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Monday, 3 December 2007
Oil On Troubled Waters
 by Theodore Dalrymple (Dec. 2007)
Quite often one reads that such-and-such a country - the Congo, for example - is impoverished in spite of its abundant natural resources. The tone is usually pained and a little surprised; the writer seems to think that natural resources ought to develop themselves and benefit populations without human intervention, by jumping out of the ground and distributing themselves equitably, for example. Without political wisdom, however, abundant natural resources are more often a curse than a blessing. Many of the most prosperous and best-governed areas of the world, by contrast, are not at all well-favoured by nature. Man is not at his best when he receives or hopes for something for nothing. more... Posted on 12/03/2007 11:00 AM by NER
Comments
3 Dec 2007
 just some dude
"Quite often one reads that such-and-such a country - the Congo, for example - is impoverished in spite of its abundant natural resources." This is primarily a Christian concept based on Jesus Christ's admonition to "Love your neighbor as yourself." It's implied that resources should be used for the good of the whole community, and presumes something is wrong morally if they are not. Case in point: your Nigerian example. Saro-Wiwa is proof of this. Another case in point is Norway who are abiding by these principles. Russia seems to be a scary place whether the former KGB or oligarchs rule the place. Way too much atheism and Marxist influence there for the past 100 years. "I hesitate to quote Marx, but when he said that while men made their history they did not make it in any way they liked, I think he was right." Ummm........ never mind. 6 Dec 2007
mike
Thanksgiving reminded me of a lesson in elementary school history -that American settlers were blessed with a continent rich in natural resources. And that was wrong. The Jamestown men looked for easy gold and fortunately found none. Forests and arable land are great, but took work and ambition to be made useful. I was thankful this year that the gold was in California and not in Virginia. 14 Dec 2007
Caryl Johnston Not your best piece, Mr. Dal. I am sorry to see you indulge in Putin-bashing - I would have expected better from you. I think that Mr. Putin is one of the few world leaders today who possesses any integrity whatsoever. Western leadership is so corrupt morally on every level that it cannot even perceive Mr. Putin's statesmanship and true patriotism. 26 Dec 2007
Ivan Traven
I agree with Ms Johnston. Here is Putin’s recent interview for the Time http://kremlin.ru/eng/speeches/2007/12/19/1618_type82916_154779.shtml If Mr Dalrymple would have read it, I don’t think he would find much (if anything) to fault Putin. “Good sense and wisdom come from within, not from without” if this is true, should we not abolish philosophy, or at least any kind of its articulate expression? “Norway […] spending a certain amount of their wealth on bad causes such as aid to Africa.” I’m afraid you don’t know of what you speak. Even the most vocal critics of the past aid record like William Easterly state that aid can make enormous change for the better. “The White Man’s Burden” p 368: “Put the focus back where it belongs: get the poorest people in the world such obvious goods as the vaccines, the antibiotics, the food supplements, the improved seeds, the fertilizers, the roads, the boreholes, the water pipes, the textbooks, and the nurses. This is not making the poor dependent on handouts; it is giving the poorest people the health, nutrition, education, and other inputs that raise the payoff to their own efforts to better their lives.” Norway does this. |