Securing private investments in their stock used to be the desperate measure of cash-strapped dot-coms teetering on the abyss.

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Ronda Holder believes in public shame as a desperate measure for desperate times.

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In a desperate measure to strengthen the rouble, the central bank tripled its refinancing rate to 150% on May 27th.

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Of course I'm not denying that there are people in Harare who still support the ruling party who totally believe that headline, but the majority of people would laugh it off as a desperate measure - trying to fill in a void.

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But it's a measure of both how much worse things have been in the past, and how desperate Somalis are for progress, that most people I've spoken to here are inclined to invest real hope in the current "road map", even if it is an obviously flawed process at the mercy of the usual currents of clan rivalry and regional divisions.

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