30 Jul 2005
A New Face of Hunger, Without the Old Excuses

I am really over folks who don't know what they're talking about writing stuff like this. They should at least spend ten minutes researching the history of a place before becoming an "expert"...

Somehow, Ms. Polgreen (the author) managed to get through an entire piece on Niger without once mentioning the root causes of the problems there: a climate that's exceptionally harsh, nomadic lifestyles, unstable governments and especially the institution of slavery, which has drawn a lot of criticism from the international community of late. Last March the government flatly denied it still existed, and canceled a special ceremony to free 7000 slaves. And this is the government we're supposed to help?

Here's the best summary from ABC News.

The famine in Niger defies conventional wisdom.

(link) [NYT > Home Page]

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