Africa

Ed: Big ups to G. Pascal Zachary, whom I knew from my Business 2.0 days, who just published this piece called The African Hacker in the IEEE magazine, Spectrum. “Saviors” are common in Africa, and they usually come in the form of demagogues or rebel leaders, missionaries or medical doctors, peacekeepers or refugee-camp managers. Rarely are they Birkenstock-wearing engineers or software programmers. That’s why Chinery-Hesse is worth getting to know. Because if Africa has a sunny future, Chinery-Hesse will be…

Ed: Ok, here’s my idea for the next Slate explainer. How do you start a bloodless coup? Really, do you just waltz in and say, “Ok, I’m taking over.” and all the mindless lackeys look up from their desk and say: “Yeah, ok.” AP: NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) – A military junta overthrew Mauritania’s U.S.-allied president while he was abroad Wednesday, prompting celebrations in this oil-rich Islamic nation that looked increasingly to the West amid alleged threats from al-Qaida linked militants.…

WashPost: The Pentagon plans to train thousands of African troops in battalions equipped for extended desert and border operations and to link the militaries of different countries with secure satellite communications. The initiative, with proposed funding of $500 million over seven years, covers Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Morocco and Tunisia — with the U.S. military eager to add Libya if relations improve. . . . Green Berets are trained to navigate foreign cultures, but both teams lacked…

Ethan Zuckerman: Aid dollars donÕt eliminate poverty – integration into a global economy does. (South Korea and Ghana had approximately the same per capita income when Ghana gained independence in 1957. South KoreaÕs income per capita has increased roughly fifteen times in constant dollar terms, while GhanaÕs has fallen slightly. You may notice that we buy a great deal more from South Korea than we do from Ghana.) If the goal of Live 8 were to help people see the…