Congo links

The war in the Congo, if counted as an ongoing war since 1998, is so far the most destructive war since WWII. To my unending embarassment I completely failed to notice it until at the end of the US elections. The number of dead in the current flare-up is uncertain, but probably very high. At least 2 million people have been internally displaced. It seems to be about resources, not the reported tribal problems, if I'm reading Johann Hari (via Audun Lysbakken) and some reports I heard on the BBC right. Congo is one of the most resource-rich countries in the world, which is why things keep destabilising there. The 17.000 UN troops in the region - the biggest UN peacekeeping force in the world - can't do anything about what is happening, apparently because they are scattered and cut off.

Why the war in the Congo is not a huge thing in the news is beyond me. It has a small, but thorough Wikipedia page under the name of "Nord-Kivu fighting" or "Battle of Goma" (much smaller than the South-Ossetia/Georgia/Russia War had just two days into it). Still catching up with this one. 

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Elsewhere, George Soros on the financial crisis.

linkage for 11-11-2008

Krugman on Roosevelt, the New Deal and Obama.

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Disturbing, haunting photos from the war in Congo.

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Great op-ed piece by Al Gore on climate change and what the Obama administration can do. I like the ending:

In an earlier transformative era in American history, President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon within 10 years. Eight years and two months later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface. The average age of the systems engineers cheering on Apollo 11 from the Houston control room that day was 26, which means that their average age when President Kennedy announced the challenge was 18.

This year similarly saw the rise of young Americans, whose enthusiasm electrified Barack Obama’s campaign. There is little doubt that this same group of energized youth will play an essential role in this project to secure our national future, once again turning seemingly impossible goals into inspiring success.

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Pre-election profiles of Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel.

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Long piece in the New Yorker on the psychopath. Who is he? Does he even exist? What are the diagnostic criteria? What is happening in their twisted little brains, etc.

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Best article I've seen so far on the financial crash of Iceland.

Overnight, people lost their savings. Prices are soaring. Once-crowded restaurants are almost empty. Banks are rationing foreign currency, and companies are finding it dauntingly difficult to do business abroad. Inflation is at 16 percent and rising. People have stopped traveling overseas. The local currency, the krona, was 65 to the dollar a year ago; now it is 130. Companies are slashing salaries, reducing workers’ hours and, in some instances, embarking on mass layoffs.

“No country has ever crashed as quickly and as badly in peacetime,” said Jon Danielsson, an economist with the London School of Economics.

It contains the mandatory-in-all-articles-about-Nordic-countries mention of Vikings. 

Dreaming about Africa

So last night, having slept like the dead for 45 minutes, I found myself suddenly awake, sitting up on the sofa, exclaiming "CONGO! CONGO!"

I haven't, to my knowledge, done something like that in years.

This morning, the front page of the paper reads

DANGER OF MAJOR WAR
The conflict in Eastern Congo could spread to the entire region and trigger a major African war, fears the head of the UN. Yesterday, Congolese soldiers drew closer and closer to the rebel army. Over 250.000 people have been sent running in the last few days.

And then I learn that basically Congo has been tearing itself to pieces for a while now. My all-Obama-all-the-time filter probably kept that news out of my consciousness until it surfaced in this strange way.

I'm going to Africa in 10 days, but fortunately not near Congo. I'll be in Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa.

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Speaking of Africa, if you ever get the chance to see Amadou & Mariam live (as I did last night), RUN, don't walk. They're this incredibly sweet blind African couple who play incredibly groovy African blues music: