The six continents of Borders

I’m in Borders right now doing some homework and enjoying some ‘Foo-foo’ coffee (the only kind I can drink).  In my attempt to use this place as a kind of hip library I went to see if they had anything that could help me on a question I had about Niger.  Well, believe it or not, there isn’t one non-fiction book in the whole store about Africa.

Not one.

Even the Polar regions have a small section dedicated to them.  You’d think every continent would merit at least one book.

Yeesh…I just now this is some sort of metaphor for U.S. policy towards Africa.  It’s so far off our radar we don’t even know it’s missing.

Great news from Africa!

Just when you think that everything is controlled by amoral corporations, corrupt governments and similar bottom feeders, you get some news that really provides some inspiration.

The Chinese sent a cargo ship (the An Yue Jiang) loaded with weapons and ammunition to Zimbabwe where it looks like the Leech in Charge (Robert Mugabe) has decided that 27 years in power isn’t enough and is preparing to destroy the country in order to continue ruling it.

No countries on the continent would allow the ship to unload the weapons at their ports which left Mugabe (Zimbabwe is land locked) out of luck.  The most dramatic refusal occurred on Friday where South African dock workers refused to unload the ship even though the government said it was had no legal authority to interfere with what was a legal transaction between China and Zimbabwe.

So…a definite win for Africans!

What I’m reading…The Fate of Africa

I just started reading Meredith’s ‘The Fate of Africa’ hoping, unrealistically I know, it finish it before my next class starts on the 7th.   Even if I don’t, I’m hoping there might be some applicability to the subject matter of the class, titled ‘Foundations of Peace’.

I haven’t even gotten fifty pages into the 750+ page behemoth yet but I have to say that the author’s writing style is quite inviting.  Perhaps it’s just me but it seems like history and political science writing has gotten much, much better over the past 20 years and reputable authors no longer view accessibility to a general audience as synonymous with selling out.

A  preview of the book is available from google here.

As I was reading this morning, I briefly began thinking about the current crisis in Sudan and the difficulty in getting an effective peacekeeping force there.

The International Peace Operations Association (the lobbying organization for private military companies)  has held the position that they could do an effective peacekeeping mission (at lower cost and higher efficiency that traditional alternatives)  if nations or international organizations (like the U.N.) would pony up the money.  For some reason, I began wondering if such a mission could be raised if private citizens raised the money instead.  Then I saw this article (linked from here)  that talks about George Clooney and Don Cheadle offering to raise $20 million out of $47 million needed to equip the arriving UN force with 24 helicopters.

I think the offer is a moot point because it doesn’t seem that money is the problem but rather political reluctance (and here let me recommend Samantha Powers’ The Problem from Hell for more examples of such behavior).

So what if the $47 million was entirely financed by private individuals?  If Ron Paul supporters (relatively few in number, burdened by campaign finance laws on donation size and not exactly overflowing with high income supporters) can raise $12 million in one quarter, how much could a semi-organized movement raise to support something as widely supported as peace in Sudan?

If one or more PMCs were offered a significant amount of money to conduct peacekeeping missions (or, more likely, peace enforcement missions since the Khartoum  government would not be open to such a mission and some sort of combat would be required) would they do it?

I haven’t thought this through but it’s an interesting idea.