What Does It Have to Do With Us?
By Paul Buchheit
June 07, 2007
We hear about people dying in Africa because of civil wars, or because they didn’t have a few dollars for medicine or malaria nets. We regret that their corrupt governments cause these problems and make our aid ineffective. On the surface this is indeed the reason for their problems. But if we look more deeply at the effects of our need for oil and minerals, we arrive at a different conclusion. We find the existence of ‘rentier’ states such as the Republic of Congo, Chad, and Nigeria, where once-healthy and self-sustaining agricultural countries have effectively rented themselves out to a demanding western world by focusing on the sale of one valuable commodity that doesn’t offer any benefits to the masses.
Continue reading Africa and Its Discontents
Jamaat al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr, speaking at a press conference, said his group had nothing to do with the so-called plot to bomb JFK International Airport in New York. Speaking with the Associated Press, Imam Bakr said he knows nothing about the alleged plot which has lead to the arrest of three Caribbean nationals, two from Guyana and one from Trinidad and Tobago.
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