Oil papers

Basically, Africa is useful. Cradle of creation, possible start of the human race. so why wouldn't they be filled with resources everyone wants. Rubber, gold, diamonds, oil, were they a developed country it would be great, however colonialization has set them back so far, with leadership and debt, any time resources the rest of the world wants is found, it turns into a great big mess. Natural gases has been the next big problem Africa is dealing with.

We know Africa hasn't had the best go of it. First, they were stripped of resources by European powers, leaving them destitute. Then the Europeans left and the people in charge were not much better, they had learned how to rule from the Europeans and that often meant, brutally with a perchance for embezzling money. Most of the time they do not have the means to take on massive building projects, like drill for oil so they must again turn to their friends the Westerners. Being keen for seizing an opportunity, the help for getting oil out of the ground is never free. The African nation can get equipment and help if they sign a long contract saying they will sell oil to the Western nation at a fixed price, good in the short run for the nation but once inflation hits they are now selling their best commodity below market value. You can imagine how this spirals out of control for the African nation.

If a nation has a leader who refuses to sell oil (or any commodity) to the Western powers at the price they want, it has been the norm to "get rid of" that leader. Coups, military coups,accidents and assassinations are just a few of the ways governments in Africa have been changed, and the overwhelming majority have changed to leaders with a very open policy toward nations, such as the United States.

I am trying to not repeat myself, I read the National Geographic article as part of an exploration. Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil talked about two things in particular that I find interesting, rebels and prostitution. The rebel portion reminds me of an overlooked movie that came out after Blood Diamond called Catch a Fire. The movie was about south African apartheid, but a portion of it revolved around the African workers at a refinery. The main character is charged with blowing up the plant, taking out this plant would disrupt the government. I feel this is the same type of deal that the rebels in Nigeria are going for. Make running an industry int he country so expensive that eventually they just leave.

I forget where I heard about prostitution following industry, perhaps CNN or maybe it is because the same thing happened all through history, at least as old as the Roman Empire. Both articles spoke on how economies went down hill when oil is found, because people stop working on what they used to, farming goes down and imports go up. This is what leads to prostitution, what is a girl with no education going to do for money? Clearly, sell your body. It's sad but true, your body is a commodity that the men working int heir refineries or derrcks are not going to find readily. They are usually far away from home and if they do not move their family to the slum outside the plant they are men, far from home with a large, in their eyes, semi-disposible income. "beer and girls" that is what the Ghazvinian article said.