Kill Bin Laden or The Trouble with Africa

Kill Bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man

Author: Dalton Fury

This work offers a firsthand account of the Battle of Tora Bora and an insider's look at the extraordinary nature of America's supersecret counterterrorist unit---an elite and mysterious group known as Delta Force.

New interesting textbook: El Jardin Culinario or Cocina divertida para ninos

The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working

Author: Robert Calderisi

After years of frustration at the stifling atmosphere of political correctness surrounding discussions of Africa, long time World Bank official Robert Calderisi speaks out. He boldly reveals how most of Africa’s misfortunes are self-imposed, and why the world must now deal differently with the continent.
Here we learn that Africa has steadily lost markets by its own mismanagement, that even capitalist countries are anti-business, that African family values and fatalism are more destructive than tribalism, and that African leaders prey intentionally on Western guilt. Calderisi exposes the shortcomings of foreign aid and debt relief, and proposes his own radical solutions.
Drawing on thirty years of first hand experience, The Trouble with Africa highlights issues which have been ignored by Africa’s leaders but have worried ordinary Africans, diplomats, academics, business leaders, aid workers, volunteers, and missionaries for a long time. It ripples with stories which only someone who has talked directly to African farmers--and heads of state--could recount.
Calderisi’s aim is to move beyond the hand-wringing and finger-pointing which dominates most discussions of Africa. Instead, he suggests concrete steps which Africans and the world can take to liberate talent and enterprise on the continent.

Publishers Weekly

It isn't the legacy of the slave trade or colonialism, or the supposed inequities of globalization and world trade, that are to blame for Africa's travails, argues this stimulating contrarian essay. The author insists that Africa's problems are largely of its own making, the product of dictatorial, kleptocratic governments; rampant corruption; economic policies that hobble agriculture, discourage private investment and strangle new businesses with red tape; and a cultural fatalism that inures Africans to misery. Calderisi draws on his experience as a World Bank official in Africa, peppering his analysis with personal anecdotes about Africa's callous, venal officialdom and misguided economic policies. He offers a muted defense of World Bank policies, but also decries Western "political correctness" in indulging Africa's dysfunctions and calls for a new tough-love approach to foreign aid. Assistance to most countries, he contends, should be cut in half and conditioned on thorough democratic reforms and strict oversight by Western donors; responsible governments-he lists Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Mali-should get a large increase in aid with few strings attached. Calderisi's focus on Africa's internal faults and his somewhat essentialist musings on the "African character" will stir controversy, but his cogent argument is an important addition to the conversation over Africa's future. (Mar. 9) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

It's the disease, the climate, the corruption, the brutal dictators, the tribal factions, the European colonization, the slavery-you name it, everyone has a reason for Africa's continuing collapse. Here, an adroit former World Bank official suggests that the misfortunes are more self-imposed. Calderisi places the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the Africans themselves, also blaming the continent's various leaders. With few exceptions, he writes, the economies have all declined since independence in the 1970s. Botswana, one of the exceptions, has a strong economy and a higher standard of living than nearly all other African countries, and yet 37 percent of its adult population carries the HIV virus, and the life expectancy has plummeted to 34 years. Many hopeful stories from the 1970s and 1980s have disappeared with the loss, through mismanagement, of markets to Asia and Latin America. Wealth for the continent's people has declined since 1970, and the immediate future looks grim. Calderisi proposes ten workable solutions to the problems, such as that funding for Africa be contingent upon democratic rule, making this book one that should be in every academic library in this country-and every library in Africa.-Jim Thorsen, Madison Cty. Schs., Weaverville, NC Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

Pt. I	What sets Africa apart
1	Looking for excuses	13
2	Africa from different angles	35
3	Thugs in power	57
4	Culture, corruption, and correctness	77
Pt. II	Stories from the front line
5	Tanzania : African socialism	103
6	Ivory coast : the end of a miracle	115
7	Discord in Central Africa	131
Pt. III	Facing the facts
8	Defying economics	141
9	The trouble with foreign aid	153
10	The Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline	177
11	A clash of values	195
Pt. IV	Facing the future
12	Ten ways of changing Africa	207
13	A new day	223