Botswana amateurs holding their own against the pros

The African Cup of Nations is full of stars.

Gabon has five players that play in the top league of French Football, Ligue 1.

Mali has a player in the top flight in Greece, one in Germany and 8 in Ligue 1 of France.

Guinea has a player in the top leagues in Turkey, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain with two in Germany's Bundesliga and two in Ligue 1.

Morocco has a player in Germany and in the Scottish league. Two in Turkey, Italy, Russia and England including Marouane Chamakh who plays for Arsenal. It also has four players in the top French league.

Senegal has 9 players plying their trade in the top French clubs, 4 in England including the goal scoring machine for Newcastle United, Demba Ba. It also has two who play in Turkey and 1 in Spain and Denmark.

Burkina Faso has one a piece in Russia, England and Turkey respectively and five who play in France.

Côte d'Ivoire is stacked with one a piece in Belgium and the Netherlands, two in Russia and Germany. It has three players in the Turkish top league and five players in Ligue 1. It has an incredible six players in England including Yaya Touré, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho and is captained by Didier Drogba.

Ghana has five who play in France and three who play in Italy. It also has one a piece in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, England and Turkey.

Tunisia has two a piece in Turkey and Switzerland, three in Germany and four that play in France.

Zambia has a player in the top Swiss league. Niger has one in the French Ligue 1.

Neither Libya nor Sudan have players in Europe.

But, Botswana has sixteen amateurs on their squad. In spite of this they played a match against Ghana that could have easily been 1-1, but was a valiant effort in 1-0 loss. Botswana is still poised to make some noise and win won for the little guys. In a tournament that has already seen Equatorial Guinea into the final eight, this is not out of the realm of possibilities.

Equatorial Guinea through Round 1, No Equatorial Guineans playing

Equatorial Guinea defeated Senegal 2-1 yesterday. Kily Álvarez smashed the goal that Senegal back home and advanced "The National Lightning" through to the final eight. Equatorial Guinea's Brazilian coach Gilson Paulo was delighted with the win. The team is however made up in its near entirety of people born outside of Equatorial Guinea.

Of the three Keepers, one was born in Brazil, one in Cameroon, but the reserve keeper, Felipe Ovono was born in Equatorial Guinea.

The defense has four Spaniards, including the aforementioned Kily, an Ivorian, a Liberian and José Bokung, born and bred Equatoguinean - He didn't dress for the win over Senegal.

In the midfield there is a Nigerian, a treble of Cameroonian players, a Colombian, an Ivorian and a Spanish co-captain.

Up front there are five Spaniards, including the captain and another Cameroonian.

Obviously the 10 Spaniards would have a rough go at getting into the Spanish 1st team. We aren't quite sure how the Colombian ended up in the mix other that Spanish is spoken in both nations. But the other country's players couldn't make it into their home side. They're now getting to show the countries of Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Cameroon and Nigeria what they missed out on as Equatorial Guinea goes on. Only Côte d'Ivoire who is in the mix has a chance to show they made the right decision.

So why does everyone want to come play for Equatorial Guinea? Other than the chance to play international football, the President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo loves his football. He paid the national team over $1,000,000 when they defeated Libya. The question now is, how much he will pay them now that they have advanced?

Rough times for Pirates and notes on Somalia

Piracy has had somewhat of a Renaissance this past decade and a half. Somali pirates have roamed the Indian Ocean. Jack Sparrow was a box office smash. Napster spawned a billion intellectual pirates. People have wasted their design degrees on hip new pirate logos. People have formed religions based on piracy. But, the golden age of 21st piracy may be at a close.

As Wikipedia is going blackout because of The SOPA PIPA acts being debated in the American legislative halls and chat forums all over the globe, news is streaming in about successes against non-digital pirates. According to this report, in 2009 and 2010 Somali pirates were able to capture 26 large sea going vessels and extract huge sums of money from ransoms and stolen booty. But, anti-piracy agents got a little better hang of things in 2011. The Somali pirates were only able to capture 4 large ships. That takes a bit of luster out of your pirated facebook flag there in the corner doesn't it now Cap'n.

Somalia has recently seen the African Union and Kenya step up action against both the pirates and Al Shabaab. Kenya have really put the screws to the Somali terrorist group pushing further and further into Al Shabaab territories. This is good news for Kenya, who houses a number of refugees from neighboring Somalia. It is bad news for pirates who use the destabilized nation as home base.

More bad news came in August of 2011 when it was announced that Pirates of the Caribbean 5 was being scrapped. In more positive news though I have heard that Geoffery Rush, Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley are teaming up once more to squeeze millions of dollars out of an unwitting public by making four feature length films out of a an old Disney Ride. Coming Soon to a theaters near you "Body Wars: The Infection of the Splinter", "Body Wars: The Heart and the Chest", "Body Wars: On Death's Bed" and with a slightly altered cast to continue the ponzi scheme "Body Wars: Entering Unfamiliar Arteries".

Burundi snubs Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi has won the Fifa Ballon d'Or (top footballer of the year) with nearly 50% of the vote. But, unlike most democratic institutions, the voting for the Fifa Ballon d'Or is not a secret ballot initiative. Messi being crowned was not a surprise. Neither were the second and third place finishers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi, respectively. But, because of the lack of a secret vote, seeing who voted for who can make for some interesting reading.

Guy George, the captain of the Saint Lucia national team voted Lionel Messi as the number 1. He left number 2 and number 3 blank leaving us to assume that he did not care about anyone else. Subsequently, Guy George was left off of Cristiano Ronaldo's birthday party invite because of the snub.

Burundi however was the odd man out. Voters from Burundi did not include Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Xavi in their votes, instead opting for Karim Benzema as the world's greatest footballer. Since Burundi has neither strong ties to Benzema, France, Spain or Messi's Argentina the vote was somewhat of a surprise. Burundi was a former colony of Germany. After World War I it passed to the control of Belgium. While Burundi speaks French as a main language this seems to be the only ties to Benzema that the nation has. The only explanation is that Legos are outlawed in Burundi and since everyone knows Messi's obsession with legos, this can be the only possible explanation for Burundi's snub.

Boko Haram hideout found in Cameroon

Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group operating in Nigeria claimed the horrific bombings that took place in Nigeria on Christmas Day. As a way to stymie the movement of the terrorist group Nigeria closed its borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger on New Year's Eve.

Boko Haram literally means "Western education is sacrilege" and are against any type of Westernization of Muslims in Nigeria. Since the group was founded in 2001 by Mohammed Yusuf they have worked to eliminate Western influence in Nigeria and establish Sharia law in the country. Nigeria though, is not a completely Muslim country. It is virtually split into two parts, the Muslim North and the Christian South. There are also a handful of animists spread throughout and the many traders and nomads bounce between areas on a regular basis. So the establishment of Sharia foundations for the state of Nigeria would be absolutely unpalatable for the Christians in the South.

Boko Haram however only rose to international attention in 2009 when sectarian violence broke out in the country. The 2011 Christmas day bombings were the worst violence that Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for. But, President Goodluck Jonathan (which is probably the best head of state name in all the world) closed the borders swiftly after the attacks to put pressure on the group. Now, just a week later it is paying dividends thanks to the help of the Cameroon government. The Cameroon Post has reported the Far North Region of Cameroon (which borders Nigeria) has seen officials starting to clamp down on the radicals movement. It has taken only a week of cooperation to begin to tighten the grip on Boko Haram.

American officials are certainly jealously watching, remembering that they have to partner with an increasingly less cooperative Pakistan.

A Cameroonian living in Chechnya, naturally he plays for Burkina Faso

Namibia has a bone to pick with the African Cup of Nations. They were eliminated by Burkina Faso, losing to them twice, 4-0, 4-1, respectively. However, they think that they are the rightful winners of the group stage because Burkina Faso fielded a player that Namibia said shouldn't be playing for them. In fact the Confederation of African Football agrees with them, sort of.

Herve Xavier Zengue (Xavier) was born in Cameroon and currently plays for FC Terek Grozny in the Chechen Republic. According to FIFA rules a player must play in his country of birth or have a grandparent from the country that want to play in. Xavier does not have grandparents in Burkina Faso. Another way they can play is if they live in the country. Obviously, Chechnya is not Burkina Faso. But Xavier's wife is Burkinabé, which entitles him to citizenship.

These irregularities are not uncommon but the Confederation of African Football had agreed with Namibia that Xavier was ineligible way back in October of 2010. But, they said that the complaint filed by Namibia was no good because it didn't have a necessary signature. That's the bureaucracy we all know and love in football.

The 2012 African Cup of Nations kicks off January 21, 2012. It should be fun.

The Senegalese Donald Trump?

Youssou N'Dour, arguably Africa's most famous musician is going to try his hand at politics and has announced his attention to run for the presidency of Senegal. In addition to being a famous singer he has created a media empire that has produced one Senegal's most popular newspaper and has a strong following on his television and radio stations. Through this N'Dour has built up a wealth and a business that has observers calling him the fulfillment of the Senegalese version of the American Dream. Will his popularity vault him to the presidency? Can his business skills translate into political success?

Obviously Donald Trump and Herman Cain were unable to turn their business skills into political success. Wyclef Jean was unable to parlay his popularity to the Haitian presidency. But there are major distinctions between N'Dour and these three. First, for all of his wealth N'Dour has not alienated poorer Senegalese or appeared to be solely in things for his own gain and fame. Second, N'Dour is not mired in a sex scandal. And third, and most importantly, unlike Wyclef who left Haiti to live in America, N'Dour opened his media empire up in his home country and the modest area of Medina.

N'Dour faces a number of hurdles to overcome. Not all of his fans are certain that he can make the jump from music to politics. They wonder if a man, even as successful as N'Dour can or should ascend to the top of Senegalese politics without even a high school diploma. There is also a number of experienced politicians he will have to defeat en route to the presidency. The man that casts the biggest shadow in this regard is the incumbent, Abdoulaye Wade.

Abdoulaye Wade has been president since 2000 and prior to this he was a leading opposition figure in the country for two and a half decades. At 85, his age is a much debated topic in Senegal. There is also a statute that calls for two terms only for the president. Abdoulaye Wade claims that since the law was passed after he was in office it does not apply to him. This also has created a lot of debate. Regardless of the outcome though, N'Dour's involvement is likely to bring along more attention and focus to the election from the African Union and beyond. Hopefully this will squelch any chance of a tainted election. If N'Dour's candidacy achieves that, it will be a success.

Going electric in Khartoum

The globalization of world finance continues and the biggest beneficiaries in 2012 might not be the BRIC nations that will be feeling the benefits the most. Brazil's growth looks promising for 2012, but their GDP/capita is going to take awhile to catch up. Russia is in political chaos with anger simmering beneath the surface, threatening to boil over. India looks solid but as more and more US states look to bar governmental outsourcing it is possible (though unlikely) that anti-globalization in America could hem some growth. China's economy is overheated and they are looking to curb growth some to ease inflationary pressure. Of course these are just predictions and everything could change or be derailed.

But African nations are starting to join the ranks of the developing world that is benefiting from globalization in ways many predicted to be far off dreams rather than achievable goals. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan has had a bourse since 1995 but the prices of shares of stock were handwritten on whiteboards and transactions were marked with paper printed receipts. Of course the bourse in Khartoum is small in scale and size compared to other more established ones, but even if only a small number of traders came on the floor it would be hard to keep up with the pace of today's financial worlds. Next week, the whiteboards will be replaced by a new computerized system.

It is the hope of officials that the new electric bourse will foster more trade, driving up the prices in the market. It is also aimed at attracting outside development, especially from rich partners in the Arab League like Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In addition to providing more accurate and the potential for more voluminous trading, it will also work to stamp out pre-trading deals and make the whole process more transparent. In turn the transparency will provide foreign investors more security and hopefully, make them more willing to invest. Sudan badly needs that investment.

The split of Sudan and South Sudan last year has put pressure on an already fragile economy. South Sudan holds the majority of the oil. While Sudan has most of the refineries thus forcing the two sides to work together, it still has taken a toll on economic output. Also, many invest in what are called shahama, bonds that the cash strapped government pays 20% yields on. But, all is not dire. Silk Invest, a British Hedge Fund that focuses on emerging markets is starting to pay attention to the Khartoum bourse. A little hedge fund money could create the liquidity needed to grow Sudanese industry. However, for the moment American sanctions put a damper on much Western investment. But as the West continues to limp through rough economic times, wealthier Arab nations and China could be the boom needed in Khartoum.