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malaise

(296,346 posts)
14. Then Kennedy didn't know what they were doing
Fri Aug 9, 2013, 04:42 PM
Aug 2013

Maybe this is the angle to investigate Kennedy's assassination?
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination
<snip>
With the outbreak of the cold war, it was inevitable that the US and its western allies would not be prepared to let Africans have effective control over strategic raw materials, lest these fall in the hands of their enemies in the Soviet camp. It is in this regard that Patrice Lumumba's determination to achieve genuine independence and to have full control over Congo's resources in order to utilise them to improve the living conditions of our people was perceived as a threat to western interests. To fight him, the US and Belgium used all the tools and resources at their disposal, including the United Nations secretariat, under Dag Hammarskjöld and Ralph Bunche, to buy the support of Lumumba's Congolese rivals , and hired killers.

In Congo, Lumumba's assassination is rightly viewed as the country's original sin. Coming less than seven months after independence (on 30 June, 1960), it was a stumbling block to the ideals of national unity, economic independence and pan-African solidarity that Lumumba had championed, as well as a shattering blow to the hopes of millions of Congolese for freedom and material prosperity.

The assassination took place at a time when the country had fallen under four separate governments: the central government in Kinshasa (then Léopoldville); a rival central government by Lumumba's followers in Kisangani (then Stanleyville); and the secessionist regimes in the mineral-rich provinces of Katanga and South Kasai. Since Lumumba's physical elimination had removed what the west saw as the major threat to their interests in the Congo, internationally-led efforts were undertaken to restore the authority of the moderate and pro-western regime in Kinshasa over the entire country. These resulted in ending the Lumumbist regime in Kisangani in August 1961, the secession of South Kasai in September 1962, and the Katanga secession in January 1963.

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Interesting! leftstreet Aug 2013 #1
Great illustration that. dipsydoodle Aug 2013 #2
I think France is too small in this map... truebrit71 Aug 2013 #3
The farther away from the equator the greater the distortion. Igel Aug 2013 #41
Great Britain fits into France at least four times... truebrit71 Aug 2013 #59
It's closer to two times; the projection makes sense with those numbers (nt) Posteritatis Aug 2013 #61
You are correct...it is England that fits into France four times.. truebrit71 Aug 2013 #62
Africa -- freakin' HUGE! Blue Owl Aug 2013 #4
+1 Baitball Blogger Aug 2013 #5
I can see it from my porch awoke_in_2003 Aug 2013 #56
I like the scene from "The West Wing" when they switched the slide from the Mercator Projection Aristus Aug 2013 #6
ROFL malaise Aug 2013 #11
I just saw that episode recently! RevStPatrick Aug 2013 #34
Love that one. Aristus Aug 2013 #37
Great line! RevStPatrick Aug 2013 #40
LOL malaise Aug 2013 #46
What your favorite map projection says about you. xkcd... progressoid Aug 2013 #7
Great stuff malaise Aug 2013 #8
"You like Isaac Asimov, XML and toes with shoes." CrispyQ Aug 2013 #10
That damn cartoon... krispos42 Aug 2013 #13
I don't really understand the purpose of the Peters map, kentauros Aug 2013 #15
"It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them" arcane1 Aug 2013 #32
I have a globe PD Turk Aug 2013 #33
I'm a mix of... RevStPatrick Aug 2013 #42
Fab thread. CrispyQ Aug 2013 #9
Once we had a President who wanted Democracy and fair trade with African nations. Octafish Aug 2013 #12
Then Kennedy didn't know what they were doing malaise Aug 2013 #14
Frank 'Carlyle Group' Carlucci was working in Congo then. Octafish Aug 2013 #16
We've been reading quite a bit since it became official malaise Aug 2013 #17
Theres always SOMETHING to bitch about 7962 Aug 2013 #18
I have found that a flipped map forces you to look at the globe in a "new light" kentauros Aug 2013 #44
Like brushing your teeth with the opposite hand 7962 Aug 2013 #58
Continents are large. tabasco Aug 2013 #19
A friend of mine who just finished some NGO work in Africa Lee-Lee Aug 2013 #20
One of the reasons USA created AfricaCom dixiegrrrrl Aug 2013 #31
Africa is huge with 1+ billion people. What if they start manufacturing stuff the way Asians have pampango Aug 2013 #21
All I know is that it must be hard to catch up when millions of your healthiest people malaise Aug 2013 #22
So true. I hope they figure out another development path and can implement it successfully. pampango Aug 2013 #28
Bringing Slavery to Africa formercia Aug 2013 #30
If "the manufacturing route" will make them prosperous, that's what they should do. Nye Bevan Aug 2013 #35
Cool, but... Orrex Aug 2013 #23
Didn't look that far malaise Aug 2013 #24
I learned navigation before GPS and computers. GreenStormCloud Aug 2013 #25
Thanks for that lesson malaise Aug 2013 #26
Very interesting, and I had never heard any of that before! Orrex Aug 2013 #27
It's also funny how huge Greenland looks in that projection. Nye Bevan Aug 2013 #36
This is why everyone should have a globe around the house... PoliticAverse Aug 2013 #29
The best these days is a globe. hunter Aug 2013 #38
Agreed - both Mercator and Peters are full of shit derby378 Aug 2013 #43
This is one of the most useful conversations that has been ignored loyalsister Aug 2013 #39
I disagree malaise Aug 2013 #48
That's a good point loyalsister Aug 2013 #49
There was a French couple who walked from Cape Town to the Sea of Gallilee about ten years back... TheMightyFavog Aug 2013 #45
Serious trip that malaise Aug 2013 #51
They left out Alaska from USA. PowerToThePeople Aug 2013 #47
Australia isn't there either... mimi85 Aug 2013 #54
whoa..it's big Liberal_in_LA Aug 2013 #50
thank you for posting this, malaise arely staircase Aug 2013 #52
What a great idea malaise Aug 2013 #53
This isn't "map dishonesty" -- it's map mathematics Jim Lane Aug 2013 #55
But it's much more fun to pretend that Mercator was a racist imperialist Nye Bevan Aug 2013 #57
No 2-D projection can be accurate Recursion Aug 2013 #60
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