A Short Formula of India

India = Silicon Valley + Africa

Anonymous

I don't remember where I got this.

The name's Smith, Ian Smith

He led the last competent Rhodesian government. As Barry Goldwater said: "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"

Somalia - The Self Failed State

(Brian Gable of the Globe and Mail, April 14, 2009)

Many sensitive well meaning people wonder that if we could just address the grievances of criminals crime would disappear. Well no actual. Very little crime is the hungry stealing bread. Some theives might start that way but mostly crininals is the well fed stealingf luxaries. The Somali pirates style themselves as a coastguard of a failed state. The rewards of piracy is seen as proper repayment for depleted fish stocks. Fishing can provide a hard dangerous living, piracy on the other hand is hard and dangerous but could provide fortunes. The other point about the sheen of legitimacy when Somali pirates style themselves as a "coast guard". Yes Somalia is a Failed state. Failure wasn't thrust apon Somali, Somalis in all walks of life worked hard to fail as a country.

Men Who Moil for Gold

Great pictures of Congolese artisanal hydraulic miners from Reuters' Finbarr O'Reilly.

"Men who moil for gold" is a quote from Robert Service's The Cremation of Sam Magee.

Prince of Slaves Probably was a Slave Owner Himself

Because of comment in an NPR segment about on black history month, Do We Need A Black History Month? someone mentioned an actual West African price who was a slave. Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori was a prince of Kingdom of Fouta Djallon in the highlands of Guinea, which oddly enough had as a capital a town/city called Timbo. As a teenager he had studied in Timbuktu. In his twenties after leading his father's troop to defeat was captured and sold into slavery.This was a personal tragedy for him it must be asked if previously he had sold POWs into slavery. Slavery was practiced by moslem kingdoms in West Africa. The slave trade in West Africa and East Africa was only wiped by force of arms. However slavery is still "popular" in muslin Africa. One of the motives of the Sudanese government forces in Darfur as well as in Sudan's Christian south was enslavement. The final little kicker is that Wiki ascribes the downfall of Timbuktu with competition from European trading ports on the coast:

The city began to decline after explorers and slavers from Portugal and then other European countries landed in West Africa, providing an alternative to the slave market of Timbuktu and the trade route through the world's largest desert.

This Prince of Slaves lived in countries that enslaved, probably owned slaves, probably enslaved those he captured and studied in fabled Timbuktu which had along with its cattle, camel, salt and gold markets also had a noted slave market.

The comment made by Eve Sander (evergreeen), which she triple posted, is taken by as a bad example of "celebrating" history as a means to personal affirmation and self esteem. History shouldn't make you feel better, that is what beer is for, it should inform, enlighten and even disturb the reader.

Somali Pirates

There is currently a standoff between Somali pirates holding a cargo ship and the US Navy and soon the Russian Navy.

There are some, Somali and others, who defend the motives and interests of the pirates. On a radio discussion of this current crisis, On Point: Pirates and Power at Sea, there are many Somalis who called complaining and excusing the motives of the Somali thugs. Hussean Fiin of Ceegaag.com, a Somali-American forum, defends piracy by quoting an American terrorist.

The world neglected Somalia for eighteen long years, Injustice, killings, Raping, diseases, Hunger, is what is known about Somalia, The civilized world allow this thing to go on in Somalia so I will say about what is happening(pirates) ‘Chickens Coming Home to Roost’ Malcolm X.

Somalia has not an easy time of it for some decades. The breakdown of state order has meant an undefended coastline. Illegal dumping of toxic waste and illegal fishing have flourished. Somali is also a land of desperate poverty. At first Somali fishermen were merely defending their fish stocks. Later on better financed operations pirated ships further from shore for more than fish.

That Somali is a hell hole is the nobody's fault but themselves. About 15 years there was a major international effort to save Somali from anarchy and civil war. It collapsed after the Somalis demonstrated they would rather have anarchy than order, their own tyranny than another's freedom. If Somali is hell it is because it is filled with Somalis not just other people.

Defensively shipping companies need to revive the practice of convoys. Even if this would lead to more shipping delays and port congestion. Major naval powers need to degrade offensive Somali maritime capacity by destroying ports and coastal communities. Ultimately land needs to be taken for foreign bases to deal with the pirates. A generation or so ago there was foriegn military bases in the Horn of Africa. This stoppped the locals from being too stupid. Aden is needed again.

The Pointlessness of "Liberation"

In a NY Times story about the the continuing legal problems of professional sleazeball Jacob Zuma, next El Presidente of the Republic of South Africa and unconvicted rapist there is this quote on "liberation" movements.

“In the African context, liberation movements have been very successful at bringing an end to colonialism, but their record in instituting a democratic political order and protecting and consolidating democracy has been abysmal,” said Achille Mbembe, a political scientist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. “South Africa has found itself in a state of uncertainty — radical uncertainty and extreme volatility.

I would point out that their [liberation movements] record in instituting any order is also dismal. Forget about making the trains run on time it is too difficult to make the trains run at all. Things rapidly go down hill fast as maintenance declines and trained engineers and specialists leave. Let us remember that liberation movements are primarily about taking power and dividing the spoils. Many things get broken in a revolution, glass, eggs, skulls, machinery, people. In the African context there is also crippling racism on the part of the new governments that mean human resources are dismissed if it is the wrong skin tone/religion/tribe. At the end of the spasm of liberation there is oftentimes less spoils to divide.

In time South Africa will decline. Natural resources and natural resource income is not enough to keep Nigeria and the Congo from being hell holes.

Chad Builds New Moat

The government is digging a 10-foot-deep trench around the capital, Ndjamena, to prevent a repeat of an attack last month, when rebels in pickup trucks rolled in and fought two days of heavy battles. The ditch will all but encircle the city, slicing through neighborhoods and forcing vehicles to pass through fortified gateways, a security official said. The remaining trees that line the avenues of central Ndjamena are being felled. Residents say the rebels used trees knocked down by rocket-propelled grenades and cannon fire to block roads during the fighting.

(from the New York Times)

We can laugh however there is still a use for moats in this day and age, as tank traps.

Personality Quiz Matches You with African Thugs-in-Chief

Here is a personality quiz to match you with the African dictator most like you. The behavior or misbehavior of African dictators suggests maybe decolonization was not a wholly good thing. Africa was fully colonized by European powers for less than 100 years, Moslem powers had their own slave trading stations, like Zanzibar, on Africa's east coast for much longer, but it is European colonialism that is usually reviled. However in the last decades of colonialism European powers spent more on their colonies then the colonies provided. Colonies were a status symbol not a profit center, Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted colonies despite them being a drain. In contrast foreign aid can never replace the subsidy that late stage colonialism was but it does makes government the only font of wealth and power, see post election violence in Kenya.

I took the test and ended with Robert Mugabe, a "man" currently running his country into the ground with his racist policies and economic mismanagement. Zimbabweans are worse off now then when they were as Rhodesians when Mugabe and his thugs were attempting to overthrow Ian Smith. The difference is that Mugabe's living standards are higher. "Liberation" has mainly impoverished African countries while enriching their new and mostly incompetent rulers.

(from World History Blog)

Which African dictator are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Robert Mugabe You are Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. First and only president ruling still to this day? Robert Mugabe 50% Joseph Mobutu 30% Sani Abacha 30% Charles Taylor 20% Jean-Bedel Bokassa 10% Muammar Gaddafi 10% Idi Amin 0%

A Lift from Newsphoto Yesterday

Liberia 1990

From Ads of the World.

The Old Watering Hole

The Nkorho Game Reserve has a webcam on one their local watering holes. Ah, the relaxing sounds of wildlife.

Anti-Slavery Group

I was reading a story about the lax punishment given to a convicted Saudi slaveowner. When the abolition movement began there was resistance to abolishing slavery by muslim nations. Saudi Arabia bowed to American pressure and officially abolished the slave trade in 1962. The abolitionist movement was founded in Christian ethics. Muslims on the hand saw reasons to keep slavery because their prophet Mohammed the Pedophile, The Rapist, The Thief, The Murderer, was also Mohammed the Enslaver. The biggest practioners of slavery today are criminal networks, many of whom are muslim like Turkish and Albanian gangs, and Muslim Arabs like the Saudis. Here is an group anti-slavery called iAbolish. Go there and read the spooky stories.