Too Good to be True

A lot of people have criticized most western governments and NGO’s on how they implement their so called “aid”. I recently read John Perkin’s best seller “Confession of an Economic Hit Man” and all of my fears about these organizations turned out to be true.
One wonders why a country like Nigeria, that is rich in resources, is still in the rank of the 3rd World, why there is conflict in the Niger delta between the locals and the oil companies. Can anybody explain to me why the west looked the other way when in Rwanda just in 100 days more than 800000 people were slaughtered but the US went with its mighty force in Iraq to oust a tyrant? Can anyone explain why Zimbabwe was slammed with a wave of sanctions when Mugabe was fade up when the UK stalled for more than two decades to live up to their end of the bargain? It is all clear that there are some countries “important” and some others “not so important” or expendable.
Now of course the plight of our people wasn’t possible if it weren’t for corruptible and easily manipulated officials that we put in office. While we think that all the mega-projects that are currently under way in our countries are going to bring prosperity, in reality we will be in-debt for the next few generations and the so called “growth” will not likely be felt by the poor but only by the elite of our societies and don’t forget that the real benefit goes to the corporate world.
China is a big treat to the west as the country grants loans without condition to African countries based on mutual interest and on top of that China’s ever growing thirst for energy is a competition that the west doesn’t appreciate much, to put it mildly. I am not trying to glorify China, which has all the means to help alleviate the problem in Darfur but has chosen to stay out of “internal affairs” so as not to bruise the Khartoum-Beijing relationship. I always wonder what would have happened in Darfur if Sudan didn’t have oil, I can almost be sure that the Darfur problem wouldn’t have made the news in CNN or BBC.
It’s high time that we all wake up and smell what’s cooking whenever loans are handed out to our countries in the name of “aid”. Be aware that in it would have taken a little less than half of what the US has spent on the Iraq war to halve poverty across the globe! Makes you wonder if the West is truly committed to alleviate poverty… what are you thoughts?