Posted on 11/09/2008 1:16:51 PM PST by FocusNexus
KOGELO, Kenya, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Within hours of Barack Obama's election victory, Kenya sent workers to bring electricity for the first time to his late father's rural village.
Obama may find it hard to bring such fast, tangible benefits to a whole continent that greeted his White House triumph with euphoria and vast expectations.
The appointment of a "son of Africa" to the most powerful position in the world has sent hopes for change soaring.
But given the global economic meltdown, and myriad other foreign policy priorities -- not least Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia and Iran -- the Obama administration's first policy challenge in Africa may just be managing expectations.
When he does turn his attention to its needs, there will be no easy answers. From fresh fighting in eastern Congo to the crisis in Darfur and intractable conflict in Somalia, many of Obama's intelligence briefings on Africa will be grim.
Priorities include accelerating the continent's integration into the global economy, securing American access to oil and other natural resources in the face of fierce Chinese and Indian competition, and contending with a host of humanitarian crises.
(Excerpt) Read more at africa.reuters.com ...
FACTBOX-African challenges for Barack Obama
I am sure Obama will just wave a magic wand and all the problems will just go away...
He can sure help by sending them a check for $700 billion.
“Priorities include”...
Raising taxes on US wage earners and expanding the Welfare system to include handouts to citizens of Sub-Saharan African Nations.
Imagine what they could have done with his $600-million...
Maybe Iraq can send some of their surplus.
Makes ya wonder why they couldn't accomplish this feat before the election.
Nothing - just as they've done with all the billions poured there in the last decade. Just pretty much nothing.
Africa expects to cash in with Obama at the helm, but I don’t see how there’s going to be anything left in the Treasury after he redistributes it all to ACORN. Methinks they will be sorely disappointed.
[Obama may find it hard to bring such fast, tangible benefits to a whole continent that greeted his White House triumph with euphoria and vast expectations.]
Ooooops, my bad. I thought Obama was elected president of the United States, not Africa.
It's in one of Emanuel's 'buckets'.
Yup...he just sent'em $48 billion of my tax money.
Nope, just one wicked awesome speech and “walla!” problem solved.
Uh -Nuh Uh... Those billions bought a lot of weapons for the variety of dictators and thugs and to shoot and hack the opposition to death...then build themselves their private army and equip it and then mansions, cars, all sorts of expensive goodies for themselves and their friends.
Anyone else remember the reparations fiasco choreographed by the UN about to take place in South Africa that was pre-empted by 911?
I suggest he MOVE there and take a real hands-on approach to the problem.
Obama, Hagel, Cantwell, Smith Hail Committee Passage of the Global Poverty Act
http://obama.senate.gov/press/080213-obama_hagel_can_1/
“U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) today hailed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s passage of the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), which requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive policy to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade, debt relief, and coordination with the international community, businesses and NGOs. This legislation was introduced in December. Smith and Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) sponsored the House version of the bill (H.R. 1302), which passed the House last September.
“With billions of people living on just dollars a day around the world, global poverty remains one of the greatest challenges and tragedies the international community faces,” said Senator Obama. “It must be a priority of American foreign policy to commit to eliminating extreme poverty and ensuring every child has food, shelter, and clean drinking water. As we strive to rebuild America’s standing in the world, this important bill will demonstrate our promise and commitment to those in the developing world. Our commitment to the global economy must extend beyond trade agreements that are more about increasing corporate profits than about helping workers and small farmers everywhere. I commend Chairman Biden and Ranking Member Lugar for supporting this bill and moving it forward quickly.””
Obama’s Global Poverty Act
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5152
“The “Millennium Development Goal” refers to a United Nations declaration adopted by the U.N. Millennium Assembly and Summit in 2000 that calls for “the eradication of poverty” by “redistribution (of) wealth and land,” cancellation of “the debts of developing countries” and “a fair distribution of the earth’s resources.” The IBD reports that “The Millennium project is monitored by Jeffrey D. Sachs, a Columbia University economist. In 2005 he presented then-U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan with a 3,000-page report based on the research of 265 so-called poverty specialists. “Sachs’ document criticized the U.S. for giving only $16.5 billion a year in global anti-poverty aid. He argued that we should spend an additional $30 billion a year in order to reach the 0.7% target that the U.N. set for the U.S. in 2000....Sachs said that the only way to force the U.S. to commit that much
money is by a global tax, such as a tax on fossil fuels [oil, coal, natural gas].” The tax would be imposed not only on their production, but on their use, as well. Among other consequences, Americans would be impoverished for the purpose of reducing poverty abroad by 0.7 percent of the U.S.’s gross domestic product.
The Millennium declaration, reports IBD, also calls for a “currency transfer tax,” a “tax on the rental value of land and natural resources,” a “royalty on worldwide fossil energy production - oil, natural gas, coal,” “fees for the commercial use of the oceans, fees for airplane use of the skies, fees for use of the electromagnetic spectrum, fees on foreign exchange transactions, and a tax on the carbon content of fuels.”
Obama’s 0.7% Solution For Poverty Gets Pass From Senate Republicans
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/ibdarticles.aspx?id=288920093794177
“Empowering the United Nations to impose a direct international tax on Americans has been a U.N. goal ever since the 1995 Copenhagen Summit embraced the so-called Tobin Tax.
Easy. Invite them all here to “share the wealth!”
Send money! It’s on his agenda
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