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Kleptocracy destroys countries from within. Kleptocrats turn sometime democracies into criminal states that plunder national resources and national patrimonies, depriving citizens of their rights, their tax revenues and their ability to determine policy priorities. A cacophony of African states — Angola, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, South Africa, … Continue reading
Africa’s animals are being driven towards extinction, largely because of Chinese-sponsored poaching, but also because of rising Indigenous human populations and their pressure on available grazing land. As we saw in my last column (“Killing Off Africa’s Iconic Animals, Summer, 2019) elephants and rhinoceroses are at the greatest risk; poachers are killing both big … Continue reading
Africa is desperately short of electricity and an array of distinguished Chinese firms are helping the nations of Africa to remedy their power needs by constructing new or renovating old generating stations, erecting more than 300 dams, and extending transmission facilities. Most of the numerous projects involving Chinese concerns in these sectors are successful, especially … Continue reading
China has banned the import of ivory and barred the trading of ivory, but still the poaching of elephants for their tusks and the trafficking of other mammal parts continues, with Chinese entrepreneurs paying African people to kill iconic big species. More can surely be done by the authorities in China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam … Continue reading
Given the controversial attempt by the Trump administration to prevent European and other nations from allowing Huawei to build their much anticipated 5G networks, it is notable that 70 percent of Africa’s 4G networks have been built by that Chinese telecommunications giant. Huawei has also constructed compact cell towers wherever it has built out networks. … Continue reading
An unexpected and path-breaking electoral-regime change in Malaysia last week signifies a global shift against corrupt politicians and corrupt governments. Malaysian voters overwhelmingly ousted the never-before-defeated United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and replaced it with a fresh coalition led by Mahathir Mohamad, a 92-year old former prime minister (and former head of the UMNO) who … Continue reading
Africans are containing terror and terrorists, but declaring victory against the forces of revolution and insurrection in 2018 is premature It is still a massive work in progress In addition to the swirl of repetitive civil conflict in such disparate African countries as Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South … Continue reading
Effectively reducing the killing of African elephants and rhinoceroses depends more on curbing the foreign demand for tusks and horn than on localized national endeavors to combat poachers. Although approaches from both angles are essential, it is the consumer appetite for elephant ivory and rhino horn that propels illegal attacks on innocent herbivorous mammals across … Continue reading
Terrorists are in it as much for the loot as for the ideology. The Islamic State, or ISIS, could hardly exist, whatever its Islamist fervor, without hard cash from sales of pilfered petroleum, taxes on its subject population and kidnappings for ransom. Likewise ISIS- and al-Qaida-linked groups in Africa prosper by trafficking drugs across the … Continue reading
Drug smuggling and its profits help significantly to fuel Africa’s wars as criminal enterprises. Terrorists frequently build drug-driven hybrid organizations to finance their operations and to reap illicit rents. In Mali, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia, conflict is strongly tied to drug trafficking by syndicates allied to al-Qaeda–associated insurgents. The … Continue reading
Africa and Asia: The Key Issues 