From: Soapgun, 8/23/05.
Soapgun reports some his thoughts in reading The Fate of Africa, by Martin Meredith.
Africa is definitely what you would call "diverse" in the addled argot of the eek and shriek™ battalions. Enthusiastic Arab slavers and raiders of north and central Africa, Bushmen hunters, Masai cattleherders, and Zulu impi individually had more in common with people who go to trekkie conventions than each other. Shaka used to have his warriors trample thorns into the parade ground with their bare feet with what you might call "enthusiasm encouragers" circulating through the ranks to bash the brains out of those who were not getting with the program.
Now that, sports fans, is some serious diiiiii-VERS-ity.
Finger pointing for Africa's problems cycled through colonialism, then Marxist Lennonism, then kleptokolonelism. Maybe honest observers will say Africa's problem is that it has simply reverted to savagery (Darfur, Rwanda, Zimbabwe) and anarchy (South Africa?).
This is a job for the U.N.!
We've already seen that China doesn't give a fig about the well being of Africans so long as their strategic interests are protected.
If South Africa slides further into anarchy, and becomes a playground for the African National Congress to parcel out the wealth created during the years of white ascendancy, it could be a grim century for Africa - Islamic male panic at dilution of domestic hegemony, revival of slavery (U.N. to Darfur: "Take two aspirin."), AIDS, agricultural madness, aid dependency, superstition, magic, betrayal by elites, and Chinese maneuvering for who knows what.
A blog about Islamic intolerance and fanaticism; socialism; communism; government stupidity; and lying weasels everywhere, hopefully couched in vibrant and literate English and foreign words that make us look good.
2 comments:
Col.,
Beer!
You hit what is transpiring in Africa spot on.
From the colonial Wars at the end of WW2, the betrayal of Rhodesia, the turning of SA, and leading us up to Somalia, Sudan, and the host of others.
Now, with the PRC maneuvering about the Dark Continent, it well may be another set of brushfire wars...
Not to mention what is happening in the South China Sea.
Living in interesting times, indeed....
I have to give most of the credit to Mr. Meredith's book. I try to steer clear of original thinking wherever possible!
I think the Chinese are a real unknown in Africa. The Angolans and the Namibians doubtless feel some gratitude toward them and the Cubans for their help during the last days of white rule in S. Africa.
The Chinese presence in Namibia seems to be tinged with rumors of gangs and extraordinary privileges. They have a tracking, telemetry and command station outside of Swakopmund, Namibia that is connected to the National Manned Space Programme (Project 921). A similar facility on South Tarawa Island, Republic of Kiribati was closed down on 11/29/03 when Kiribati recognized the Republic of China.
The site may also have been used to monitor U.S. missile shots to Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, though that's extremely hard to believe. You have to be pretty sick in my view to think the Chinese spy on US!
The Swakop site is apparently right under the point that Chinese manned spacecraft begin their re-entry phase. Other stations exist elsewhere in the world.
We're sure this Chinese program has purely peaceful objectives and we mention sexy things like "tracking, telemetry and command stations" to make our readers think that we are up night and day mathing out China's strategic interests in Southern Africa.
The Chinese dog-in-the-manger approach to Africa as evidenced by its support of loathesome twerps like Mugabe has been treated elsewhere in this blog and reading what we said there is probably to risk having a near religious experience.
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