Lee on Nov 14 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, energy
I was sitting in an airport lounge yesterday and got to chatting with a member of the self-described “oilfield trash” who was bound for Lagos, and then for an FPSO in the Gulf of Guinea. These are rough and ready guys who lead the sort of perilous commercial-adventurer lifestyle that one has the mistaken tendency [...]
Lee on Sep 08 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
David Saks reflects on a vanishing community. Down to 260 individuals by some estimates.
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Lee on Aug 31 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs
I’d heard that Hitch addressed the situation in Zimbabwe in his introductory remarks at the Freedom Fest 2008 debate with Dinesh D’Souza, but I hadn’t seen the video of it until today. It’s worth a watch.
The subject of the debate itself wasn’t Zimbabwe, but the general subject of conflict and religion. If you’ve seen one [...]
Joshua Foust on Aug 25 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs
Geography, people:
Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd sent extra diplomatic and police officials to west Africa to help investigate the kidnapping in Somalia of a group of reporters, including an Australian photojournalist.
“We have deployed additional staff from our mission in Pretoria to our High Commission in Nairobi,” Rudd told reporters in Canberra [...]
Lee on Aug 07 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs
photo: Isuru Senevi | site
And so ends Mauritania’s brief experiment with constitutional democracy. The AFP has a source in the new ruling junta who says there will be new elections in two months. We shall see.
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Lee on Aug 01 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Namibian supermarket selection (photo: Olivier Peyre)
One of great inequities in the modern world is that in relative terms, food in poor and starving countries often costs far more than in the wealthy developed world. That’s because industrial countries tend to be dominated by large supermarket chains, which can achieve enormous economies of scale in volume [...]
Lee on Jul 31 2008 | Filed under: Economics
Anti-Wal-Mart hysteria seems to have curiously abated somewhat since the corporation started giving more generously to the Democratic Party. Not an uncharacteristic phenomenon for the centralized extortion tactics –er, “grassroots activism” of such campaigns.
But there are still some people creatively fighting the not-so-good fight against your freedom to choose where to shop. This is [...]
Lee on Jul 30 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Uncategorized
(photo: William Bedzrah)
One of the traditional problems of economic development in sub-Saharan Africa is that internal African investment dollars tend to be spent outside the continent. Thus it’s interesting to see Nigerian investment in Ghana has now reached $580 million. Something that has sparked quick calls for a Nigeria-Ghana Chamber of Commerce and further liberalization [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 28 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
David Axe writes on one of the world’s biggest ignored crises—right next door to the much more hip, much more visible crisis in Darfur. The Central African Republic has been spiraling into conflict, forcing over 60,000 people into refugee camps… which are in close proximity to the hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled Darfur. [...]
Lee on Mar 04 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Very cool t-shirts with inventive visualizations of statistics on African countries.
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Keith_Indy on Feb 28 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Keith's Page
A short portrait of President Bush from Sir Bob Geldof, on the Presidents recent trip around Africa. Really shows what we’ve been accomplishing in Africa the last several years.
In 2003, only 50,000 Africans were on HIV antiretroviral drugs — and they had to pay for their own medicine. Today, 1.3 million are receiving medicines [...]
Lee on Feb 22 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
photo: Martin Dixon
Here’s a grim laugh for your Friday morning. A Muslim propaganda video which preposterously seeks to explain the death and burial of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 1st century, as the result of the wrath of Allah against the decadent Roman empire. The video marvels at how people were struck down with little [...]
Lee on Feb 07 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
photo: Vearl Brown
Uganda’s elephants have made a marvelous comeback, after having been nearly wiped out for their ivory, as part of Idi Amin’s many efforts to systematically plunder his country into ruin. It’s estimated there were once 30,000 elephants in Uganda before Amin came to power. By the time the Tanzanian army liberated the country [...]
Lee on Feb 02 2008 | Filed under: Books, Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Interviews, Lee's Page
Gas flaring in the Niger Delta (photo: Ellie)
John Ghazvinian is a journalist and historian of considerable insight into African affairs. He also happens to have written one of the best recent books on the emergent international struggle for African petroleum: Untapped: The Scramble for Africa’s Oil (the paperback edition is due out in April). Whilst [...]
Lee on Jan 23 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Somewhat dated but excellent documentary on the psychopathic depravity of Amin’s rule. The moment of macabre high comedy, in which Amin declares he has unilaterally withdrawn his army from Tanzania in the name of neighborly brotherhood during the Ugandan - Tanzanian War (when in fact his forces had been annihilated by the Tanzanian army’s [...]
Lance on Jan 23 2008 | Filed under: Blogs, Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page, social science
Hat tip: Tyler.
Chris Blattman has a conjecture, possibly high wages in Africa are holding back growth:
One thing that has always struck me in the African countries I have worked is that the real wages (i.e. wages adjusted for the cost of living) of African formal sector workers seem to be incredibly high, at least compared [...]
Lee on Jan 17 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Society, social science
(photo: enric/baldiri)
Nigerian magazine editor Madam Adunni Adediran, is appalled by the decline of traditional moral conduct in her country. In particular she’s concerned about rampant promiscuity and abortions among young women. To combat the trends she’s helped organize a ceremonial celebration called “Nigerian Virgin Girls” this month in Lagos. Prizes for participation include certificates of [...]
Lee on Jan 17 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Kenyan Justice Minister Martha Karua has charged Barack Obama’s cousin, ODM leader Raila Odinga, with ethnic cleansing. Tourist bookings to Kenya have suffered 90 percent cancellations. Kenyan blogger Girl in the Meadow wonders why the election dispute is being settled in the streets instead of the courts. Why indeed. And such a pity that all [...]
Lee on Jan 14 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Health Care, Lee's Page
(photo: Jonathan Boeke)
The latest 419 scams aren’t the only nuisances for American businesses emerging out of Nigeria this year. Using the vast archive of documents made public during the 1990s epidemic of class action lawsuits against tobacco companies, Nigeria has decided to get in on the gravy train. The BBC is reporting today that [...]
Lee on Jan 13 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Japan runs the world’s second largest economy with 17 cabinet ministers. Ghana, one of the world’s poorest, currently has 70. Why? Ben Ofosu-Appiah examines the question and argues the need for the dramatic downsizing of African governments. Shakara then offers an interesting counterpoint.
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Lee on Jan 12 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, History, Lee's Page, Uncategorized
(photo: Michael Deeble)
With heavy rains flooding Southern Africa and displacing thousands, surely saving graces must be found in parched and dying Swaziland, a country long thirsting for a drop of rain. But somewhat typically, that oppressed country’s autocrat King Mswati III, has taken the event of the rain for more than it is, and in [...]
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