Re: You mistake paternalism for empathy
Are you a psychiatrist or merely a self-appointed patron of the non-white people?
LOL... It doesn't take a shrink to see that your sweeping generalization of "black leaders" as a bunch of good-for-nothings betrays a paternalistic mindset as regards blacks. After all, what would you make of a black guy who says, "oh, white folks are fine --but their leaders!! White leaders are hopeless...."?
Anyway, and more to the point, African leaders are not worse than Latin American leaders. Actually, most leaders --whatever their country, whatever their complexion-- are blameworthy. Here's the latest about Mexico's former boss Salinas:
Brother Of Ex-Mexican Prez Slain
MEXICO CITY, Dec. 7, 2004
(AP) The bruised, suffocated body found in an abandoned car points to an extortion bid or an attempt to extract information, said state prosecutors investigating the death of Enrique Salinas de Gortari, the younger brother of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
The killing threatened to unleash another round of scandals in the Salinas family, which has already been touched by corruption and murder, as authorities revealed that French authorities had an outstanding request to locate Enrique Salinas at the time of his death.
The mystery thickened when the head prosecutor of Mexico State, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, revealed that the dead man had apparently written a letter in which he "described the financial difficulties he had been suffering since 1995," the year after his brother's 1988-1994 administration ended.
President Vicente Fox tried to downplay the implications of the killing, saying "the fact that he bore the last name 'Salinas de Gortari' doesn't necessarily mean politics was involved."
But the Salinas clan's personal information has often had huge implications for Mexico.
Raul Salinas, another of the ex-president's three brothers, is serving nearly 27 years in prison for masterminding the murder of his former brother-in-law. Swiss and Mexican authorities struggle to determine how he came by tens of millions of dollars in Swiss accounts.
The former president is widely blamed for the economic collapse that immediately followed his term. After leaving office, he spent several years in self-imposed exile in Ireland, but has spent more time in Mexico in recent years.
A businessman and engineer who had lived an hour's drive outside Mexico City in Cuernavaca, Enrique Salinas stayed out of politics and kept a relatively low profile.
But he was called in 1996 to testify in Paris as part of an investigation looking into possible embezzlement of public funds and drug trafficking activities. Officials never brought any charges.
More recently, Enrique Salinas appeared to be under financial pressure from failed business ventures and the expense of supporting children and a divorced wife, Navarrete Prida said on Tuesday in a radio interview.
[...]
cbsnews.com
And who remembers Alberto Fujimori, Peru's former president, now a fugitive in Japan? Or General Noriega, snatched out of Panama by Bush Sr to spend the rest of his life in a US jail?
But then, European, Russian, and Arab, leaders are no better... It would take dozens of pages for me to elaborate on the shortcomings of just the French, Belgian, or Italian pols.... Of course, you might retort, "But look at the mess in Africa! Especially, sub-Saharan Africa... Europeans may be ruled by unsavory or incompetent wheelers and dealers, but at least they don't slum it in abject poverty!" As if today's African leaders were responsible for the civilizational stage reached by African countries in the early XXIst century! Congo's Kabila is no more responsible for Congo's undevelopped economy, technologies, military, etc than Tony Blair is for Britain's status of world power.... Things are slowly changing, however. Just take Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe. Mugabe was quick to understand that Africa's natural-resources-rich countries could play off Europe against China --hence his urging his fellow citizens to learn Mandarin and indulge in Chinese food. But fifty years ago, it's likely that Mugabe would have met the same fate as Patrice Lumumba, Congo's nationalist leader assassinated by Belgian intelligence with Eisenhower's blessing. Last time we saw Mugabe, it was at Pope John Paul II's funeral in Rome --shaking hands with HRH Prince Charles... tough shit, huh?
Gus |
