Justin, What do you think of Obama's letting the west off the hook for Africa's problems? Ishmael

Ishmael,

He's lying, and he knows it. To think that this man has the wherewithal to stand on the very ground where Nkrumah was murdered at the behest of United States interests. Even the choice of Ghana was a cynical ploy to further coerce leverage for AFRICOM, a plan initiated by Bush in 2007, to find a home. It is currently based, without irony, in Germany. Massive oil discoveries where recently made off Ghana's coast as well.
Not unlike his infamous Father's Day speech of last year, Obama was signaling,and signifying, elsewhere. In this case to the very centers of capital that were founded and solidified by colonialism in Africa! These remain to this very day, no matter what anybody would like to say, the paymasters for the various military, paramilitary, terrorist and so called counter terrorist groups throughout the continent.
The United States government, vis. the Pentagon, the State Department &c. are fully intent on fightting a proxy war with China over the resources in Africa. The very resources that without which the economy of the West would come to screeching halt. Col-tan, the essential ingrediant in the manufacture of IT, Sony Playstations, laptops, cell phones of all varities &c. is known to be the source of the conflict in North Eastern Congo's Ituri Forest. Can you imagine what would happen if the expedition of this precious mineral were slowed down or halted? Stocks, as you know, are traded on projected earnings. The height of the "dot com boom" was the period when, according to the UN and countless NGO's, that close to 7 million people died there. We didn't hear any outcry about that. Bob Herbert, whose column last week on Michael Jackson was unforgivable, seems to think it's all about rape. I guess that'll put him in solid with Eve Enlser and her crowd.
Which brings us back to AFRICOM. Bush was laying down the ground work for Obama to make that speech. He's following up on errands. Obama, however, can do this as propagandist foil in a way they could not. That aside, Bush had laid out a plan for war in Africa just prior to the formation of Africom before it's creation in 2007. As larger and larger oil discoveries where being made there in 2003, 2004, and 2005, organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations and Hoover Institute began publishing policy papers and research indentifying the continent as the emerging front in the "war on terror." This is the true context for Obama's speech and the guide for it's content as well.
Obama's speech was even covered in the Times with the headline that it was "Tough Love"!
This kind of "personal responsiblity" line is perfectly in tune with the recent attempts, sometimes succesful, to shame and humiliate African leaders by dragging them in front the ICC, such as Charles Taylor, or in lieu of that, falsely suggesting that they should be, as in Bashir of Sudan.

Justin