The CIA funds rebel groups that will sell out the people once they gain power. Color revolutions get funded. Good leaders get assassinated. Business-friendly dictators get installed in their place. The US teaches their military how to kill "communists". The US sells the dictators weapons. The IMF loans money to the country using their resources as collateral. The IMF requires that "changes" get made as a requirement for the loans. US companies exploit local labor and extract resources. This playbook has been run hundreds of times. It is how the US empire operates.
Can this be resisted? Yes, but it must be acknowledged as a corrupting influence on Africa.
Those who defy the West face engineered famines, sanctions etc - Uganda is a clear recent example. Tucker Carlson has a video on it - Why Are You Gay? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTILBSU8tM
A list of relevant news articles on Botswana
----
Botswana government lies exposed as diamond mine opens on Bushman land
The Bushmen were told they had to leave the reserve soon after diamonds were discovered in the 1980s, but the Botswana government has repeatedly denied that the illegal and forced evictions of the Kalahari Bushmen - in 1997, 2002 and 2005 - were due to the rich diamond deposits. It justified the Bushmen's evictions from the land in the name of "conservation".
The mine opening has also exposed Botswana's commitment to conservation as window dressing. The government falsely claims that the Bushmen's presence in the reserve is "incompatible with wildlife conservation," while allowing a diamond mine and fracking exploration to go ahead on their land.
The government continues its relentless push to drive the Bushmen out of the reserve by accusing them of "poaching" because they hunt their food. The Bushmen face arrest, beatings and torture, while fee-paying big game hunters are encouraged. The government has also refused to reopen the Bushmen's water wells, restricted their free movement into and out of the reserve, and barred their lawyer from entering the country.
Meanwhile, organizations such as Conservation International continue to laud President Khama for his environmental credentials and turns a blind eye to his human rights abuses.
---
1.6 billion people worldwide forced to pay bribes
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 21:03 UTC
A major study has looked at bribery levels across the world and reached a disappointing conclusion: a total of 1.6 billion people worldwide - nearly a quarter of the global population - are forced to pay bribes simply to gain access to everyday public services.
However, Professor Rose says that: "'Within every continent, there are major differences in the percentage of people annually paying bribes. In Africa, the range is between 63 percent in Sierra Leone and 4 percent in Botswana; in the European Union, which has the goal of upholding the rule of law, there were 29 percent paying a bribe in Lithuania and fewer than 1 percent reporting bribing a British public official."
Morals are hard to map
Europe's low rates for individuals having to bribe officials for services should not necessarily be taken as a sign of moral superiority. Professor Rose explains that: "The European contribution to global corruption is in the bribes that multi-national corporations pay to political elites to obtain 'big bucks' contracts for such things as building dams or supplying military aircraft."
"However," he added, "survey data shows this is not the case. The great majority of people in every country think that bribery is wrong. They pay bribes because the alternative is doing without health care or a better education for their children."
---
Botswana sells fracking rights in one of Africa's largest conservation areas to UK energy company
Botswana's government has recently sold the rights to the British Karoo Energy company to frack for shale gas in the Kgalagadi transfrontier park, the Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Kgalagadi park is among Africa's largest conservation areas.
According to the article, top park officials, as well as conservationists, were not informed of the rights sale, which has caused concern about the possible negative effects drilling could have on the site.
---
IEP report found only 10 nations around the world are not at war
Fri, 10 Jun 2016 03:06 UTC
A troubling report by the Institute for Economics and Peace found a mere ten nations on the planet are not at war and completely free from conflict. According to the Global Peace Index 2016, only Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Mauritius, Panama, Qatar, Switzerland, Uruguay and Vietnam are free from conflict.
---
Botswana deports US pastor after he calls for 'killing gays'
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 14:15 UTC
Steven Anderson has been banned from entering the U.K., Botswana and South Africa due to his homophobic views.
U.S. pastor Steven Anderson was arrested and deported from the African nation of Botswana after calling for gay people to be killed, President Ian Khama told Reuters Tuesday, just days after the pastor was banned from neighboring South Africa over his anti-gay views.
---
U.S. opposed UN resolution condemning death penalty for same-sex relations
Botswana became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday, a landmark case for Africa, as the High Court rejected laws punishing it with up to seven years in prison.
"Botswana is the ninth country in the past five years to have decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Thank you No1, a brilliant explanation and for me at least, all true. You have answered my question to a tee and now me, and your readers will be better informed. Best regards P & S.
Africa has been GIVEN $4trillion is aid. I have been. All over. It’s beyond fucked because of Africans.
Japan was given $2.2 bn dollars post NUKE to rebuild.
Thats 0.04% of the money spunked up the wall in Africa. To get an understanding of Africa and Africans if you dont visit, then get this PDF online called “THE NEGROS OF NEGROLAND”. It is fascinating and then bear in mind when you read it…not a lot has changed. They have all of the world’s resources under their nose - they come to Europe for welfare. They lack the important resource. HUMAN RESOURCE. Thats the way they are and that’s how they have evolved. The average IQ is 66. It’s only ever about IQ. I have visited places in Africa where they have not even adopted the wheel. Zimbabwe was “the breadbasket of Africa”. The farmers were white and employed blacks and everyone was happy. Zimbabwe collected tax and its economy was doing well. Then…they butchered the farmers and took the farms. Many of them were peach and orange trees. They broke down the farmhouse and used the materials to make mud huts next to the farmhouse…and burned the orchards for firewood and the economy crashed. Within 2 years they went from feeding Africa to getting food aid from white people. Most of the blacks I met out there just want white people back so they can work and have a reasonable life. South Africa is collapsing - 90% of the tax is paid by whites and 50% ore on welfare. A friend of mine was sacked because he was white and replaced by 16 black people. Africa is the Canary in the Cole mine. The violence is unreal. You cant imagine how dangerous it is. London is 64% non-white. The UK is now the Rape Capital of Europe. Soon crime will start to look like the Congo. We are still on the nuts & olives. People have no idea how bad its going to get. People are not prepared for whats coming.
I have a file of newspaper articles that have stated certain things are racist. This includes: getting up early, drinking milk, walking in the country and having babies.
It’s a word invented by black people to camouflage their shortcomings and blame white people. When humans are given the option of 1) taking responsibility or 2) blaming someone else - 2 wins every time. You can have a class of blacks, whites, Asians, Jews etc. same teacher - same school. Yet when blacks fail and come at the bottom, they blame white people and that they are a minority and “underprivileged”. No one ever seems to point out there were other minorities in the same class that performed better than white children. Now being called a “rassis” has lost its magic Juju. No one fucking cares. It’s game over.
Racism is normal and it’s the sign of a healthy society. It’s only white people that have been duped into thinking is a sin..while Jews and blacks practice racism. And the reason why they dont want white people to be racist is because when we are they are fucked.
If you mean that people have opinions/prejudices about different groups of people, I would agree that this is normal. We all have a tendency to generalize from our experience.
If you are talking about policies that are coded into law that treat people of different races (or religions or what have you) differently, then that's a different story.
I think you are exactly right here. Institutions and governance are critical. And an important determinant is the philosophy/mindset of the population.
If the population insists on a "victim" mindset, then they will support bad leaders with counterproductive policies. Just like the leftists in the U.S., always harping about racism, sexism, etc. no matter how much progress has been made in these areas.
Yes, there were bad things done in the past and apartheid was wrong. But that doesn't mean that looting and killing white farmers is right, or that these actions will make South Africa a better country. Establishing a free society, embracing private property rights and respect for all individuals is what is needed.
The population must resist demagogues who are all about blaming others and embrace taking the kind of action needed to build a better future.
Seems to me the USA is on its way to become South Africa 2.0
The oligarchy is looting the country, the people in charge behave like imperialists while 99% of the population lives in poverty, infrastructure is crumbling, etc.
Botswana is the outlier when it comes to De Beers and their atrocious record of plunder and pillage in Namibia, SA and elsewhere since forever.
The thing with Rhodesia after their civil war ended was the 'stalemate' settlement which saw Mugabe (s)elected as the UK's preferred leader, instead of the more popular but socialist - read communist - Nkomo.
Ultimately, the UK was the only real beneficiary as the country devolved into chaos, which seems to be one of the preferred options when it comes to the Whitehall business model.
Keep in mind, that for centuries each of the established colonial powers had their own overseas 'trading companies' licensed by royalty and directly controlled by their respective banking dynasties..... which are another rabbit hole altogether.
Historically however, they never willingly took their foot of any 'third world' countries neck, ever.
Over time I've come to see that the only way we'll ever know if 'basket' case colonial power bought and owned oligarchies could become functionally citizen friendly and prosperous, is if / when they succeed in expelling the ruling power, like Niger did with the French / Americans in 2023
Their courage and success has spread to include Burkina Faso and Mali and seems to be gaining traction across the Sahel and inspiring other African nations too.
It's early days, but so far it seems that as the West self immolates in Ukraine, it's just time for the long oppressed everywhere to make a stand.
Great post--the comparisons between the successful and failed models of governance are on the money. But the $64,000 question is perhaps: "Why did Botswana choose differently than all those other countries you mentioned?" Or more to the point: "How is it that their people were wise enough to see this as the correct path when their brethren across the continent thought otherwise?"
Perhaps an even harder question is: "How do you turn the bad one into the good one?" Even revolution doesn't necessarily usher in a better system, often it is just moving from one gang of looters to another.
Powerful breakdown of how institutional decay creates the vacuum for exploitation. The Botswana comparison is crucial because it removes all the usual excuses and forces us to confront the governance question directly. That ArcelorMittal closure is a perfect microcosm, a major industrial operation doesnt just pack up and leave if basic infrastructure works. I've seen similiar patterns in manufacturing hubs that lost competitiveness not due to costs but crumbling logistics.
Brilliantly argued piece, especially the Botswana comparison which cuts through the usual narratives. The point about resource wealth becoming an invitation for predators when institutions are weak is spot-on, but there's anothe rlayer worth considering. I've seen how the 50-50 joint venture structure Botswana used with De Beers forced both accountability and knowledge transfer that many other resource deals totally lack. Thatmodel basically created institutional muscle memory.
Agriculture is about education, whites learned farming while blacks were fighting for freedom, once blacks became free, most whites left and returned back to the west where their ancestors originally came from, returned with the wealth they accumulated in africa, used it to lobby for sanctions against africa.
The white farmers in Rhodesia had to have hired thousands of Africans over the centuries in Africa. Didn't any of the black workers retain any farming education to start their own farm? So when all the farms were left intact, what in the heck happened?
we know what jobs blacks hired by whites are made to do, it ii called labour, the admin and management stuff are left to the " master race", even today.
The CIA funds rebel groups that will sell out the people once they gain power. Color revolutions get funded. Good leaders get assassinated. Business-friendly dictators get installed in their place. The US teaches their military how to kill "communists". The US sells the dictators weapons. The IMF loans money to the country using their resources as collateral. The IMF requires that "changes" get made as a requirement for the loans. US companies exploit local labor and extract resources. This playbook has been run hundreds of times. It is how the US empire operates.
Can this be resisted? Yes, but it must be acknowledged as a corrupting influence on Africa.
Botswana sold out to the West long ago.
Those who defy the West face engineered famines, sanctions etc - Uganda is a clear recent example. Tucker Carlson has a video on it - Why Are You Gay? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTILBSU8tM
A list of relevant news articles on Botswana
----
Botswana government lies exposed as diamond mine opens on Bushman land
https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10410
Thu, 04 Sep 2014 23:34 UTC
The Bushmen were told they had to leave the reserve soon after diamonds were discovered in the 1980s, but the Botswana government has repeatedly denied that the illegal and forced evictions of the Kalahari Bushmen - in 1997, 2002 and 2005 - were due to the rich diamond deposits. It justified the Bushmen's evictions from the land in the name of "conservation".
The mine opening has also exposed Botswana's commitment to conservation as window dressing. The government falsely claims that the Bushmen's presence in the reserve is "incompatible with wildlife conservation," while allowing a diamond mine and fracking exploration to go ahead on their land.
The government continues its relentless push to drive the Bushmen out of the reserve by accusing them of "poaching" because they hunt their food. The Bushmen face arrest, beatings and torture, while fee-paying big game hunters are encouraged. The government has also refused to reopen the Bushmen's water wells, restricted their free movement into and out of the reserve, and barred their lawyer from entering the country.
Meanwhile, organizations such as Conservation International continue to laud President Khama for his environmental credentials and turns a blind eye to his human rights abuses.
---
1.6 billion people worldwide forced to pay bribes
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 21:03 UTC
A major study has looked at bribery levels across the world and reached a disappointing conclusion: a total of 1.6 billion people worldwide - nearly a quarter of the global population - are forced to pay bribes simply to gain access to everyday public services.
However, Professor Rose says that: "'Within every continent, there are major differences in the percentage of people annually paying bribes. In Africa, the range is between 63 percent in Sierra Leone and 4 percent in Botswana; in the European Union, which has the goal of upholding the rule of law, there were 29 percent paying a bribe in Lithuania and fewer than 1 percent reporting bribing a British public official."
Morals are hard to map
Europe's low rates for individuals having to bribe officials for services should not necessarily be taken as a sign of moral superiority. Professor Rose explains that: "The European contribution to global corruption is in the bribes that multi-national corporations pay to political elites to obtain 'big bucks' contracts for such things as building dams or supplying military aircraft."
"However," he added, "survey data shows this is not the case. The great majority of people in every country think that bribery is wrong. They pay bribes because the alternative is doing without health care or a better education for their children."
---
Botswana sells fracking rights in one of Africa's largest conservation areas to UK energy company
https://sputnikglobe.com/20151202/drilling-shale-gas-africa-1031137944.html
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 17:58 UTC
Botswana's government has recently sold the rights to the British Karoo Energy company to frack for shale gas in the Kgalagadi transfrontier park, the Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Kgalagadi park is among Africa's largest conservation areas.
According to the article, top park officials, as well as conservationists, were not informed of the rights sale, which has caused concern about the possible negative effects drilling could have on the site.
---
IEP report found only 10 nations around the world are not at war
Fri, 10 Jun 2016 03:06 UTC
A troubling report by the Institute for Economics and Peace found a mere ten nations on the planet are not at war and completely free from conflict. According to the Global Peace Index 2016, only Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Mauritius, Panama, Qatar, Switzerland, Uruguay and Vietnam are free from conflict.
---
Botswana deports US pastor after he calls for 'killing gays'
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 14:15 UTC
Steven Anderson has been banned from entering the U.K., Botswana and South Africa due to his homophobic views.
U.S. pastor Steven Anderson was arrested and deported from the African nation of Botswana after calling for gay people to be killed, President Ian Khama told Reuters Tuesday, just days after the pastor was banned from neighboring South Africa over his anti-gay views.
---
U.S. opposed UN resolution condemning death penalty for same-sex relations
https://www.losangelesblade.com/2017/10/02/u-s-opposes-un-resolution-death-penalty-sex-relations/
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 22:23 UTC
---
African countries renew push to lift ivory trade ban
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/africa/Southern-Africa-renews-push-to-lift-ivory-trade-ban/4552902-5106250-pk4wvcz/index.html
Wed, 08 May 2019 16:19 UTC
---
Landmark case: Botswana decriminalizes gay sex
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
Botswana became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday, a landmark case for Africa, as the High Court rejected laws punishing it with up to seven years in prison.
"Botswana is the ninth country in the past five years to have decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Thank you No1, a brilliant explanation and for me at least, all true. You have answered my question to a tee and now me, and your readers will be better informed. Best regards P & S.
https://youtube.com/shorts/S8tzP_1MfWQ?si=3AQEn1305dbSE2za
Africa has been GIVEN $4trillion is aid. I have been. All over. It’s beyond fucked because of Africans.
Japan was given $2.2 bn dollars post NUKE to rebuild.
Thats 0.04% of the money spunked up the wall in Africa. To get an understanding of Africa and Africans if you dont visit, then get this PDF online called “THE NEGROS OF NEGROLAND”. It is fascinating and then bear in mind when you read it…not a lot has changed. They have all of the world’s resources under their nose - they come to Europe for welfare. They lack the important resource. HUMAN RESOURCE. Thats the way they are and that’s how they have evolved. The average IQ is 66. It’s only ever about IQ. I have visited places in Africa where they have not even adopted the wheel. Zimbabwe was “the breadbasket of Africa”. The farmers were white and employed blacks and everyone was happy. Zimbabwe collected tax and its economy was doing well. Then…they butchered the farmers and took the farms. Many of them were peach and orange trees. They broke down the farmhouse and used the materials to make mud huts next to the farmhouse…and burned the orchards for firewood and the economy crashed. Within 2 years they went from feeding Africa to getting food aid from white people. Most of the blacks I met out there just want white people back so they can work and have a reasonable life. South Africa is collapsing - 90% of the tax is paid by whites and 50% ore on welfare. A friend of mine was sacked because he was white and replaced by 16 black people. Africa is the Canary in the Cole mine. The violence is unreal. You cant imagine how dangerous it is. London is 64% non-white. The UK is now the Rape Capital of Europe. Soon crime will start to look like the Congo. We are still on the nuts & olives. People have no idea how bad its going to get. People are not prepared for whats coming.
You're racccist....how DARE you tell the truth!
I have a file of newspaper articles that have stated certain things are racist. This includes: getting up early, drinking milk, walking in the country and having babies.
It’s a word invented by black people to camouflage their shortcomings and blame white people. When humans are given the option of 1) taking responsibility or 2) blaming someone else - 2 wins every time. You can have a class of blacks, whites, Asians, Jews etc. same teacher - same school. Yet when blacks fail and come at the bottom, they blame white people and that they are a minority and “underprivileged”. No one ever seems to point out there were other minorities in the same class that performed better than white children. Now being called a “rassis” has lost its magic Juju. No one fucking cares. It’s game over.
There is real racism and then there is phony racism, mostly promoted by white liberals.
Racism is normal and it’s the sign of a healthy society. It’s only white people that have been duped into thinking is a sin..while Jews and blacks practice racism. And the reason why they dont want white people to be racist is because when we are they are fucked.
It really depends on how you define racism.
If you mean that people have opinions/prejudices about different groups of people, I would agree that this is normal. We all have a tendency to generalize from our experience.
If you are talking about policies that are coded into law that treat people of different races (or religions or what have you) differently, then that's a different story.
I think you are exactly right here. Institutions and governance are critical. And an important determinant is the philosophy/mindset of the population.
If the population insists on a "victim" mindset, then they will support bad leaders with counterproductive policies. Just like the leftists in the U.S., always harping about racism, sexism, etc. no matter how much progress has been made in these areas.
Yes, there were bad things done in the past and apartheid was wrong. But that doesn't mean that looting and killing white farmers is right, or that these actions will make South Africa a better country. Establishing a free society, embracing private property rights and respect for all individuals is what is needed.
The population must resist demagogues who are all about blaming others and embrace taking the kind of action needed to build a better future.
Seems to me the USA is on its way to become South Africa 2.0
The oligarchy is looting the country, the people in charge behave like imperialists while 99% of the population lives in poverty, infrastructure is crumbling, etc.
USA? Don't forget the EU 😉
Great! Now do California!
You really don't want me to get started on that... That's beyond any satire I can conjure!
'It’s not rocket science. It’s just incredibly hard when you’re competing with people who want to steal everything not nailed down.'
Ah, you mean like Trump.
Botswana is the outlier when it comes to De Beers and their atrocious record of plunder and pillage in Namibia, SA and elsewhere since forever.
The thing with Rhodesia after their civil war ended was the 'stalemate' settlement which saw Mugabe (s)elected as the UK's preferred leader, instead of the more popular but socialist - read communist - Nkomo.
Ultimately, the UK was the only real beneficiary as the country devolved into chaos, which seems to be one of the preferred options when it comes to the Whitehall business model.
Keep in mind, that for centuries each of the established colonial powers had their own overseas 'trading companies' licensed by royalty and directly controlled by their respective banking dynasties..... which are another rabbit hole altogether.
Historically however, they never willingly took their foot of any 'third world' countries neck, ever.
Over time I've come to see that the only way we'll ever know if 'basket' case colonial power bought and owned oligarchies could become functionally citizen friendly and prosperous, is if / when they succeed in expelling the ruling power, like Niger did with the French / Americans in 2023
Their courage and success has spread to include Burkina Faso and Mali and seems to be gaining traction across the Sahel and inspiring other African nations too.
It's early days, but so far it seems that as the West self immolates in Ukraine, it's just time for the long oppressed everywhere to make a stand.
watch this space and zall the best to them too.
I truly hope they embrace freedom of -anything (speech, religion, property rights, ...).
However, the west's influence might be diminishing, but China is entering with the Belt-Road initiative. Which is basically a debt-based slavery.
Great post--the comparisons between the successful and failed models of governance are on the money. But the $64,000 question is perhaps: "Why did Botswana choose differently than all those other countries you mentioned?" Or more to the point: "How is it that their people were wise enough to see this as the correct path when their brethren across the continent thought otherwise?"
Perhaps an even harder question is: "How do you turn the bad one into the good one?" Even revolution doesn't necessarily usher in a better system, often it is just moving from one gang of looters to another.
A start would be for the people to quit carrying things on their head. Embrace the wheel.
Powerful breakdown of how institutional decay creates the vacuum for exploitation. The Botswana comparison is crucial because it removes all the usual excuses and forces us to confront the governance question directly. That ArcelorMittal closure is a perfect microcosm, a major industrial operation doesnt just pack up and leave if basic infrastructure works. I've seen similiar patterns in manufacturing hubs that lost competitiveness not due to costs but crumbling logistics.
Brilliantly argued piece, especially the Botswana comparison which cuts through the usual narratives. The point about resource wealth becoming an invitation for predators when institutions are weak is spot-on, but there's anothe rlayer worth considering. I've seen how the 50-50 joint venture structure Botswana used with De Beers forced both accountability and knowledge transfer that many other resource deals totally lack. Thatmodel basically created institutional muscle memory.
Agriculture is about education, whites learned farming while blacks were fighting for freedom, once blacks became free, most whites left and returned back to the west where their ancestors originally came from, returned with the wealth they accumulated in africa, used it to lobby for sanctions against africa.
The white farmers in Rhodesia had to have hired thousands of Africans over the centuries in Africa. Didn't any of the black workers retain any farming education to start their own farm? So when all the farms were left intact, what in the heck happened?
we know what jobs blacks hired by whites are made to do, it ii called labour, the admin and management stuff are left to the " master race", even today.