Africa thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Africa thread

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The Saucer Hovers: May 16, 2005

cameroon was named after shrimp

# ? Jul 20, 2022 03:44

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# ? May 3, 2024 09:04

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Cool cool, DRC gonna expand oil drilling rights auctions into Virunga National Park and gorilla preserve. This is fine

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/24/...a0ad50-42105263

quote:

DAKAR, Senegal � The Democratic Republic of Congo, home to one of the largest old-growth rainforests on Earth, is auctioning off vast amounts of land in a push to become �the new destination for oil investments,� part of a global shift as the world retreats on fighting climate change in a scramble for fossil fuels.

The oil and gas blocks, which will be auctioned in late July, extend into Virunga National Park, the world�s most important gorilla sanctuary, as well as tropical peatlands that store vast amounts of carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere and from contributing to global warming.

�If oil exploitation takes place in these areas, we must expect a global climate catastrophe, and we will all just have to watch helplessly,� said Irene Wabiwa, who oversees the Congo Basin forest campaign for Greenpeace in Kinshasa.

Congo�s about-face in allowing new oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas comes eight months after its president, F�lix Tshisekedi, stood alongside world leaders at the global climate summit in Glasgow and endorsed a 10-year agreement to protect its rainforest, part of the vast Congo Basin, which is second in size only to the Amazon.

The deal included international pledges of $500 million for Congo, one of the world�s poorest nations, over the first five years.

But since then, the world�s immediate priorities have shifted.

Thanks, "world"

# ? Jul 26, 2022 19:28

bedpan: Apr 23, 2008

Bilirubin posted:

Cool cool, DRC gonna expand oil drilling rights auctions into Virunga National Park and gorilla preserve. This is fine

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/24/...a0ad50-42105263

Thanks, "world"

You mean everyone's promises and declarations were just key jangling and television drama?

# ? Jul 26, 2022 20:39

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Surely Lucy will let me kick the football THIS time!

# ? Jul 26, 2022 20:56

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

little more...

quote:

The auction highlights a double standard that many political leaders across the African continent have called out: How can Western countries, which built their prosperity on fossil fuels that emit poisonous, planet-warming fumes, demand that Africa forgo their reserves of coal, oil and gas in order to protect everyone else?

And it raises a question asked by many communities whose very survival is based on cutting trees for sale or for cooking fires: If they protect carbon stocks of incalculable value to the whole world, what do they get in return?

�Maybe it�s time we get a level playing field and be compensated,� Mr. Mpanu said.

Many Congolese officials believe that after decades of colonialism and political mismanagement, their country�s needs should be prioritized against those of the world.

# ? Jul 27, 2022 00:53

galenanorth: May 19, 2016

They have a point, it's like changing the rules halfway through a race to ban getting ahead by strapping a cartoon rocket (that runs on corpses) to your back once all the people who used said rockets have a solid lead. Likewise, large businesses (e.g. tech sector) sometimes favor regulations which make the world a better place as a side-effect of kicking the ladder down. It doesn't mean that we should stop letting people put corpses in rockets, though

galenanorth has issued a correction as of 01:07 on Jul 27, 2022

# ? Jul 27, 2022 01:01

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

galenanorth posted:

They have a point, it's like changing the rules halfway through a race to ban getting ahead by strapping a cartoon rocket (that runs on corpses) to your back once all the people who used said rockets have a solid lead. Likewise, large businesses (e.g. tech sector) sometimes favor regulations which make the world a better place as a side-effect of kicking the ladder down. It doesn't mean that we should stop letting people put corpses in rockets, though

They have an excellent point and its on us, the countries that have already gotten rich of this poo poo, to pay up or shut up:

quote:

Mr. Mpanu pointed to the Amazon as an example of how nations with natural resources must act if richer nations would not compensate them.

In 2007, Rafael Correa, Ecuador�s president at the time, set up a trust fund that the international community could finance to stop the country from exploring an oil block in the Yasun� National Park, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. The goal was to raise around $3.6 billion. Years later, it had only raised $13 million. So in 2013, the government decided to allow oil exploration. Drilling began three years later.

�We�re not into threats,� Mr. Mpanu said, dismissing the notion that Congo�s auction was merely an attempt to scare countries into offering more financial assistance. �We have a very humble attitude. We have a sovereign right to go ahead.�

of course the other side is the money will likely not go to all of the citizens:

quote:

A Greenpeace team recently consulted people living inside the proposed oil blocks and said inhabitants were opposed to drilling and would launch protests, according to Ms. Wabiwa.

Rather than alleviating poverty, she said, the sale of oil blocks would make a lot of money for a few people.

Mr. Budimbu, Congo�s hydrocarbons minister, has consulted some of Africa�s biggest oil producers, like Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, �so that the D.R.C. can take the same path,� according to a recent release on the ministry�s website.

But if Congo were to follow in their footsteps, it could mean a fate some call the �resource curse,� in which citizens don�t benefit from their country�s natural wealth and economic development remains anemic. In Nigeria, oil is the mainstay of the economy but its production has also led to devastating spills and widening inequality. In Equatorial Guinea, the majority of the population lives below the poverty line and reaps no benefit from the country�s vast oil wealth.

The decision to allow more exploration was carefully considered, government officials said, though it appeared to be the subject of some internal debate.

Bilirubin has issued a correction as of 02:01 on Jul 27, 2022

# ? Jul 27, 2022 01:57

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjc8hg7zTF4

nigerian-houston music is some of the more fun poo poo coming out today

# ? Jul 31, 2022 04:46

platzapS: Aug 4, 2007

ELTON JOHN posted:

the Gambia is a small west African country that is located in Senegal's mouth

an election is coming up in the Gambia, and it's an important one. back in 2016 the country managed to vote out and, with some help from the international community, dismiss a dictator that had been in power since 1994.

What does international community mean here? Is this like NATO & friends, or regional African orgs or what?

# ? Aug 17, 2022 00:02

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

platzapS posted:

What does international community mean here? Is this like NATO & friends, or regional African orgs or what?

ECOWAS led the charge followed by the AU. he was warned not to go into exile in africa but is in equatorial guinea which is an (incredibly rich) pariah state

# ? Aug 17, 2022 01:58

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Kenya's election aftermath going downright Trumpianishly, just wondering how solid accusations of fraud are in a win with 50.49% of the popular vote. Seems kind of normal when rigged elections typically deliver 107% in favor of dear leader

# ? Aug 17, 2022 03:09

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1pNhAenro

# ? Sep 11, 2022 23:13

ikanreed: Sep 25, 2009; I honestly I have no idea who cannibal[SIC] is and I do not know why I should know.

syq dude, just syq!

A whole thread for just one country?

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

# ? Sep 12, 2022 01:21

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

ikanreed posted:

A whole thread for just one country?

post an article or reply to something or just keep being a facetious dipshit

# ? Sep 12, 2022 08:52

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# ? May 3, 2024 09:04

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

ikanreed posted:

A whole thread for just one country?

You're right, close the uspol, and canpol threads. Ukpol can remain due to a technicality post home rule, and as part of the official mourning period for the Queen.

# ? Sep 12, 2022 12:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Africa thread

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