Thursday, July 09, 2009

Where Credit is Due

From the Telegraph: Obama offered some refreshing comments about the tendency of many in the third world and elsewhere to blame the West for every manifestation of misery on the African Continent. This one surprised me, to be honest.

"I think part of what's hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we've made excuses about corruption or poor governance, that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism – I'm not a big – I'm not a believer in excuses...The West and the United States has not been responsible for what's happened to Zimbabwe's economy over the last 15 or 20 years. It hasn't been responsible for some of the disastrous policies that we've seen elsewhere in Africa. And I think that it's very important for African leadership to take responsibility and be held accountable."

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