Bwana and Sambo explain why Congo can't escape its scars

I can't figure out why this story appears in the "Insight" section of today's Toronto Star. It is a story long on sensationalism but utterly bereft of insight.

First the sensationalism. Heads roll again and again. They are lopped off with reckless abandon and carried about in gunny sacks. Child soldiers have their fingers chopped off and drink the blood of their enemies. Vaginas are violated, not just with machetes, but with machetes heated in a fire!...

Oh!

My!

God!

They don't call it the "dark continent" for nothing, do they!?

Lucky for us, Star editor-in-chief Michael Cooke steps in with some background. It's not all the fault of the Congolese. The Belgian colonizers were not good people. No, they murdered ten million Congolese and then, at independence, left the fledgling state with a mere three PhDs.

Well, no wonder the place went to hell! How was the nascent state to bootstrap itself into the modern era with only three PhDs in the entire land?

That's a condescending bit of "Bwana knows best," isn't it?

Then, after the CIA, with the connivance of the Belgians, Brits, and UN, killed Congo's first democratically elected president, "the Congolese immediately turned on themselves..." and that's been the story ever since.

And this is what passes for "journalism?"

Shame!

I'm not a journalist, but I'm not brain dead either, and I'd like to make a couple of suggestions that might have upped the insight quotient for this story.

First of all, it's a pity we only meet one Canadian, the saintly world president of Doctors without Borders. Cooke comes tantalizingly close to unmasking a few more when he refers to corrupt practices in the mining industry which has caused tens of millions (billions with a "b" would be more accurate) of dollars to be diverted into the accounts of government officials and various shady middlemen. Canadian mining companies have a massive presence in the Congo. Why not name names, Mr. Cooke?

Rwanda gets barely a passing mention in the story. Paul Kagame's name does not come up at all. Cooke makes it sound like a few observers think the Kagame regime may be up to nefarious hanky-panky in the neighbourhood. In fact, virtually all independent observers agree Rwanda under Kagame has been neck-deep in fomenting strife in the Congo. The reason we don't talk about it is because his interference is quietly encouraged and facilitated by the West, including Canada.

Dictator?

What dictator?

Justin "Sunny Daze" Trudeau's feel-good feminist government sent Kagame heart-felt congrats on winning  the last "election" with 99% of the vote! Who are we kidding?

After more than fifty years of "independence" there are sound reasons why Congo can't escape its scars, but Cooke and Badylon Kawanda have done their best to avoid addressing them.

Doing so might require a little soul searching around how we continue to contribute to the ongoing tragedy that is the Congo.

There'll be nothing "sunny" about Canada's deployment of "peacekeepers" to Mali

Regular readers will already know that the think tank here at Falling Downs has their money on Mali being the destination of choice for Justin's yet-to-be-announced peace-keeper mission.

We came to that conclusion after a careful analysis of the Canadian-owned gold mines per capita stats in various African nations.

Ya, I know that might seem a bit cynical. Hey, maybe PM Sunny Ways has a new formula. If so, please let the public see that new formula!

I'm personally expecting more of the Harper era not-so-sunny tie-in between our investors and our peace-keepers.

Mali.

A once proud and prosperous region of Africa rendered a shit-hole by the Nations of Virtue.

The beating heart of colonialism lives on via France's involvement there, according to the commies at the World Socialist Website.

Oddly enough, the beating heart of colonialism also keeps on beating there according to the neo-fascists at the John Birch Society.

When the far left and the far right agree that Mali is a nation fucked over big-time by the former colonisers, I'm ready to buy in.

Obviously, PM Sunny Days is too... but just what is he buying into?

For my (tax) money, I'd rather see those "peacekeepers" up in Attawapiskat building some decent housing or something...

Or maybe some flood barriers in Winnipeg...

Or some social housing in Toronto, where the minimum wage has you making under two thousand a month before deductions and a one bedroom apartment will set you back... about what you just made that month!

Too bad about the groceries and all that other shit... hey, not to worry; that's why we have such a nice network of foodbanks!

Come to think of it, we've got all kinds of shit right here at home that our money and manpower could address, instead of spreading more colonialist goodness in Africa.

Canada celebrates "win" of selling armed troop carriers to Peru, to help Peru win battle against pesky peasants fighting Canadian mining conglomerates.

I think that's what's known as a "win-win".

Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Free Trade, Mining, and Weapon Sales was chuffed to announce the "win" of selling 32 armored personnel carriers to the government of Peru today.

That's a win for the General Dynamics plant in London, and a win for the government of Peru, which has been struggling to contain anti-mining activism directed largely against Canadian multinationals, activism that has already claimed the lives of many protesters.

Which is why the Peruvian government needs those armored personnel carriers, I guess.

Hmm... could there be any losers in this story?

Canadian delegation drops toxic turds at African mining summit in Mozambique

They had a really really important summit meeting in Mozambique this past week, the third Annual Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development.

Canada, while being a global leader in providing sanctuary for rogue mining concerns, didn't see fit to send anyone with serious rank to the conference. They got a Parliamentary Secretary to a B list cabinet minister instead.

Not that she didn't have important stuff to say; "creating sustainable economic growth, led by the private sector, is the number one way to break the cycle of poverty."

Sounds good, eh?

Remember, she's in Moputo on behalf of Canadian mining companies. Mining is by definition not sustainable. That's a friggin' no-brainer, ain't it? You get the gold/silver/copper/whatever out of the ground, and then you're outta there.

Nowhere in history has the "extractive sector" ever created sustainable economic growth.

Canada pledges more "foreign aid" to Canadian mining conglomerates

This tidbit in the Globe and Mail today is remarkable for its complete lack of irony in reporting the latest ramp-up in Canada's orwellian policy of subsidizing Canadian mining multinationals and calling it "foreign aid."

Indeed, this is simply Harper trying to distinguish himself from the platforms of the Liberals (legalize pot) and the NDP (tax pot) in the next election. Since neither of the other parties have anything remotely this clever in their playbooks I think it's fair to call it a home run.

Apparently when Canadian-based (it's a bit of a stretch to call most of these companies "Canadian"; they are domiciled here for a variety of reasons around liability and access to capital markets) operators make billions in some of the most impoverished countries on the planet, they "support thousands of well-paying jobs across this country", which is a bit of a stretch, if not technically a "whopper."

What Dan Gertler's shake-down of First Quantum might have to do with this policy is unknown, but nevertheless Canadian officials seem to believe that it's their duty to spend tax-payer money on "improving the investment climate abroad" for the mining companies.

But why is it called "foreign aid?"

Prime Minister Harper claims Chavez's death brings hope for Venezuela

Big Steve didn't wait long before gloating over the death of Hugo Chavez.

Maybe now the Venezuelan people can build a "better, brighter, future."

Well maybe, but lets have a look at how Venezuela under Chavez compares to three of the countries in the neighborhood that Harper has been busy cozying up to and signing free trade agreements with.

Canada struck a free trade agreement with Honduras in 2011, two years after a coup deposed the democratically elected but vaguely leftist President Zelaya. Venezuelans enjoy a substantially higher literacy rate, a substantially higher life expectancy, and a per capita income almost triple that of Honduras.

Harper's government signed off on a free trade deal with Colombia last year. Chavez bad. Uribe and Santos good. Venezuelans enjoy higher literacy rates and a higher GDP per capita than Colombians.

Harper's government signed a free trade deal with Peru in 2009. Venezuelans enjoy longer lives, higher incomes, and fewer infant deaths than Peruvians. But Peru is a popular destination for Canadian mining conglomerates, so the Harper gang avert their eyes and hold their noses and go with the flow.

The profit flow!

That Chavez chap was a bit of a radical though. Didn't believe in selling his country to foreign multi-nationals. Obviously not the kind of guy we can do business with.

So thank God he's dead, and maybe now the Canadian mining co... oops, I mean the Venezuelan people, have a chance at a better, brighter, future.