What The China-Philippines improved relations could mean for America and China's African friends.

Good morning
I stumbled upon a Philippines development I think will result in Obama's administration leaving the White House as the most fail prone administration the US ever had. It could also compound Africa's challenges too! Read on to find out why and how.

You see, dw.de reports that Duterte, the Philippines' Malema like president has announced an end to the US-Philippines thirty year old military alliance.

You might find this quite boring to mind but it is big news. It signals a shift in world power and puts the White house under immense unwanted and unprepared for pressure to adjust things a bit more in its fight for economic power against Beijing.
Duterte's move will force America out of a region so key in America's fight for oil with China such that because of it Beijing is prepared and I gather very much willing to fund millions into Philippines' economy.

The report even tells us that the deal is so sweet, China and the Philippines have gone so far as to leave territorial disputes just so they be able to eat this cake.

An African might ask: and how is all these going to benefit us African residents?
Listen. In the late 70s China firmly established itself as a world super power contender. It needed resources for this and Africa proved itself well endowed in one very precious resource no growing world power could ignore. It made head way and tried to secure as much oil as it could get. The South China Sea region it contends over with the Philippines has oil. But this oil reserves are not only inaccessible to China but are also very unverifiable because the Philippines, Vietnam and others will not let China eat this sweet cake alone. Because of the above reason, Beijing opted for Africa which had even at the time large oil reserves and a very willing bunch of nations who's need for billions worth of development funds dear old China could easily meet. This is why then Duterte's shift towards China proves itself very vital to an African. The China-Philippines development could mean Africa loses a mutual benefit partner worth billions of dollars.

My mother's country, Swaziland and many like it currently have no means to give China the resource it needs most but Swaziland is partner to & is influential to the Southern African Development community. It has very strong ties with South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique(among others). It would be very strategic therefore, of China to partner with such a country so tenderly because the neighbours have got the resources China and Swaziland both need. Like Swaziland many other developing African countries are in need of China. She gives so well when she gives. Losing her over to the Philippines and the South China Sea.

#thinkUnchained

Life is hard but it sure is worth living.
Follow me @Masiza4000. Thank you for reading.

#dataMUSTfall-A personal review on how good Data Eye and Opera Max are at saving you data on the Android O.S.

Good morning.
Today I finally felt ready to develop The Opinionated African blog's cover and add a page on technology. I will try to update the page as often as possible. I hope not to disappoint you my readers by presenting each article from a laymen African perspective.
The page will consist of thenology deemed good/bad for Africans living in Africa. I hope you bear with me and help where possible.
Here's my first techno themed post.
I'm sure many of you are by now aware of the #tag fees must fall movement current going on in my part of the world (South Africa). Unfortunately the is another one geared not towards Deans and universities but to our beloved but most the time frustrating network carriers. We call it #dataMUSTfall.
While many are busy calling for this we have been on the look out for an android phone application that will at least for now help us cope with high data prices by monitoring the Android O.S's data consumption rate.
This article points out two of those applications and aims to explore at least one of them. Namely Data Eye from some world. And the much advertised Opera Max from the very skilled developers of the well received browser called Opera Mini.
As hinted above I will, at least for this article, tell you about Opera max when pitted against Data Eye.
Need:Opera mini browser, latest version. Adds blocked
Opera Max app
Data Eye app
A website of your choosing. I used Fashion Bloggers for this test.
AVG antivirus app with its data counter refreshed.
All apps except Opera Mini must be blocked
Restrict background data usage
Run Opera Max and block all apps but Opera mini browser must remain running and connect. Do the same in Data Eye.
After doing all the above and connecting to Fashion Bloggers for 2minutes on each data monitoring app. This is what I got.
>119kb in one click on data eye an opera mini
>238 in one click on opera mini with opera max
5 adverts each
1 minute time
>Opera max had all apps on mobile saving no app was blocked.
Max seems to have the ability to save data right on running apps
Data eye focuses on blocking apps to save data.
>The problem with Opera Max is that to really see data savings on it you ought to have your YouTube app turned on. Data will indeed go on slow motion. Meaning you will enjoy YouTube longer than when with Opera max.
>Data eye lacks the ability to save data while apps are on the run (unlike Max) but it does put to question the need to have Max turned on when Data eye saves two times the data running just a single internet connected application.
Pointers to be noted when using opera max
1.Opera Max confused me a bit (which is how and how I discovered Data Eye). It is advisable to read the "how to" manual first and go on to use it. Otherwise you hate it for no good reason.
2. The top panel lets you see foreground saving, background saving and last and most important of all total savings. WiFi saving tab is also included but why would you save on WiFi besides your battery.
3.The above 4 named tabs help you navigate your max panel easily but their icon (two top left squares superimposing each other) serves the same purpose.
3.Below these two is the help tap telling how to save data on Opera Max application management tab.
4. Is the management tap itself. It is easy if you read manuals but is a turn off and useless if you do not read manuals.
The management tab has got its left and its right side.
The left side houses apps that are currently running and therefore enjoying data saving on the run.
The right side of the panel houses the apps that will be blocked from using data. Tap the top right little squares to determine whether you want to save back ground data behaviour, foreground data behaviour or total data behaviour.
5. To determine which of your android phone applications you want to block.
6.The reason I used Opera Max was to save data. To see how much data Opera Max managed to save you: reason why I used Opera Max was to save data on my android phone. To see how much data Opera max really saved for you just close the app. When you open it again you will be presented with your Max's data savings statistics.
The statistics presented are for the day, the month and for all time.
The two tabs (green and blue) are for data for the period in question(blue) and that period's saved data (green)
Taping the blue icon will show you both background and foreground data consumption.
In my use of my android phone, I noted that Max showed that much of my data was used on app background operations. These operations took 30 to 50 percent more of my data.
In other words, while I went online to research on thing, my phone used just as much to do things I know not. Are they spying on me?
.Opera Max is Opera browser development team's answer to the Android OS's hunger for data. It offers Android users a way to compress data and offer VPN level connection that protects internet connections. This however, is the app's greatest turn of becausee it can not compress data from twitter mobile app since it is already protected, regardless of how bulky it is.
The upside of Data Eye is that it simple. I hope to write more on it in future. What I find pressing for now however, is that the app has a whole panel dedicated to bombarding you with adverts termed as offers using your very own data. Luckily my network carrier does not take part in this ad space otherwise I'd be in trouble. Also, unlike Opera Max, Data Eye does not save data on YouTube so it sucks on that too.
Overall Data Eye and Opera Max are good. One more point to of note is that Data Eye is frank about its abilities and failures. I expected more abilities from Opera though.
Opera Max is a good app but its main marketing point-saving data-is questionable.
I hope they improve it a little and maybe we will once again be vindicated against network carriers and their milking us off our money using data charges.
#thinkUnchained.
Life is hard but it sure is worth living.

Sorry for thinking Monsanto is dying

Good morning, well that is if you and I dear reader share the same time zone and also happened to be given the gift of rain at the same time.

While most of us farmers were busy praying for rain a couple of months ago, Bayer and Monsanto were busy courting each other.

I was busy looking for nice news (for a change) updates on Agriculture last week Monday on Twitter and as per usual I changed my twitter feeds and searched for feeds on dear old friend Agriculture in Africa. Many of the updates lived up to what I wanted. I hoped that for a change I will write and post something nice and maybe even inspiring this week. And well poor me I kept on looking and looking until, well there it was “Bayer and Monsanto to merge”.

Truth is I read the feed and took it as one of those tweets from fear mongers we seem to be farming on twitter these days. I therefore dismissed it and paid no mind to it.

This morning I came across a feed again that was from Dutch Welle talking about the two Agribusiness giants, Bayer and Monsanto merging and becoming one very happy family.

There it is; while we were busy thanking God for the rain blessings over the weekend, Bayer was very much thanking Monsanto for agreeing to wed him.

As pointed out by Mariam Mayet, CEO of Africa Center for Biodiversity (ACB)-South Africa, this wedding could result in negative impact for farmers and consumers.

Why does she say so? Well the the answer is very much as ever so simple. This merger will hurt us very, very much.

For starters, Monsanto’s relationship with its primary customer the African farmer, is strained because of the company’s bad track record. The company has had to suffer the humiliation of failing to have its GMO food crop deliver good yield to not only the African farmer but now, that of Europe as well.

Countries that been advocating for GMO food crops as the future and answer to the question of world hunger are now slowly but surely closing their doors to the GMO answer because people in those countries are becoming very vocal and choozey as to what they are to eat. The American market was once a very secure market for GMO food crops and seeds. Today the tides are very much changing and the public is choosing to listen to popular culture icons and eat the pricey organic alternatives.

It is therefore, easy to see the reason for Bayer’s need to marry Monsanto. The ultimate goal here is not just profit but rather the obvious well suited market Africa presents to Bayer and Monsanto. Bayer will become the biggest agri-business and Monsanto will be given a chance to redeem its tarnished image and be saved from death. The following little sample from ACB-Africa Centre For Biodiversity sums the whole Bayer and Monsanto problem in Africa quite nicely:

“The hype around the current wave of GM

research into non- commercial crops in Africa

is purposefully ahistorical and deceitful. It

does not mention past failures involving the

demise of Wambugu’s/Monsanto’s GM sweet

potato research in Kenya (DeGrassi, 2003;

GMWatch, 2015), or the quiet recognition by the

-Danforth Research Centre in 2006 that the GM

cassava it had developed had lost resistance

to African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV) (ACB

and GRAIN, 2006). The recent case of Burkina

Faso’s reversal on GM cotton, due to the Bt

Cotton crop’s declining quality, is instructive

for Africa. Burkina Faso’s cotton companies

have committed to phasing out Bt cotton and

returning to the exclusive use of conventional

cotton, by the 2017/18 seasons. The sector is

seeking compensation from Monsanto for

the losses incurred and this is also extremely

telling (Dowd-Uribe and Schnurr, 2016)”.

(African Centre for Biodiversity).

Happy farming fellas…And sorry for thinking Monsanto is dying.

For more articles, please visit www.theopinionatedafrican.blogspot.com

#thinkUnchained