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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
The disconnect between the most advanced countries and the rest of the world falling behind is getting parabolic. I’m not talking about just wealth disparity — poverty has decreased virtually everywhere over the last few decades. I’m talking about an acceleration of leading economies (OECD broadly, though mostly the US) toward an AI-driven technological singularity (with both pros and cons) coupled with energy abundance; while the bottom quartile remains mired in wars, despotism, religiosity, tribalism, climate fragility, and socioeconomic stagnation. Human progress is like a rubber band that it’s being stretched to record levels between the two ends of the spectrum. See this article for what sub-Saharan Africa has to contend with these days, and consider how far removed their human experience is from yours. Any alien visiting our planet ten years from now will struggle to accept that we are one species https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/04/africa/burkina-faso-massacre-600-dead-french-intel-intl
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Maurice
@maurice
Could this lead to a new wave of colonialism? Especially as new emerging powers in Asia see these countries as commodities depots. I mean, China is already doing this in some African countries (with investments in infrastructure - which of course also helps these nations. Not sure if it’s positive or negative in the long term. Would like your opinion on this topic)
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Neocolonialism is indeed an option. I for one take a cynical view of infrastructure investments being made by China (or any other power for that matter). The ones I’ve seen around Asia and Africa look like pure soft power projection: creating captive markets for domestic exports, gaining access to mineral resources, and buying UN votes, all by subjugating these neo-vassal states through more debt than they can realistically repay. Equally likely from Western countries now is them moving away from any form of foreign interventionism, whether benevolent or militaristic. I think the Western public’s appetite for getting embroiled in foreign conflicts is trending down. Trump’s victory next month would certainly cement that, while Europe is going to be facing so much internal turmoil that it won’t have the bandwidth to do much else. Wagner moving into sub-Saharan Africa after the departure of French troops is a good example of both the West abdicating and the “unaligned powers” taking the mantle
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Maurice
@maurice
Thank you for your extensive answer. I really appreciate it and your views. I believe of all the wester powers, it might only the French who might have still interests and would take influence in Africa. But this is just my perspective, as a not really informed observer.
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