Article

2008-12-21 Europe

Belgium again in limbo after govt collapses

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Posted by Fred 2008-12-21 09:42|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 Well, hell - they've got a king.

Why not just revert to a plain old monarchy?

He couldn't possibly do any worse that the present load of wankers running the country ~~into the ground~~.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-12-21 11:55|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-12-21 11:55|| Front Page Top

#2 Read "King Leopold's Ghost," Barbara. Belgium's Kings can be much worse. Why do you think the Congo's so screwed up?

Posted by Eric Jablow">Eric Jablow 2008-12-21 13:23|| 2008-12-21 13:23|| Front Page Top

#3 Eric, no defense of Belgian royalty, or colonialism in general, but I bet the Congo would be about as screwed up today if there had never been a Belgium.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2008-12-21 14:27|| 2008-12-21 14:27|| Front Page Top

#4 True. The Belgians took the endemic barbarism of the Congo to a new level for a while, but after a couple of decades it was a quite well-run African colonial state with a low body-count, good economic prospects and an exploding population. And then, independence, collapse of institutions, dictatorship, civil wars and population collapse.

Posted by buwaya 2008-12-21 14:48|| 2008-12-21 14:48|| Front Page Top

#5 What Glenmore said. Unfortunately.

"then, independence, collapse of institutions, dictatorship, civil wars and population collapse"

Pretty much sums up sub-Saharan Africa. Wonder what could possibly be the cause?

/sarcasm

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-12-21 16:20|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-12-21 16:20|| Front Page Top

#6 Barbara, the only problem with Sub-Saharan Africa is Sub-Saharan Africans.

When the Euros quit, it was "lights out" both literally and figuratively. There's not a country in Africa where I'd even consider investing as much as fifty cents.

Posted by Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-12-21 17:35|| 2008-12-21 17:35|| Front Page Top

#7 The zimbobwayans don't seem to have benefited much from their more benign British colonization, so I doubt great responsibility attaches to the Belgians for the current state of the Congo even given the execrable things Leopold did with his playground.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-12-21 18:57|| 2008-12-21 18:57|| Front Page Top

#8 #6 Jolutch - precisely.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-12-21 19:02|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-12-21 19:02|| Front Page Top

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