“A four-page list of Africa-related questions from the transition staff has been making the rounds at the State Department and Pentagon, alarming longtime Africa specialists who say the framing and the tone of the questions suggest an American retreat from development and humanitarian goals, while at the same time trying to push forward business opportunities across the continent.
“How does U.S. business compete with other nations in Africa? Are we losing out to the Chinese?” asks one of the first questions in the unclassified document provided to The New York Times.
That is quickly followed with queries about humanitarian assistance money. “With so much corruption in Africa, how much of our funding is stolen? Why should we spend these funds on Africa when we are suffering here in the U.S.?”
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Wonder what JFK would think? Will cutting aid make us more competitive with China?
PWS
01/17/17
I would think that engaging Africa as an equal economic partner rather than viewing it as a perpetual inept, underachieving object of charity would do more to help Africans than anything that JFK or the NY Times could dream up on their best day.
That could be true in South Africa, Liberia, perhaps Kenya, and some other places. And, I’m probably leaving out some other African nations with potentially stable economies. I might once have put Nigeria in that category, but now I’m less sure, as there is much conflict and instability there. It’s hard to deal with a country as an equal economic partner unless there is at least a semblance of a stable government there.
But, I don’t see that economic partnership is likely to help folks in places like South Sudan and Darfur where folks are starving to death. That’s a humanitarian crisis, not an economic opportunity.
Best,
Wick