–Japan defense chief mulling action in event of UFO attack – This is pure comedy! Actually I’m almost certain the U.S. has some outline of a contingency plan in the case of extraterrestrial life being discovered as it will likely cause political/social instability as religious fanatics lose their mind that their holy book did not tell them about aliens. Still, a UFO attack? What is worse is he announced it to the media!!!
–New charges menace Jacob Zuma in South Africa – Wow, that was quick. Who wants to bet Mbeki made a few calls and had a few envelopes of info dropped in the mail anonymously to the prosecutors office? Something slick is going on. “A criminal conviction would end his political career, for South Africa’s Constitution bars felons from becoming president.”
–Africa: Continent Must Scale Up Efforts to Reach Millennium Goals, Says Migiro – Damn I said something similar a few weeks ago. I got criticized on one site for not recognizing and praising Africans on their progress. :-O When I was growing up I did not get praised for doing something “half-assed” but that was my family, but it is not just Africa’s fault. As the article rightly points out, the developed nations have not lived up to their end of the bargain either.
The Postnational Monitor 
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December 21, 2007 at 10:35 PM
Leya Lumumba
DH what do you think that many Africans can do to speed up the progress of their countries without outside (foreign) help?
December 22, 2007 at 12:25 AM
Dragon Horse
1) Off the top of my head, do anything they can to make peace with rebel factions in their countries, if any. This will free up monies that can be used for public works projects to improve infrastructure and education.
2) Increase the rule of law. The rule of law must be upheld, by any means necessary, even if you have to curtail other freedoms. Judges should be independent and corruption free. People have to know they need to obey the law, but they will not obey the law if it is not enforced, and enforced fairly.
3) Improve banking laws and decrease government ownership in state owned enterprises. Get government out of banks. The idea of improving banking regulation is to better allocate any existing capital to entrepreneurs.
4) End corruption. That also goes into #2, but I want to put special emphasis on it. I’m of the opinion that if a public official steals a certain amount of money…lets say; in the thousands of dollars USD, that public official should be executed. I am this harsh because that money could have went to feed a starving child, get the child medicine, a vaccine, etc. Instead it went to some greedy public official who was stealing from the people. That person is an enemy of the state as much as a rebel solider and should be put to death. It must be understand that these things ARE NOT acceptable and will be dealt with harshly until it becomes cultural that public servants serve the public and not just themselves, their family, their tribe, or their clan.
Another way to help end corruption is a public published accounting of all revenues and allocations to local governments so that the people know where the money is supposed to be going. This will free up more monies for public works.
January 22, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Leya Lumumba
The first issue is one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome. The last time I went to the DRC there was a lack of police and not even a jail in site. The few police that exist are not well trained and are usually too afraid to go into the eastern region. The DRC is underpopulated compared to countries similar or smaller in size, yet the government has little to no control of what goes on in the eastern regions. And yes as you stated before the Rwanda genocide never ended. The Hutu Rebels from Rwanda got driven into the eastern Congo, and started preying on bush negroes (pgymies) and later other tribes ETC,. This problem overwhelms me and I know that I cannot handle this alone. I don’t know how I can get the government to take more action in the rest of the DRC.