“Doveryay, No Proveryay” is a rhyming Russian proverb for “Trust But Verify” when translated into English which was popularized at the height of the Cold War when Ronald Reagan expressed a cautious optimism during the beginning of nuclear disarmament in the mid 80s. And he kept using the proverb in Russian repeatedly in his encounter with Mikhail Gorbachev. 

Languages certainly have limitations not only they convoy not all thought processes in their entirety but could be misleading as well. Misleading has a name of its own—of course, it is called lies. If we humans as species rely on languages to communicate with one another, and if languages including texts have limitations—they fall short of conveying all the thought processes—the reality constructed upon the edifice of languages must be and becomes incomplete, the rationale goes—at least, according to the Algerian-French Philosopher Jacques Derrida who popularized the term “Deconstructionism” or “Post-Modernism” in the late 80s and early 90s. If we deconstruct spoken languages and texts, they become meaningless, he argued. 

And it was precisely for that very reason as well, way before Jacques Derrida, the Austrian Mathematician-cum-Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously said, “The things we can not talk about, we have to pass them in complete silence.” It is better to enter into a vow of silence instead of living with incomplete social reality—he reasoned.

Building trust particularly in high stake political give and take becomes rather challenging when the other party comes to the play with a rap of untrustworthy as Abiy’s behavior has been consistent in that regard for the last two years. He lied to the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez when the former denied the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray at the beginning of the war, for instance among a plethora of lies and deceit to foreign actors. 

What guarantees does Tigray has then if the man who is difficult to partner with is unreliable? Well, of course that is where the monitoring group comes into the picture to witness the implementation of the peace agreement. Moreover, as Jeffrey Feltman indicated in his recent piece titled, “Ethiopia’s Hard Road To Peace”, the international community including the US ought to be fully satisfied with the agreed upon peace before any aid or loan is dispensed to Ethiopia. Opening and shutting down the tabs—financial tabs—takes over the limitation of languages when one tries to use the limitations of languages to one’s advantage—as Abiy has been doing or lying and getting away with it. 

Abiy would be left with no cards close to his chest when the reserve currency is dried up and unable to import essentials as in gas or petroleum among other things. One can make the argument that once Abiy receives the monies, he can always go back into a war frenzy with Tigray but that kind of suspicion remains a moot on the account that Tigray survived the worst of assaults and any future attempt would result in a stalemate if not in Abiy’s downfall as well for the war tended to be unpopular with in the larger population in Ethiopia and he would be shunned by the IC as Ethiopia is chronically dependent on foreign aid and loans. 

Furthermore, the other pink Elephant in the room that has been overshadowed by the war in Tigray is the seemingly irreparable tension between the two biggest ethnic groups—Amhara and Oromo. Certainly, Abiy will try to manage it by manipulating their respective weaknesses. Both Amhara and Oromia do not speak in a unified and clearly defined political voice and objectives. They are divided with in themselves and that is a gift on a silver-platter for Abiy without going to war with either of them. And it is with in the said weaknesses on Abiy’s side the leaders in Tigray tend to trust Abiy not of his good will intent—for he has none. And Tigray trusts but in the meantime verifies. 

One thought on “Doveryay, No Proveryay. [Trust But Verify.] And The Limitation Of Languages.”
  1. What guarantees does Tigray has then if the man who is difficult to partner with is unreliable? Well, of course that is where the monitoring group comes into the picture to witness the implementation of the peace agreement. Moreover, as Jeffrey Feltman indicated in his recent piece titled, “Ethiopia’s Hard Road To Peace”, the international community including the US ought to be fully satisfied with the agreed upon peace before any aid or loan is dispensed to Ethiopia. Opening and shutting down the tabs—financial tabs—takes over the limitation of languages when one tries to use the limitations of languages to one’s advantage—as Abiy has been doing or lying and getting away with it.

    Abiy would be left with no cards close to his chest when the reserve currency is dried up and unable to import essentials as in gas or petroleum among other things. One can make the argument that once Abiy receives the monies, he can always go back into a war frenzy with Tigray but that kind of suspicion remains a moot on the account that Tigray survived the worst of assaults and any future attempt would result in a stalemate if not in Abiy’s downfall as well for the war tended to be unpopular with in the larger population in Ethiopia and he would be shunned by the IC as Ethiopia is chronically dependent on foreign aid and loans.

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