Otto's Random Thoughts

I have taken a great liking to Koko for breakfast in the morning. It is basically a millet porridge laced heavily with ginger and other spic...

In many ways Africa has greatly advanced since 1963 when the OAU was founded. Except for Western Sahara there are now no more official colon...

Tomorrow is Africa Unity Day in honor of the foundation of the Organization of African Unity in 1963. Because it falls on a Saturday this ye...

I have now finished grading all 193 students I had in my four classes this semester. Next semester I only have two classes to teach so it wi...

Monday was the 40th anniversary of the beginning of armed struggle for independence for Western Sahara. The struggle began against Spain on ...

There have been a whole string of recent protests in Togo involving women wearing red and in some cases baring their breasts. As I mentioned...

The Spanish translation of my article, "Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water: The Russian-Germans in the Labour Army" is now availa...

I am finishing things off here for the semester. I have graded all my exams and entered all my grades except for one class at City Campus th...

Today is the 149th anniversary of the Battle of Qbaada Meadow (Kransaia Poliana) in which the Russian Imperial army finally defeated the Cir...

This card used by police in the USSR to identify different nationalities by facial phenotypes is further evidence of my contention that ...

My article "Hewers of Water and Drawers of Water: the Russian-Germans in the Labour Army" has now been translated into Spanish by ...

Yesterday there was another demonstration in Togo against the dictatorship there. This time a number of women stripped naked as part of the ...

The International Committee for Crimea has a number of my pieces on the deportation of the Crimean Tatars. Among them is my very first acade...

This Saturday is the 69th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their peninsular homeland on the Black Sea to the deser...

Dorje Gurung has been released from jail in Qatar and is finishing up the paperwork to allow him to fly home to Nepal. He should be on a pla...

Dorje Gurung, a former chemistry teacher at Qatar Academy and citizen of Nepal has been arrested and charged with "insulting Islam....

Today we had a long departmental meeting primarily to discuss the overhaul of our graduate program. In fact it was an all day off campus ret...

Today in 1945, the Allies finally defeated Nazi Germany. About 70,000 soldiers from Kyrgyzstan fought and died in the Soviet Red Army achiev...

Today at lunch Dr. Smith regaled me with the story of her week long experience with the Ghanaian criminal justice system helping a 22 year o...

It turns out that Ghana not only has socialized medicine, but it also has socialized dentistry. I broke a tooth a while back and I had a fil...