being challenged – first by violent fanatics who claim to speak for Islam; more recently by autocrats in foreign capitals who see free markets, open democracies, and civil society itself as a threat to their power. The peril each poses to our democracy is more far-reaching than a car bomb or a missile. It represents the fear of change; the fear of people who look or speak or pray differently; a contempt for the rule of law that holds leaders accountable; an intolerance of dissent and free thought; a belief that the sword or the gun or the bomb or propaganda machine is the ultimate arbiter of what’s true and what’s right.

Because of the extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform, and the intelligence officers, law enforcement, and diplomats who support them, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland these past eight years; and although Boston and Orlando remind us of how dangerous radicalization can be, our law enforcement agencies are more effective and vigilant than ever. We’ve taken out tens of thousands of terrorists – including Osama bin Laden. The global coalition we’re leading against ISIL has taken out their leaders, and taken away about half their territory. ISIL will be destroyed, and no one who threatens America will ever be safe. To all who serve, it has been the honor of my lifetime to be your Commander-in-Chief.

But protecting our way of life requires more than our military. Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are. That’s why, for the past eight years, I’ve worked to put the fight against terrorism on a firm legal footing. That’s why we’ve ended torture, worked to close Gitmo, and reform our laws governing surveillance to protect privacy and civil liberties. That’s why I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans. That’s why we cannot withdraw from global fights – to expand democracy, and human rights, women’s rights, and LGBT rights – no matter how imperfect our efforts, no matter how expedient ignoring such values may seem. For the fight against extremism and intolerance and sectarianism are of a piece with the fight against authoritarianism and nationalist aggression. If the scope of freedom and respect for the rule of law shrinks around the world, the likelihood of war within and between nations increases, and our own freedoms will eventually be threatened.[/i][/color]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/11/barack-obamas-farewell-speech-full/

divicode:


Okay Onuigbo, we don hear! Which one concern you? Why are you crying more than the bereaved? Leave alone, let the flat-heads take over from the Afonjas, they are not as pained as you sounded

divicode:
By the time this man decamps, it would have been completely finished for flat-heads, but as at now, it is finished completely

Ioannes:


I understand what you're saying and I think we're saying the same thing. Population IS a factor eventually.

Same reason India is also making giant strides.

As per land mass, you could have the whole of African landmass, but if there aren't people to develop the landmass, then it becomes another sahara desert.

I agree that Nigeria is a shithole currently and her leaders past and present are fit to be shot.

Deetosin:


A lot of them would be talking about 1983/1984 like they were even mature /alive that year....

biaframustcome:


Thanks for your contribution
That is why we must discuss, why is it that some countries are developed and others are not?
Is it genetic or culture as you have pointed out?
Is it education?
With the information age as we live in, can we close thew gap between rich and poor countries?

Ioannes:


fine. I respect them too. Doesnt mean their culture is superior to others.

They have largely been successful in recent times due to the fact that they have the[b] largest population[/b] and not because of superiority of culture.

Case in point is the more widely used orthodox or western medicine instead of accupuncture to heal diseases.

kITATITA:

I am pro-Buhari. I am not Pro-APC or Pro-PDP and ain't nothing wrong with me. Tell me why I shouldn't be pro-Buhari and suggest who I should be aligned with and give reasons

Ioannes:


thank you for confusing me the more. He's pretty smart and very dumb all at the same time.

mengho:
Avengers & IPADS will not like this news woh, infact they might give out a press release about blowing up more pipelines while the IPAD cheerleaders encourage them

NgeneUkwenu:
Good, he is pro APC and Buhari!

Give me one good reason why any igbo man or woman with sense would be pro-buhari.
I don't have any problem with anybody being pro-apc, afterall poliics is all about interests, and APC may promote igbo interests in the years to come that would drive igbo people to the party.
But an igbo man being pro-buhari That is head-scratching. I simply don't see any rational reason why or maybe you can tell me.

Ioannes:



so if he's so smart what is he doing sitting in jail, waiting for Mr. Trump to come save him?

jpphilips:



wow!! His sub intelligence landed him in Kuje prisons and you compare him with me? how can you compare life and death?

One Nigeria is a fraud according to block heads like you, Zik's one Nigeria gave birth to the first Igbo presidency with no one in prison and no shot fired, Kanu has not started yet IPOB has recorded several deaths of igbo sons and daughters yet you wont lend him a skull?
Low IQS flock together trust me!!

Ioannes:


inferiority complex at it very worst. Pele. I guess you'll soon start worshipping them Chinese now.

Compare the Jewish and Chinese contribution to the human race via list of all Nobel awardees ever in terms of human development and come back to edit your post.

China products these days are known for being fake and substandard just like the rice you folks ate for Christmas.

olajide8:
These people and there claim to mediocrity- they better check there lineage well, they are more Chinese then jew.

jpphilips:
How did you bring a camera in a secret trial?
Obviously the unintelligent Igbos have no clue the difference between witness protection and Secret trial.
An organisation of block heads!!

Lukay99:


First of all, this is not same capitalism as in America this is nothing but exploitation, in America for example prices actually comes down during festive season different stores have lots of sales going on during this time for example the Black Friday sales, Back to School sales, labour day weekend sales etc. Yes There are situation when the prices actually goes up because of demands in America but not by 400% or 500% like by the transporter, it use goes up by 5% to 25% in most cases except for very few cases that may be 50% to 100% increase.
You said Nigerian Government(Buhari) should try to regulate the Igbo Man businesses? OYO lol, remember IPOD? or Biafra? You know this is more common in Igbo land than any other region they will see it as Buhari passing a law against the Igbo businesses

homeboy232:
where is your location ?? Sitting your ass under hot sun wasting precious time on CNN ? What do u know about war ? Is Syria not enough proof to show that Russia is powerful ? Gaddafi was removed and killed with ease? Same with Hussein in Iraq? Why is it impossible for them to invade Syria and kill Assad ? Is it not because Russia stepped in? Guy no pray for war ooo. Russia is capable of destroying any country within 24 hrs. Are u surprise ? Look at all the countries struggling to fight Russia, they cant even attack, they are afraid. When ten people are holding knives to fight u, its safe and easier to use a gun on them .. In war everything goes, afterall usa used nuclear in japan ...were where u when Russia took away half of Ukraine ? Are u not aware tha eastern part of Ukraine is gone? Crimea now Russia occupants ? Are y not aware ? Or your slave masters dstv is not given u oportunities to access transparent tv network channels ? You lack global exposure, . dis no be rambo or commando Hollywood movie ooo. Russia is a world threat

So Russia knows how to invade weak countries and yet they can't seem to stop the US.
The US has surrounded Russia on every side with nuclear weapons in many european nations including germany, and Russia is just looking. This is the same russia that invaded and annexed weak ukraine looking like a mumu. It is either a serious deficit in governance or an admittance of military inferiority to allow your mortal enemy surround you on all sides with deadly nukes.
There is no country on earth that can decide to militarily surround the US on all sides. The soviet union tried it with cuba and they failed.
Your Russia is a bully that can't fight a bigger bully.
The US is at their border, let them come and fight the same way they invaded weak ukraine.

Zoharariel:


This is the last response you're getting from me tonight. The following are the 28 member states of NATO.

Albania
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Czech Repblic
Denmark
Estonia
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom

and

United States