China "Aids" Africa For Their Own Benefit

[RestoreGore]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061105/ap_on_re_as/china_africa

Making deals while genocide goes on and they make profit $$$$$$$$$$$ from it... and we continue to buy their crap.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. China builds hospitals and roads. We send arms and troops.

Of course, the good old USofA has no designs on Africa's mineral or oil wealth.

http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/AfricaMarch2005.html

Beyond oil, U.S. military officials have cited "a growing terrorist threat" in northern and sub-Saharan Africa to justify a program of stepped up military engagement in the region. General James Jones, head of the U.S. European command, has suggested the need to create a "family of bases" across Africa that would range from forward operating locations that would include an airfield and facilities to house 3,000 to 5,000 U.S. military personnel to "bare-bones" bases that U.S. Special Forces or Marines could "land at and build up as the mission required." (See Eric Schmitt, "Threats and Response; Expanding U.S. Presence: Pentagon Seeks New Access Pacts for African Bases," New York Times, July 5, 2003). These new facilities would not be considered "formal" bases like the growing U.S. base in the Horn of Africa in Djibouti, which has a regular deployment of 1,800 to 2,000 troops stationed there. While new basing arrangements are being worked out, a major increase in U.S. military exercises and training missions throughout Africa will be used to sustain a regular U.S. presence.

Military Aid, Training, and Sales on the Rise
While the millions of dollars being spent on U.S. military aid and sales to Africa pale in comparison to the billions being expended in the Middle East and South Asia, all of the major U.S. bilateral aid and sales programs have increased sharply in recent years. Funding to sub-Saharan Africa under the largest U.S. military aid program, Foreign Military Financing, doubled from $12 million in fiscal year 2000 to a proposed $24 million in the FY 2006 budget proposal, and the number of recipient nations has grown from one to nine. The Pentagon’s International Military Education and Training (IMET) program has increased by 35% from 2000 to the 2006 proposal, from $8.1 million to $11 million, and from 36 participating nations to 47. Foreign Military Sales, the largest U.S. arms transfer program, more than quadrupled from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2003 (the most recent year for which full statistics are available), from $9.8 million to $40.3 million. And Commercial Sales (CS) of arms licensed by the State Department grew from .9 million to $3.8 million over the 2000 to 2003 period. For additional details, see Tables I through IV, below.

These bilateral programs are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of overall U.S. military aid commitments going forward. The U.S. European Command has requested $125 million over five years for the Pan-Sahel Initiative, for training and exercises with Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and other nations in the region. U.S. engagement under the program has gone far beyond traditional training to include involvement in combat operations. Craig S. Smith of the New York Times ("U.S. Training African Forces to Uproot Terrorists," May 11, 2004) offers the following description of the role of U.S. forces in a 2004 operation against the Salafist terrorist organization and its leader, Ammari Saifi:

"The United States European Command sent a Navy P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft to sweep the area, relaying Mr. Saifi’s position to forces in the region. Mali chased him out of the country to Niger, which in turn pushed him into Chad, where, with United States Special Forces support of an airlift of fuel and other supplies, 43 of his men were killed or captured."

Other major U.S. military commitments include a proposed $100 million program for military and anti-terrorist training in East Africa, and a $200 million pledge to train and restructure Liberia’s military forces. The first $35 million of this amount has been committed to a training program run by Dyncorps, a private military company with a mixed record in operations in the Balkans, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In addition to programs targeted to specific countries or regions, the ACOTA program (African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance) has received $38 million in funding over the past three years, with the stated goal of training "select African militaries to respond effectively to peace support and humanitarian crises on their continent." Participants in the program have included Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Botswana. ACOTA is the successor program to ACRI, the African Crisis Response Initiative

[RestoreGore]

2. Did I say anything about this government?

Or defend what they do? Why does every post made here have to be a damnned comparative narative? Of course, THIS administration has done what you say, but I do not understand how you can defend China. They are no better as they dig for oil in the very same place where people are being killed in a genocide, and we support it by buying their cheaply made CRAP in this country. You're free to go live there anytime you like, however, and then tell us how much better it is to truly live in a repressive society.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. America, Love it or Leave it?

How original. Do you buy cheaply made American crap in support of BushCorp?

[RestoreGore]

4. I CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY ANYTHING

I'm a WORKING American. Now, are you done crucifying me in order to not have to discuss the topic? And I didn't say love it or leave it, I'm not a freeper asshole. The POINT is that to defend a country like China is really hypocritical considering your first response about this country's policies. NEITHER of these country's policies are good for the world at large. Or do you also defend their abuse of the people of Tibet and their desire to steal their resources?

[RestoreGore]

5. You defend this

Footage of Chinese border guards shooting Tibetans on pilgrimage to the
Dali Lama in India.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15369.htm

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Sorry, I must have misread what you posted.

"You're free to go live there anytime you like, however, and then tell us how much better it is to truly live in a repressive society."

I have no doubt that China, like every other country trading in Africa, is doing so for it's own interests.

That they're also rendering aid to Africa in the way of hospitals and roads is also true.

If you're going to get into the "we shouldn't buy their stuff because they're exploiting Africa" then there is a long list of similar countries doing the same.

I got bad news for you. Every time you put gas in your car you're helping support one bunch of exploiters and human rights abusers or another.

Maybe we should limit our buying to products made in Andorra or Lichtenstein.

[Selatius]

6. Unfortunately, this is how the world works.

The strong prey on the weak.

China is merely exploiting the turmoil on the African continent to make more money and increase their influence on the continent.

The history book of the world is a story of the strong raping and exploiting the weak for their own gain.

It has led me to the conclusion that hierarchical societies that put control in the hands of a powerful few are societies that will fall over from being top heavy and predatory. Rather than allowing a few to control all the resources, maybe it's time for people to take back their power from parasitic leaders and politicians and exercise it both directly and collectively in a radically democratic model of living.