<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title>The Moderate Voice - Latest Comments in Africa 2009</title><link>http://themoderatevoice.disqus.com/</link><description></description><atom:link href="https://themoderatevoice.disqus.com/africa_2009/latest.rss" rel="self"></atom:link><language>en</language><lastBuildDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:37:37 -0000</lastBuildDate><item><title>Re: Africa 2009</title><link>http://themoderatevoice.com/25455/africa-2009/#comment-1653083237</link><description>&lt;p&gt;BTW, I can&amp;amp;#39t find your previous post. Got a link?&lt;/p&gt;</description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">GreenDreams</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:37:37 -0000</pubDate></item><item><title>Re: Africa 2009</title><link>http://themoderatevoice.com/25455/africa-2009/#comment-1653083234</link><description>&lt;p&gt;China is everywhere in Africa, and has locked up much of the continent&amp;amp;#39s base of natural resources. I&amp;amp;#39ll give Bush half a point for trying to improve our position with Africa, but it&amp;amp;#39s a failure. Most African mineral resources are already pledged to China. There&amp;amp;#39s no coverage of this, but it&amp;amp;#39s global. For example, here in Colorado, the entire output of the world&amp;amp;#39s second largest molybdenum mine is pledged to China. For those who don&amp;amp;#39t appreciate the strategic importance of that, moly steel is used to make drill bits for mining and drilling oil wells. We have systematically sold out America to China, and we let them take Africa too.&lt;/p&gt;</description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">GreenDreams</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:32:02 -0000</pubDate></item><item><title>Re: Africa 2009</title><link>http://themoderatevoice.com/25455/africa-2009/#comment-1653083235</link><description>&lt;p&gt;Thanks, Patrick, for the post. One angle rarely looked at is the competition between China and the U.S. on that continent. To my knowledge, one reason that Mugabe has been able to cling to power for so long in Zimbabwe (despite the economic meltdown that makes ours look like child&amp;amp;#39s play in comparison) are his ties to mainland China. For a primer, see this &lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4713961.stm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4713961.stm"&gt;excellent article&lt;/a&gt;. President Bush&amp;amp;#39s active involvement in Africa can be seen as a counterbalance to Chinese influence. The oil angle is also present, since vast reserves exist in Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, and (perhaps) in Ghana.&lt;/p&gt;</description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Manchester2</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:49:53 -0000</pubDate></item><item><title>Re: Africa 2009</title><link>http://themoderatevoice.com/25455/africa-2009/#comment-4935408</link><description>&lt;p&gt;BTW, I can't find your previous post. Got a link?&lt;/p&gt;</description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">GreenDreams</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:37:37 -0000</pubDate></item><item><title>Re: Africa 2009</title><link>http://themoderatevoice.com/25455/africa-2009/#comment-4935314</link><description>&lt;p&gt;China is everywhere in Africa, and has locked up much of the continent's base of natural resources. I'll give Bush half a point for trying to improve our position with Africa, but it's a failure. Most African mineral resources are already pledged to China. There's no coverage of this, but it's global. For example, here in Colorado, the entire output of the world's second largest molybdenum mine is pledged to China. For those who don't appreciate the strategic importance of that, moly steel is used to make drill bits for mining and drilling oil wells. We have systematically sold out America to China, and we let them take Africa too.&lt;/p&gt;</description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">GreenDreams</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:32:02 -0000</pubDate></item><item><title>Re: Africa 2009</title><link>http://themoderatevoice.com/25455/africa-2009/#comment-4934719</link><description>&lt;p&gt;Thanks, Patrick, for the post. One angle rarely looked at is the competition between China and the U.S. on that continent. To my knowledge, one reason that Mugabe has been able to cling to power for so long in Zimbabwe (despite the economic meltdown that makes ours look like child's play in comparison) are his ties to mainland China. For a primer, see this &lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4713961.stm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4713961.stm"&gt;excellent article&lt;/a&gt;. President Bush's active involvement in Africa can be seen as a counterbalance to Chinese influence. The oil angle is also present, since vast reserves exist in Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, and (perhaps) in Ghana. &lt;/p&gt;</description><dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Manchester2</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:49:53 -0000</pubDate></item></channel></rss>