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Well Africa has an 80% mobile phone penetration rate. I imagine those could be leveraged for education.

The Gates Foundation promotes circumcision (more properly: male genital mutilation) as a tool to curb HIV infections in Africa. But that flies in the face of reality: circumcision does absolutely nothing to stop HIV. Malawi tried that and infection rates skyrocketed instead.

i don't know why people here are assuming it doesn't taste good...we really have no idea.

Of course "we" have an idea. Giraffe meat is eaten in parts of Africa

Obvious troll is obvious.

Quite. Show me a Christian minister supporting child marriage and I will show you:

• Clerics at 18 mosques are caught agreeing to marry off girls of 14
• New Saudi Fatwa Defends Pedophilia as ‘Marriage’
• Nigeria: Senate Denies Child Marriage Wrongdoing, Says Law May Be Revisited (age limits to marriage deemed un-islamic)

Are they completely tone-deaf to public opinion?

Whose public opinion? All the Hebrew speaking twitter readers spread across the world and in all the Arab lands?

I don't suppose you know of any Arab nations that have actual celebrations and parades for their armed forces instead of twitter posts, do you?

Egypt: Armed Forces Begin Sixth October Victory Celebrations By Air Parades - 5 October 2012

The Armed Forces will begin on Saturday celebrations of the 39th anniversary of the 6th October War victory by staging air parades in the skies of 21 cities in 12 Egyptian governorates.

Different types of military aircraft will partake in the parade to show the high capabilities of the Air Force servicemen.

The military air shows will be held in the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Beheira, Sharqiya, Daqahlia, Gharbia, Ismailia, Suez, Port Said, Beni Sweif and Minya

Good grief, who will warn them?

We stayed up and watched this, initially to see Benedict Cumberbatch: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/synopsis.html

All we need now is an unexplained outbreak of an unknown disease in some conflict-ridden part of the world. (Maybe the recent Ebola outbreak in Uganda? http://allafrica.com/stories/201208120306.html )

Top 5 2009 Estimates, Citation, of the percentage of adults (aged 15-49) living with HIV/AIDS followed by a news bit lending no credence to any claim of traditional values as we define them.

25.90 - Swaziland - 23 August 2005, Swazi girls celebrate as king lifts ban on sex for under-18s - Citation
24.80 - Botswana - 1 December 2010, Botswana mulls legalizing prostitution to fight HIV - Citation
23.60 - Lesotho - July 20, 2004, in Lesotho as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, early sex is the norm. - Citation
17.80 - South Africa - 9 October 2011, 30% of people would use condoms for their first coital sex versus 4% for oral sex - Citation
14.30 - Zimbabwe - 12 June 2009, girls as young as 12 to sell their bodies for as little as a packet of biscuits - Citation

Not too sure about those traditional values. It just looks like the dazzled approach isn't being worked.

http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/ken/hell.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201012300325.html

Who are you kidding? It's the ONLY STRATEGY. You know what you call someone who tries to weaken a brutal dictator with the bald-faced truth? A martyr
http://allafrica.com/stories/201011152183.html
"Mugabe is a crook. Mugabe is a dishonest person. We do not see eye to eye in cabinet. We don't look at each other. The MDC has given up on Mugabe because of his continued violation of the GPA and early elections are the best option," Tsvangirai said to supporters on Friday."

http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/news/mugabe-is-a-liar-governor-maluleke-booed-and-heckled/
”Sit down you are lying to us Mugabe is a liar who has been lying to us for the past 30 years. We know Save (PM Tsvangirai) will deliver the food to us he is the people’s leader not you sit down, sit down you stooge we do not need your food we know Save (PM Tsvangirai) will give us the food as he promised. What something new can you tell us now when you have been lying to us for the past 30 years,” said some villagers in the crowd.

Seems he has used bald-faced truths, he has been for years, still not a martyr.
He lied to his constituents by saying he was against sanctions as it is hurting the people then encouraged western countries to keep the sanctions in place.
If our politicians say one thing to the people while actively pursuing the oposite in private, I'd sure like to know.
I'm hopeful Mugabe will be voted out at the next election but whether Tsvangirai will be any better, time will tell.

People act like this wasn't known prior to WikiLeaks making the cable public. On the contrary, while the exact stance might have been portrayed publicly as more nuanced, the gist was the same. To wit:

PRIME MINISTER Morgan Tsvangirai has been slammed for advocating a staggered approach to the removal of the West's illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, on Sunday, PM Tsvangirai said only "some" sanctions should be lifted.

That's taken from allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai's Sanctions Proposal Sparks Outrage, dated 2 February 2010 (just more than a month after the events portrayed in the cable in question).

So, the reporting in the months after the events that have been revealed by the cable, the public position was a little more anti-sanction than the position in the cables, and his actual position is probably even more between the two extremes: there's no more reason to expect his public proclamation would be false and his proclamation to the Western representatives in private would be the true position.

Aside from the previously posted screenshot link of the Obama campaign website that shows an image of graffiti "Obama is God", this would be an short example of my best:

A messiah in our midst?
By Jonah Goldberg

Obama's Satyagraha: Or, Did Obama Swallow the Mahatma?
June 27, 2008. (Dinesh Sharma is a marketing science consultant with a PhD in Psychology from Harvard).

Miami Herald March 28, 2006.

Okello Oculi, Daily Monitor
AllAfrica.com. February 20, 2008.

Obama Draws Throngs To Target Center
WCCO.com. February 2, 2008

There you go, 5 non-right-wing articles.

In Nigeria, the life expectancy has dropped to 40 yrs due to oil spills.

Um, it's the healthcare system, not the petroleum causing problems:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200808010350.html

If anything, what they need to do is stop eating carbohydrates.

I meant to say "in the areas of the oil spills"

It is well know that the world is the most productive during ice ages.

*facepalm*

Okay buddy, I've got some prime crop land for sale for you, smack dab in the middle of greenland. I'm sure the incredibly cold temperatures will be very productive for you!

I meant the world as a whole. Plankton prefer colder water, and the current desert areas are huge, have been productive in the ice ages.

In Nigeria, the life expectancy has dropped to 40 yrs due to oil spills.

Um, it's the healthcare system, not the petroleum causing problems:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200808010350.html

If anything, what they need to do is stop eating carbohydrates.

It is well know that the world is the most productive during ice ages.

*facepalm*

Okay buddy, I've got some prime crop land for sale for you, smack dab in the middle of greenland. I'm sure the incredibly cold temperatures will be very productive for you!

I searched for Uganda news. The message as I see it is that we need engineer boots on the ground to build infrastructure. Just sending money will not be enough there and it would not be enough here. Send auditors too.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201004050070.html

Read between the lines of the story you linked. This is a problem that's typical of Uganda and it's not matter of "needing more engineer boots on the ground to build infrastructure." The problem is corruption at all levels.

Huawei and the Chinese are bending the Ugandans over on this one, which is normal because in Uganda, everyone gets screwed at some point.

I searched for Uganda news. The message as I see it is that we need engineer boots on the ground to build infrastructure. Just sending money will not be enough there and it would not be enough here. Send auditors too.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201004050070.html

If they don't like the deal, then they shouldn't take it (and I wouldn't blame them either). They could take their really cheap sugar and make it a value added more lucrative product by turning it into ethanol fuel, like Brazil does, for instance. Or repurpose the extra sugar cane fields into another valuable food crop, rice maybe? Probably any number of good crops can be grown in that sort of soil.

    I don't think Costa Rica has much of anything for a domestic oil supply, it's all imported, so making their own fuel makes more economic sense for them long range, plus adds to national energy independence, which in today's world is a big security issue. Every time you add an additional value added layer to a raw resource..well, that's why they call it "value added". The good stuff distilled from sugar cane squeezings you drink or sell, it is rum, all the other, in the tank.

Then maybe they wouldn't need the US market all that much and could just ignore it.

And it works both ways, as a farmer I am tuned to the security issues of both food and fuel, I think it is *perfectly* acceptable and understandable why any nation would want to maintain a core minimum amount of both food and fuel produced domestically, even if temporarily it might be cheaper on some global market. Heck, look at Japan, they go way out of their way to make sure they have *some* intact farming..they want to at all times be able to feed themselves and not be held hostage for such a critical necessity. Ya it costs them a *lot* more, but it is food insurance. And you really can't put a price on that insurance until some theoretical time when if you didn't have it, all of a sudden your imports stop and..well, that would suck. You'd figure out it was worth it..after the fact. Too late then.

  And frankly, if you look at some of the nations that run huge monoculture farms to supply the US or Europe (or now it will be China using African farmland and some of the richer oil exporting mideast nations doing the same), they do so at the expense of the bulk of their own people, instead of growing a variety of food *first*, to feed their own people first as a national priority, they fixate on this external trade large crop, usually run by some local fatcats/cartels, that go to those foreign markets. Makes these fatcats rich, while their own people go hungrier than they should.

Malawi in Africa figured this out, crops for export *as the priority* was bankrupting them and leaving their people to starve all the time. A few people were getting rich there, everyone else.... They switched to "feed the nation first" as their ag policy, including government subsidies and so on, and now they are doing much better. Both their domestic food supply got better, and now they can export more again, just by shifting priorities and working smarter with what they have.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200907020548.html

but I can't think of a time when a corporation patented something bad soley as a way of preventing someone from using it

I think you'll find that a cursory look at Pharmaceutical patents will reveal a large number of cures that no big player in medical marketplace would ever want to see in the wild, let alone see a vast population of people in need have access to at affordable prices.

Look also at Microsoft research: they come up with some extraordinary technologies/solutions that would no doubt undermine the broader, stable market for their existing inferior products if available on a desktop near you.

I believe that all these nonsense Apple patents relating to advertising may reveal that Apple may soon ship an ad-encumbered version of it's OS for Intel hardware more generic than that already in the Apple line.

I know this is just a project in its infancy, and given the recent intimacy of Uganda-Chinese relations, would a Googlebox built in by Chinese contractor be able to look up topics like Democracy or demonstration? Question Box has powerful potential; i wonder how vulnerable the box answers are to coercion, and whether deployment will be hindered by increasing foreign influence.

nature reserves mean less food production (especially, again, in Africa)

This is not only wrong, but it is way wrong. The study Economics, Objectives, and Success of Private Nature Reserves in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America shows that private nature reserves can be profitably run. With it's nature reserves Limpopo Province is South Africa's breadbasket.

meaning less population AND THEY ALREADY HAVE OVERPOPULATION (ie food production is insufficient to keep the population alive).

The insufficiency of food in Africa has 2 causes, climate change and politics. Ethiopia has had a food crisis because of a change in their climate. Reduced rainfall has caused "ever more frequent droughts". On the other hand Zimbabwe has turned from the bread basket of Africa into a basketcase. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe ruined Zimbabwe. He kicked all the white farmers, who produced most of the food, off the farms. He then gave those farms to his cronies, who did not know how to farm. Zimbabwe went from being a big exporter of food to needing food donations from other nations. Another cause of lack of food was the economic policies that forced or encouraged small scale farmers to leave those farms. "Africa: Civil Society Blames World Bank, IMF and WTO". However with the new Green Revolution in Africa farmers are starting to grow more food.

Falcon

acutally, no, there aren't really other sources of the type of news that the AP provides. All of those 'independent' new sources usually to clip and compile AP or Reuter's stories without paying them a dime.

Reuter's is one of those other sources, as is Knight Ridder/Tribune. For news about or in Africa I like allAfrica which uses a number of other sources.

Falcon

3. Print Z$100 trillion bills.

Unfortunately, that won't help.

The #1 WMD in Africa has been by far the machete, with over 1,000,000 hacked to death just in the central African region during the Rwandan Genocides, Angolan and Ugandan civil wars. More people are killed by machetes in Africa than bullets. Just Google "machete deaths africa" for pages upon pages of depression.

You think that the a Democratic president would have invaded Iraq?

Something like that is conceivable.

Imprisoned and tortured innocent people?

It's happened before.

Pushed for telecom immunity in the first place?

Who do you think is pushing for it now?

Undermined the military?

There's a reason why even Bush used to be against nation-building before he was for it.

Don't get me wrong, it's obvious that on average the Democrats are doing a lot better than the Republicans lately. But you can't just say "a [party I like] President" wouldn't have done such bad things; that kind of tribalism valuing affiliation over actions is at the root of how the Republican Party self-destructed, and the Democrats aren't immune from the same human impulses.

To get down to specific examples, I think it's pretty clear by now that Gore wouldn't have made most of the mistakes Bush did, but I don't think it's clear that the privacy issues we're discussing right now aren't an exception.

Of course. I don't see how it is relevant to this discussion. I'm not proposing common ownership and neither did Henry George. What was your point?

What did he mean then?

It is just an opinion based on the observation that where there are ample natural resources and not excessive population that poverty only seems to be found where there the land or natural resources is in the hands of a few.

I agree but that's because of those in power and not because of capitalism. For instance the conflict in the Niger Delta is portrayed as over oil. However it stems from the fact that those in power are from a different ethnic group, tribe, than those who live in the Delta. Government is in the hands of one group while the population of the Delta is from another group and the government is giving money to it's own and not the others. Under capitalism much of the money would go to those who live on and own the land.

By the way if we opened the border to Mexico I'm sure that those who chose to come to the States would experience a big improvement in their quality of life. Do you support substantial immigration to the US? I'm convinced that a major root cause of poverty in both the US and Mexico is the fact that a lot of the land is kept out of useful production by owners and that the problem would be reduced or even eliminated if income taxes were replace with land tax.

I support open borders, I believe anyone should be able to live anywhere they want as long as they can afford it. In Mexico, as I have said repeatedly, part of the problem of poverty is because the US government gives big agricultural businesses namely Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill billions of US taxpayer dollars. NAFTA then allows these companies to export corn to Mexico where they can sale the corn for less than Mexican farmers spend to grow corn. If Mexican farmers didn't have to compeat unfairly with US businesses then more could make a living on their farms.

Like you I also oppose income tax, but I would not replace it with a federal property tax, which I believe is unconstitutional anyway. Instead what I'd do is put the government back into the limits put on it by the Constitution of the USA. The Constitution says what and only what the government can do, if it does not say the government has the power to do something then it does not have that power. For instance it grants no power for the FCC, FDA, DOE, HUD, or Education Department. By eliminating all the extraconstitutional agencies, bureaus, and departments, a sales tax and user fees would provide enough money to run the rest of the government, federal government.

Tax Reform Success Stories

I was wondering what was meant by land versus property taxes, it appears that as used in the link, "property" is "improved" land, ie it is being used for an economic gain. So land that's not "improved" even if it provides a valuable service, such as purifying water, will be taxed but if it's bulldozed and built on it won't be taxed. In other words, "Let's pave the world."

To me, this has the same problem as the biomass -> ethanol projects.

Q: Who is going to grow the biomass?
A: Farmers.

Q: Will they grow it on new farms?
A: No. They will convert existing farms.

Q: So who will grow food then?
A:?

Farmers will grow it, as food prices rise farmers will want to cash in. As for the farms themselves, a lot of land that was used for growing food as gone fallow, such as in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of southern Africa, farms there produced plenty of food for people there to eat but was able to export a lot of food. Food used to be the country's main export. However after Robert Mugabe came to power he forced a lot of farmers, many were white, off of their farms. He then gave farms to his cronies, who didn't know how to farm. So now Zimbabwe is a basketcase. In Mexico farmers have been driven off their farms. Because US agribusinesses receive billions of dollars in subsidies and NAFTA they can export and sale corn cheaper than Mexican farmers can grow corn. With rising corn prices Mexican farmers may be encouraged to stay on the farms. With CAFTA this will spread to Central America.

( btw, http://www.allafrica.com/ is a good site to
a) keep one's perspective objective, unlike all the "urgent" nonsense in our local news, and
b) be reminded of what really is important. )

China sent a ship of arms to Robert Mugabe,
evidently so that he could continue to run things the CCP's style.

Zimbabwe: Minister Claims Controversial Chinese Arms Now in Country
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805061078.html

South Africa: Dock Workers Smarter Than Their Leaders
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050803.html

Zimbabwe: Ship of Shame Leaves Luanda
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070779.html

Zimbabwe: Arms Ship Waits Off Luanda, Say Unionists
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805010397.html

No government will tolerate "human rights" interfering against its authority, not US ( extraordinary rendition, anyone? ), not China, not any of them.

Why these governments don't just murder all independent persons, and enforce to their hearts contents, without pretending to do otherwise, I don't understand.

They are proud of their actions, aren't they?

Or do they pretend they aren't, like the executioner who wears a hood, to hide their identity, when they aren't bragging about doing it?

( btw, http://www.allafrica.com/ is a good site to
a) keep one's perspective objective, unlike all the "urgent" nonsense in our local news, and
b) be reminded of what really is important. )

China sent a ship of arms to Robert Mugabe,
evidently so that he could continue to run things the CCP's style.

Zimbabwe: Minister Claims Controversial Chinese Arms Now in Country
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805061078.html

South Africa: Dock Workers Smarter Than Their Leaders
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050803.html

Zimbabwe: Ship of Shame Leaves Luanda
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070779.html

Zimbabwe: Arms Ship Waits Off Luanda, Say Unionists
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805010397.html

No government will tolerate "human rights" interfering against its authority, not US ( extraordinary rendition, anyone? ), not China, not any of them.

Why these governments don't just murder all independent persons, and enforce to their hearts contents, without pretending to do otherwise, I don't understand.

They are proud of their actions, aren't they?

Or do they pretend they aren't, like the executioner who wears a hood, to hide their identity, when they aren't bragging about doing it?

( btw, http://www.allafrica.com/ is a good site to
a) keep one's perspective objective, unlike all the "urgent" nonsense in our local news, and
b) be reminded of what really is important. )

China sent a ship of arms to Robert Mugabe,
evidently so that he could continue to run things the CCP's style.

Zimbabwe: Minister Claims Controversial Chinese Arms Now in Country
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805061078.html

South Africa: Dock Workers Smarter Than Their Leaders
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050803.html

Zimbabwe: Ship of Shame Leaves Luanda
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070779.html

Zimbabwe: Arms Ship Waits Off Luanda, Say Unionists
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805010397.html

No government will tolerate "human rights" interfering against its authority, not US ( extraordinary rendition, anyone? ), not China, not any of them.

Why these governments don't just murder all independent persons, and enforce to their hearts contents, without pretending to do otherwise, I don't understand.

They are proud of their actions, aren't they?

Or do they pretend they aren't, like the executioner who wears a hood, to hide their identity, when they aren't bragging about doing it?

( btw, http://www.allafrica.com/ is a good site to
a) keep one's perspective objective, unlike all the "urgent" nonsense in our local news, and
b) be reminded of what really is important. )

China sent a ship of arms to Robert Mugabe,
evidently so that he could continue to run things the CCP's style.

Zimbabwe: Minister Claims Controversial Chinese Arms Now in Country
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805061078.html

South Africa: Dock Workers Smarter Than Their Leaders
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050803.html

Zimbabwe: Ship of Shame Leaves Luanda
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070779.html

Zimbabwe: Arms Ship Waits Off Luanda, Say Unionists
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805010397.html

No government will tolerate "human rights" interfering against its authority, not US ( extraordinary rendition, anyone? ), not China, not any of them.

Why these governments don't just murder all independent persons, and enforce to their hearts contents, without pretending to do otherwise, I don't understand.

They are proud of their actions, aren't they?

Or do they pretend they aren't, like the executioner who wears a hood, to hide their identity, when they aren't bragging about doing it?

( btw, http://www.allafrica.com/ is a good site to
a) keep one's perspective objective, unlike all the "urgent" nonsense in our local news, and
b) be reminded of what really is important. )

China sent a ship of arms to Robert Mugabe,
evidently so that he could continue to run things the CCP's style.

Zimbabwe: Minister Claims Controversial Chinese Arms Now in Country
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805061078.html

South Africa: Dock Workers Smarter Than Their Leaders
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050803.html

Zimbabwe: Ship of Shame Leaves Luanda
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070779.html

Zimbabwe: Arms Ship Waits Off Luanda, Say Unionists
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805010397.html

No government will tolerate "human rights" interfering against its authority, not US ( extraordinary rendition, anyone? ), not China, not any of them.

Why these governments don't just murder all independent persons, and enforce to their hearts contents, without pretending to do otherwise, I don't understand.

They are proud of their actions, aren't they?

Or do they pretend they aren't, like the executioner who wears a hood, to hide their identity, when they aren't bragging about doing it?

Hmm. That's interesting. Unfortunately, as I said before, LA is a cesspool, plus it's also very expensive to live there unless you live in the ghetto. Pilots don't usually get paid a lot.

It's a cesspool and expensive, because of all the oil there.

I don't know where the oil drilling is in Africa

Nigeria is one place oil is pumped, and it's a dangerous place. Angola, Cameroon and Gabon also produce oil. While Cameroon and Gabon are relatively safe Angola isn't. South Africa also has some oil. allAfrica.com has more articles on Africa countries with oil.

Even Kenya, which used to be a safe place for tourists to visit and see wild animal parks, has lately become violent and dangerous.

Many African countries are no longer safe because of the natural resources they have in abundance and the wealth generated from them are not shared by the ruling clicks. Take for instance Nigeria, the Niger Delta is rich in oil yet those than live there live in squalor because they are from different ethnic groups than those that make up the government. In the Congo the conflict and fighting is over the control of mining for coltan, diamonds, and gold as well as logging. Sadly when the European colonizers went to Africa they set national borders that ignored the different ethnic groups. Latin America didn't have as many colonizers there, basically it was just the Portuguese and Spanish, and for a while Portugal was ruled by Spain. Portugal controlled South America east of the Andes while Spain did the west. While the language in Colombia used is Spanish, it's Portuguese in Brazil.

Hmm. That's interesting. Unfortunately, as I said before, LA is a cesspool, plus it's also very expensive to live there unless you live in the ghetto. Pilots don't usually get paid a lot.

It's a cesspool and expensive, because of all the oil there.

I don't know where the oil drilling is in Africa

Nigeria is one place oil is pumped, and it's a dangerous place. Angola, Cameroon and Gabon also produce oil. While Cameroon and Gabon are relatively safe Angola isn't. South Africa also has some oil. allAfrica.com has more articles on Africa countries with oil.

Even Kenya, which used to be a safe place for tourists to visit and see wild animal parks, has lately become violent and dangerous.

Many African countries are no longer safe because of the natural resources they have in abundance and the wealth generated from them are not shared by the ruling clicks. Take for instance Nigeria, the Niger Delta is rich in oil yet those than live there live in squalor because they are from different ethnic groups than those that make up the government. In the Congo the conflict and fighting is over the control of mining for coltan, diamonds, and gold as well as logging. Sadly when the European colonizers went to Africa they set national borders that ignored the different ethnic groups. Latin America didn't have as many colonizers there, basically it was just the Portuguese and Spanish, and for a while Portugal was ruled by Spain. Portugal controlled South America east of the Andes while Spain did the west. While the language in Colombia used is Spanish, it's Portuguese in Brazil.

Hmm. That's interesting. Unfortunately, as I said before, LA is a cesspool, plus it's also very expensive to live there unless you live in the ghetto. Pilots don't usually get paid a lot.

It's a cesspool and expensive, because of all the oil there.

I don't know where the oil drilling is in Africa

Nigeria is one place oil is pumped, and it's a dangerous place. Angola, Cameroon and Gabon also produce oil. While Cameroon and Gabon are relatively safe Angola isn't. South Africa also has some oil. allAfrica.com has more articles on Africa countries with oil.

Even Kenya, which used to be a safe place for tourists to visit and see wild animal parks, has lately become violent and dangerous.

Many African countries are no longer safe because of the natural resources they have in abundance and the wealth generated from them are not shared by the ruling clicks. Take for instance Nigeria, the Niger Delta is rich in oil yet those than live there live in squalor because they are from different ethnic groups than those that make up the government. In the Congo the conflict and fighting is over the control of mining for coltan, diamonds, and gold as well as logging. Sadly when the European colonizers went to Africa they set national borders that ignored the different ethnic groups. Latin America didn't have as many colonizers there, basically it was just the Portuguese and Spanish, and for a while Portugal was ruled by Spain. Portugal controlled South America east of the Andes while Spain did the west. While the language in Colombia used is Spanish, it's Portuguese in Brazil.

Microsoft is underwriting the development and launch of a communications satellite for Africa. Cameroon: Microsoft Partners With Schools for IT Development You can not be more "out there" than that.

What truth?

Microsoft has done spectacularly well in its first and second quarters

This is a thirty year old company showing 15% growth in a mature market.

Debt free and with $20 billion in cash.

In these OS Platform Stats, Vista is approaching the desktop market share of OSX and Linux combined.

Microsoft is engaged in projects as diverse and ambitious as designing and launching a comsat for Africa. Cameroon: Microsoft Partners With Schools for IT Development

MS Office 2007 is a runaway best seller at retail:

"Over two-thirds of the dollar volume growth in the U.S. retail PC software market in 2007 can be attributed to Microsoft Office. In other words, the ratio of Office dollar growth to total PC software growth is 67 percent." The Year of Office 2007

The Chairman of Microsoft Africa Zone, Dr. Cheick Modibo Diarra, has said his company would soon develop and launch a communication satellite for Africa [part of] the company's commitment to provide a fast Internet connection to meet up with the continent's ever-increasing use of Information and Communication Technology, ICT. {The satellite would,] to a larger extent, serve in the transmission of mobile phone signals as well as radio and television, thereby improving communication within the continent and beyond. Microsoft and the University of Yaounde I [have signed an agreement] to lay the groundwork for development of the [satellite]. Cameroon: Microsoft Partners With Schools for IT Development [Dec 21, 2007]

[Microsoft] Faculty Connection [ introduced at the first ever Microsoft Academic Day in Lagos] is a resource for technology news, customisable courseware, access to the latest Microsoft technology and faculty-only community forums for like-minded academic professionals. A number of higher education institutions, including the University of Lagos, the University of Ibadan and Nnamdi Azikiwe University are already receiving the benefits which are part of the IT Academy programme, including training, certification as well as access to the latest Microsoft Official Curriculum and technologies.

On the Imagine Cup Competition, Szenvedi said that Microsoft is encouraging young people to apply their imagination, passion and creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world today. He added that Nigerian students who competed in this year's edition developed applications that were world-class. Nigeria: Microsoft's Faculty Connection [January 16, 2008]

The Chairman of Microsoft Africa Zone, Dr. Cheick Modibo Diarra, has said his company would soon develop and launch a communication satellite for Africa [part of] the company's commitment to provide a fast Internet connection to meet up with the continent's ever-increasing use of Information and Communication Technology, ICT. {The satellite would,] to a larger extent, serve in the transmission of mobile phone signals as well as radio and television, thereby improving communication within the continent and beyond. Microsoft and the University of Yaounde I [have signed an agreement] to lay the groundwork for development of the [satellite]. Cameroon: Microsoft Partners With Schools for IT Development [Dec 21, 2007]

[Microsoft] Faculty Connection [ introduced at the first ever Microsoft Academic Day in Lagos] is a resource for technology news, customisable courseware, access to the latest Microsoft technology and faculty-only community forums for like-minded academic professionals. A number of higher education institutions, including the University of Lagos, the University of Ibadan and Nnamdi Azikiwe University are already receiving the benefits which are part of the IT Academy programme, including training, certification as well as access to the latest Microsoft Official Curriculum and technologies.

On the Imagine Cup Competition, Szenvedi said that Microsoft is encouraging young people to apply their imagination, passion and creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world today. He added that Nigerian students who competed in this year's edition developed applications that were world-class. Nigeria: Microsoft's Faculty Connection [January 16, 2008]

Mandriva didn't have an office in west Africa until January of this year.

In contrast, Microsoft has hundreds of millions of users world-wide, directly employs 31,000 people abroad and has billions to spend on development projects in Africa and elsewhere in the third world.

A search of allAfrica.com" returns 1,300 hits for Microsoft and Nigeria in English alone.

Dismiss as many of these stories as you like as PR. The reality remains that to a Financial Minister, the Minister of Education, a partnership with Microsoft can make very good sense.

NGLUG, the Nigerian Linux Users Group presents an earnest face. But stories such as these suggest that Linux has a long way to catch up with Microsoft in West Africa:

Linux girl bags first Novell certification in Nigeria [2005]
"You are the first Lady CLE in Africa and the first CLE in Nigeria - you have the highest mark so far amongst the other CLE's in Africa including South Africa."

"Linux Accademy of Nigeria has not started training and I have not found someone who knows when they will start." [August 2007]

Africa: UN Partners With Microsoft to Bring Technology Benefits to Millions

Nigeria: Microsoft Releases 'Unlimited Potential to Learn'"

Nigeria: Microsoft Contributes 47 Percent to Nigeria's IT and Economic Growth

Mandriva is a small company with a small presence world-wide. Microsoft directly employs 31,000 people abroad and has billions to invest in third-world economic development.

Mandriva, S.A. began as MandrakeSoft in 1998. It currently has about 130 employees (80 of whom are engineers) and has offices in France, USA, and Brazil. It sells its products in more than 140 countries and estimates the number of Mandriva Linux users to be in the 6-to-8 million range. Mandriva

Africa: UN Partners With Microsoft to Bring Technology Benefits to Millions

Nigeria: Microsoft Releases 'Unlimited Potential to Learn'"

Nigeria: Microsoft Contributes 47 Percent to Nigeria's IT and Economic Growth

Mandriva is a small company with a small presence world-wide. Microsoft directly employs 31,000 people abroad and has billions to invest in third-world economic development.

Mandriva, S.A. began as MandrakeSoft in 1998. It currently has about 130 employees (80 of whom are engineers) and has offices in France, USA, and Brazil. It sells its products in more than 140 countries and estimates the number of Mandriva Linux users to be in the 6-to-8 million range. Mandriva

Africa: UN Partners With Microsoft to Bring Technology Benefits to Millions

Nigeria: Microsoft Releases 'Unlimited Potential to Learn'"

Nigeria: Microsoft Contributes 47 Percent to Nigeria's IT and Economic Growth

Mandriva is a small company with a small presence world-wide. Microsoft directly employs 31,000 people abroad and has billions to invest in third-world economic development.

Mandriva, S.A. began as MandrakeSoft in 1998. It currently has about 130 employees (80 of whom are engineers) and has offices in France, USA, and Brazil. It sells its products in more than 140 countries and estimates the number of Mandriva Linux users to be in the 6-to-8 million range. Mandriva

No, you misunderstand me - just as many people were killed in areas where the genocide was taking place as where there was no genocide. People were killing each other over land as well

Oh, ok.

Africa leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to farming traditional crops. They didn't evolve there and so they don't have any resistance to local conditions.

They don't have local predators or pests either. Fact is is when many non native species are introduced into an environment they can overtake native species and out compeat them as with Kudzu between eastern Texas and the Mid Atlantic states. Native to Japan Kudzu has crowded out native species in man places in these states. Or take Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes. Being native to Asia they have no predators in the Great Lakes and so are able to negatively impact the native mussels in the Great Lakes.

Things like corn require a lot of fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, etc - and that is in their "native" environment!

Corn is not native to Africa, though grown throughout the Americas it's native to Mexico. And it doesn't need a lot of chemical inputs. Do you live in the US and know what Thanksgiving is about? Early settlers were shown how to grow corn by the Native American Indians. Organic farmers use no chemical input and they are able to grow corn along with all other crops.

These are not suitable for the subsistence farmer, who has little to no access to fertilizer (especially if you take away the animals!)

You don't need to take animals away, just don't raise animals as a main source of food. Actually animals are needed, they take plants, organic matter, and converts them to fertilizer for more crops. Where animals are a problem is where there is more of them in an area that can't feed them all.

As for subsidence farming, I used to be able to grow a lot of my own food where I lived. Living in Florida I was able to garden 9 to 10 months a year during which tyme I was able to harvest three tymes with some crops. It would of been possible to grow enough in the backyard to raise half of my food with plenty left to trade with others what I didn't grow. And I still had plenty of tyme to work full time. The longest amount of tyme involved was sowing, from preparing the garden to planting seeds or seedlings. Harvesting didn't even take too much tyme, when cooking I could just go out and pick what I wanted. Or I could spend a couple of hours to harvest then cook and can what I wanted. In much of Africa there is an even longer growing season. A person could grow some food, both to eat his or herself and to trade. Then they could also build furniture to sale, with the wood scraps added to the compost. Or a person could make for sale clothing. In Uganda Gulu Landmine Victims Earn a Living From Clay" making pottery. Some are using pottery to purify water.

If it wasn't for conflicts and politics many would be have enough food without GMOs or chemical inputs.

So we agree on some things.

I would even argue that subsistence farming is the root of a lot of African conflict.

Here is where I disagree. I don't see subsidence farming as so much a problem as is the ethnic differences. For instance in Nigeria, the Niger Delta is multi-ethnic but government policies favor some ethnic groups over others: Nigeria: Characterising the Niger Delta Struggle . In Botswana the San or Bushmen were being forced off their ancestral lands so mining companies can get at the diamonds there: Bushmen Driven From Ancestral Lands in Botswana . Luckily the Kalahari Bushmen win ancestral land case in court in Botswana. Now the question is is will the government follow the ruling. In the Congo the fighting was partially about it's natural resources of Coltan, gold, and timber among several other natural resources.

It's funny, because I'm a free-market guy in general - but not when it comes to food. One of the hallmarks of a free market is cycles. The price of goods goes up and down as supply and demand are constantly in flux.

I don't want my food to be in a market cycle.

Food should be a secure resource. If this means subsidizing farmers in order to keep some excess capacity, so be it - I'd rather have an inefficient system than to have shortages.

I too lean more towards the freemarket but like you not when it comes to food. I believe each country or region should be food independent and not be dependent on trading with others for foods stables. Most places can have food security however farm subsidies interfere with this. It's one thing for a country, the US for instance, to store excess produce for rainy days, it's compleatly different though for the US to give agribusinesses billions of US taxpayer dollars so these companies can export food to Mexico, Brazil, or India where they can sell the food for less than local farmers can grow food. Instead of handing over billions of dollars what the government can do instead is buy and store enough surplus produce in case of emergencies, much the same as the strategic reserves of petroleum. As it is now though agribusiness is paid to export food not to stock emergency rations.

But all of that is beside the point - even the point about the Indian farmers committing suicide. I'm talking about the millions of subsistence farmers - most in Africa - who live on a plot of land that barely provides for them and their family.

I'll refer to read more about what Robert Mugabe did in Zimbabwe, which is in Africa and shares it's southern border with South Africa. allAfrica.com has some other good examples. For instance "With an upsurge in interethnic violence in eastern Chad, record numbers of people may soon be unable to find food for themselves, food aid analysts warn." Here's a good article on the relationship of food and conflict in Africa: Africa: Many Modern Conflicts Are Food Wars, Say Experts" Specifically it states "In a 2003 study, they found that more than 56 million people living in 27 countries face 'food insecurity,' such as supply disruptions, shortages and malnutrition due to conflicts".

The only way to break this cycle is to give the subsistence farmers some method of increasing their productivity such that they become capable of growing some excess to sell. Once they have food to sell, BOOM, you have an economy. This is exactly what happened in Asia during the Green Revolution.

AH, but they have to have a market they can sell excess food in, and when a US agriculture business can import food into that nation and sell food cheaper than a farmer can grow food who's going to by from the farmer? People in Third World nations will do the same as people do in the US, they buy from someplace, like Walmart, that sells food the cheapest. A farmer who can't make a living on the farm has no reason to stay on the farm. Allow the farmer to make a living on the farm though then they can afford to buy other things from others living in the area, who because they also have an income can do the same. Demand creates more demand. But subsidies interfere with this.

It's funny, because I'm a free-market guy in general - but not when it comes to food. One of the hallmarks of a free market is cycles. The price of goods goes up and down as supply and demand are constantly in flux.

I don't want my food to be in a market cycle.

Food should be a secure resource. If this means subsidizing farmers in order to keep some excess capacity, so be it - I'd rather have an inefficient system than to have shortages.

I too lean more towards the freemarket but like you not when it comes to food. I believe each country or region should be food independent and not be dependent on trading with others for foods stables. Most places can have food security however farm subsidies interfere with this. It's one thing for a country, the US for instance, to store excess produce for rainy days, it's compleatly different though for the US to give agribusinesses billions of US taxpayer dollars so these companies can export food to Mexico, Brazil, or India where they can sell the food for less than local farmers can grow food. Instead of handing over billions of dollars what the government can do instead is buy and store enough surplus produce in case of emergencies, much the same as the strategic reserves of petroleum. As it is now though agribusiness is paid to export food not to stock emergency rations.

But all of that is beside the point - even the point about the Indian farmers committing suicide. I'm talking about the millions of subsistence farmers - most in Africa - who live on a plot of land that barely provides for them and their family.

I'll refer to read more about what Robert Mugabe did in Zimbabwe, which is in Africa and shares it's southern border with South Africa. allAfrica.com has some other good examples. For instance "With an upsurge in interethnic violence in eastern Chad, record numbers of people may soon be unable to find food for themselves, food aid analysts warn." Here's a good article on the relationship of food and conflict in Africa: Africa: Many Modern Conflicts Are Food Wars, Say Experts" Specifically it states "In a 2003 study, they found that more than 56 million people living in 27 countries face 'food insecurity,' such as supply disruptions, shortages and malnutrition due to conflicts".

The only way to break this cycle is to give the subsistence farmers some method of increasing their productivity such that they become capable of growing some excess to sell. Once they have food to sell, BOOM, you have an economy. This is exactly what happened in Asia during the Green Revolution.

AH, but they have to have a market they can sell excess food in, and when a US agriculture business can import food into that nation and sell food cheaper than a farmer can grow food who's going to by from the farmer? People in Third World nations will do the same as people do in the US, they buy from someplace, like Walmart, that sells food the cheapest. A farmer who can't make a living on the farm has no reason to stay on the farm. Allow the farmer to make a living on the farm though then they can afford to buy other things from others living in the area, who because they also have an income can do the same. Demand creates more demand. But subsidies interfere with this.

It's funny, because I'm a free-market guy in general - but not when it comes to food. One of the hallmarks of a free market is cycles. The price of goods goes up and down as supply and demand are constantly in flux.

I don't want my food to be in a market cycle.

Food should be a secure resource. If this means subsidizing farmers in order to keep some excess capacity, so be it - I'd rather have an inefficient system than to have shortages.

I too lean more towards the freemarket but like you not when it comes to food. I believe each country or region should be food independent and not be dependent on trading with others for foods stables. Most places can have food security however farm subsidies interfere with this. It's one thing for a country, the US for instance, to store excess produce for rainy days, it's compleatly different though for the US to give agribusinesses billions of US taxpayer dollars so these companies can export food to Mexico, Brazil, or India where they can sell the food for less than local farmers can grow food. Instead of handing over billions of dollars what the government can do instead is buy and store enough surplus produce in case of emergencies, much the same as the strategic reserves of petroleum. As it is now though agribusiness is paid to export food not to stock emergency rations.

But all of that is beside the point - even the point about the Indian farmers committing suicide. I'm talking about the millions of subsistence farmers - most in Africa - who live on a plot of land that barely provides for them and their family.

I'll refer to read more about what Robert Mugabe did in Zimbabwe, which is in Africa and shares it's southern border with South Africa. allAfrica.com has some other good examples. For instance "With an upsurge in interethnic violence in eastern Chad, record numbers of people may soon be unable to find food for themselves, food aid analysts warn." Here's a good article on the relationship of food and conflict in Africa: Africa: Many Modern Conflicts Are Food Wars, Say Experts" Specifically it states "In a 2003 study, they found that more than 56 million people living in 27 countries face 'food insecurity,' such as supply disruptions, shortages and malnutrition due to conflicts".

The only way to break this cycle is to give the subsistence farmers some method of increasing their productivity such that they become capable of growing some excess to sell. Once they have food to sell, BOOM, you have an economy. This is exactly what happened in Asia during the Green Revolution.

AH, but they have to have a market they can sell excess food in, and when a US agriculture business can import food into that nation and sell food cheaper than a farmer can grow food who's going to by from the farmer? People in Third World nations will do the same as people do in the US, they buy from someplace, like Walmart, that sells food the cheapest. A farmer who can't make a living on the farm has no reason to stay on the farm. Allow the farmer to make a living on the farm though then they can afford to buy other things from others living in the area, who because they also have an income can do the same. Demand creates more demand. But subsidies interfere with this.

I'm going for the many people that seem to suffer this disorder in aggrigate, so that they might wake up from the long nightmare of perceived suffering and be able to see real injustice and dillemas in other cultures

Oh, I'm quite aware of injustice throughout the world such as the San, Bushmen, of southern and western Africa. Because of diamond mining interests the San are being forced off their ancestral homelands in Botswana among other countries. Meanwhile some like De Beers, who also brought South Africa apartheid, are making out like bandits. Cellphones in the west causes conflict and fighting in the Congo over coltan. Elsewhere "Burmese villagers sued oil company Unocal for human rights violations." Back in Africa, oil is fueling Conflict in the Niger Delta.

Just like Darfur.

most of Africa is a business no-go zone

Oh, really?.

that's not true... The SAT-3 Cable does not go 'all the way around Africa' It's on the west coast of Africa, thus Kenya does not connect to it There ought to at least 1 Fiber Optic cable within 1-2 years connected though. There's a race to see who'll deploy this cable: TEAMS EASSY is being deployed by Alcatel-Lucent - http://allafrica.com/stories/200706050685.html FLAG - being pushed by KDN which is a party to the other two cables :) In Kenya, the incumbent telco - Telkom Kenya (http://www.telkom.co.ke) and KDN (http://www.kdn.co.ke) are racing to put up Fiber all over the place, and connect to Uganda. Soon enough communication infrastructure won't be a bottleneck to development