The population "nobody" cares about

[Benton]

(06-26-2016, 02:10 AM)Bengalzona Wrote: It is absolutely a population that is routinely ignored by most of the developed world. China has spent more time and money on the continent than we have. They have a pretty good name in Africa. The only time we've cared that much about Africa was during the Cold War when we decided to play the Proxy Wars game there with the Soviets in the 60's though the 80's. But generally we've deferred to the British and their colonial/post-colonial links on the continent (Egypt, South Africa, Botswana, etc.). Every time there is a new initiative to take action on the continent, someone in Congress asks "Why?" and it is quickly shelved.

I will say this, though. The Bush and Obama Admins have done some good behind-the-scenes the work in recent years in Africa. The exit of the Soviets/Russians from the continent has helped greatly too. After some of our debacles in the 90's (Somalia, Rwanda - where we did absolutely nothing, etc.), our efforts have concentrated on establishing some stable governments (some, but certainly not all) and on establishing a multi-national African force to police their own continent. That infra-structure has been coming into place. Between the establishment of the African Union and the creation of the African Standby Force, these efforts are bearing fruit. I don't think many Americans are aware of what we have been up to over there. I encourage you guys to look up the AU and ASF. These efforts are far better than sending troops and weapons (although we do have military advisors throughout the continent).

I have a high school buddy who is a Major and an anesthesiologist assigned to AFRICOM. He has spent most of his time there over the past 10 years and has a good understanding of what things are like on the ground.

This is much more in depth than my thoughts earlier, and I appreciate someone articulating that. I think we've done more good for Africa in the last 20 years than we've done for anyone else in twice that time. Giving countries the tools they need and supporting their cooperation will go very far toward their own stability.