I strongly urge everyone to read Amy Goodman's book called "The Exception to the Rulers".  I am half way through it and I have learned so much from it. The Third chapter is called "Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship". As I was reading it, I as trying to figure out a way to get by without a car. I always thought most of Africa's problems were due to diseases such as Malaria and Aids (which is a huge problem) but the corruption brought on by Oil and other companies is unbelievable. The Africans are really being taken advantage of. It is just mind numbing how countries in Africa with a huge amount of natural resources are not spreading the wealth amongst its people but being stripped by rich greedy people that are not even from Africa. These people should be in JAIL!!!  

I don't understand why any country in Africa should have to pay so much for importing fees. Why can't they buy oil from other countries in Africa that produce oil?  

Africa loses in the petro game all around.  Millions of ordinary Africans rely on kerosene for basic lighting and cooking, and the price is being driven up by Western overconsumption and peak oil;  Africa is also the continent most heavily impacted by climate change so far, with possible severe reduction of food producing capacity.  The inefficiency w/which African nations -- impoverished partly by Western looting and partly by the selfishness of native elites (cultivated and groomed by Western looters, let it be said) -- use fossil fuel only stimulates more fossil burning which in turn stimulates more climate change... lose/lose/lose.

Enough of the woes of Africa can be laid at the feet of Anglo invaders/looters that I would say reparations are due on a massive scale.  However, strict oversight would be needed to prevent those reparations from merely enriching the Mugabes of the continent and their Western cronies and controllers...  a tough riddle to solve.  Massive reform, populist uprising, redrawing of jiggered borders to reduce ethnic tensions... fair trade, stopping the resource looting... many actions on many fronts would be needed to stop the endless chain reaction of tragedy.  Even the new multiracial government of SA has fallen prey to the Washington Consensus neolib line.  It's hard to see much hope on that horizon.

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

http://www.boomantribune.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2005/7/2/92022/91933 (over at Booman Tribune)

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes