How do you think this will affect economic climate in Liberia and do you
think that a likely economic boost to the Liberian economy justifies the
means?  Also is there a connection between this and the recent IMF debt
cancellation for Liberia?

From Sokari <blacklooks.org> :

  Africom: Some questions* <http://www.blacklooks.org/2007/11/africom.html> on
November 13, 2007
Category: USA <http://www.blacklooks.org/category/usa>, Pan-African
<http://www.blacklooks.org/category/pan-african>, Africa
<http://www.blacklooks.org/category/africa>

African Loft
<http://www.africanloft.com/open-debate-does-africa-need-africom-us-af...>has
posed a question *"Does Africa need Africom"* and invited readers to join in
a debate. Here's my $1.

The question should not be whether Africa NEEDS Africom but why the US
believes it NEEDS to have a military presence in Africa. We should be asking
ourselves the following questions. Why does the US feels it needs a military
presence in Africa? What will the US military presence consist of in terms
of military hardware and numbers of personnel? How does the US intend to
operate and in what circumstances will it's forces be mobilized? In what way
will the US military presence dictate or determine the price of Africa's
natural resources and who gets access to them? In what way will the US
military presence infringe on the internal affairs of independent African
countries and determine their foreign policy towards other AU members? How
will the US military presence influence the foreign policy of independent
African states towards non AU countries such as China? How will the US
enhanced military presence infringe of the rights of African citizens? How
will Africom impact on continental migration and the rights of the millions
of Africans without
citizenship<http://www.africa.upenn.edu/afrfocus/afrfocus033107.html>and
the rights
of refugees <http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/>?

With regard China's growing presence in Africa and the accompanying Western
paranoia over China in general. The US has always been at the forefront of
Free Trade Agreements. Now it finds itself in $billions of dollars trade
deficit with China it is crying forgetting that China's industrial growth
and huge export market is part of the same globalisation that the US is
itself the main proponent. The difference is simply that China is in the
driving seat and not the US. The US has serious economic problems and high
unemployment and they have take responsibility for that rather than act out
this racism paranoia against all things Chinese and blame them for
everything. As for African citizens, China is doing to Africa what Europe
and the US have been doing for 100s of years. Instead of joining in Western
economic paranoia we should recognise this is merely an extension of
colonialism / neo-colonialism and economic exploitation and deal with it as
such. The US and the West have their own issues with China and to some
extent this is played out on our soil. We should be seizing the time and
using this as a weapon to ensure we get the best deal for our resources and
citizens.

Links: Africom: The New US Military Command for Africa
<http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/44273>
US insist Africom will benefit
Africa<http://www.africanloft.com/us-officials-insist-new-military-command-t...>

--

    Benin Mwangi Brown
    Consultant, Benin Mwangi Enterprises
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/beninmwangib
    http://beninmwangi.com

    "New Frontiers Becoming New Realities"