dubya's "democracy" is breaking out all over the Middle East

[boutons_]

After the stellar example of Iraqi "democracy" .....

Which M/E country will be next to switch spontaneously to "democracy"?

Iran, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia?

==============================

Hamas Gets Decisive Majority in Palestinian Elections

Radical Islamic Group Secures 76 Seats, Fatah 43; Prime Minister, Cabinet Resign

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 26, 2006; 1:30 PM

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 26 -- The radical Islamic group Hamas won 76 seats in voting for the first Palestinian parliament in a decade, election officials announced Thursday evening, giving it a decisive majority in the 132-member body and the right to form the next government. The long-ruling Fatah movement won 43 seats.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and the rest of his Cabinet resigned, effectively acknowledging Hamas claims of a legislative majority before election officials released the results in a news conference.

"This is the choice of the people," Qureia told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "It should be respected."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012600372.html

[Yonivore]

I agree.

It's the people's choice. I'll be interested to see if, a) the people come to regret that choice because of the consequences of electing a terrorist government and b) if Hamas will ever allow another free and fair election in "Arafatastan."

I think yes and no.

[exstatic]

Canada - corrupt govt given the boot in 2006
Palestine - corrupt govt given the boot in 2006
US - ???

Information is flowing now that up to 25% of the paychecks for the P.A. police are collected by relatives of Fatahists who do NOTHING for them. No wonder the police can't do their jobs.

Hamas will adapt, because frankly, if they pull any shit, they can be found now. They'll be in their offices.

[boutons_]

It sounds like one reason that Fatah was booted was that Arafat/Fatah corruption had been forever and everywhere.

Arafat kept his young wife+baby in a Paris appt for $3000/month, IIRC.

Almost none of the $Bs given to Arafat/Fatah ever reached the people or was used for their benefit.

It sounds like 100's of $Ms in Iraq intended for security or reconstruction are used to buy protection from the insurgents.

The part of the world is so ass-fuckedly, iredeemably corrupt and violent and inhuman that the whole dubya/dickhead/rummy/wolfie/condi "democracy is justification " for starting the war was never more than a 1-in-million longshot.

The M/E?? Look at how totally corrupt "democracy" and business and "religion" are in the USA.

[Yonivore]

i find it humorous that the us is trying to teach fair and free democracy overseas while restricting liberties at home
I know this has been asked before but, exactly which liberties have been restricted?

[Yonivore]

I do think exstatic makes a good point though. If Hamas truly plays along and engages as a democratically elected government -- with all the "trappings" -- such as meetings and lawmaking (instead of the usual summary executions and intimidation) I think a cruise missile should be deployed to their first assembly.

After all, they've already stated that the destruction of Israel will remain the singular plank in the Hamas platform. What's the point in waiting, bomb 'em as soon as they get enough of their sorry asses in one room to make a difference.

If Hamas remains committed to destroying Israel and Hamas is the duly elected representative government of "Palestine," I say they've joined the Axis of Evil and should be treated accordingly.

[2centsworth]

I know this has been asked before but, exactly which liberties have been restricted?you know, the ones everyone are talking about...duh.

[Nbadan]

I know this has been asked before but, exactly which liberties have been restricted?

How about the right to walk down the street without an ID? or the right to be served with a subpenoa before the Government can take a look at your harddrive, or data-mine your domestic phone conversations, open your international mail, or listen in on your international calls under the guise of the war on terror?

[Peter]

Hmmm, I don't get many calls from Ali Baba. But that's just me.

[Nbadan]

Hmmm, I don't get many calls from Ali Baba. But that's just me.

Yeah, because we all know the only calls being eavesdropped on are when 'Al-Queda call an American citizen', right? Tell that to PETA, and that terra' organization, the Quakers

[boutons_]

"calls from Ali"

NSA is running a warrantless fishing expedition on everything, international and domestic, not just calls to your buddy Ali.

Assume that the DNC and various Dem campaign HQ, etc data streams will be made available to Karl Rove and RNC.

Assume that NSA fishing data will be made available for industrial spying purposes on behalf of corps that contribute heavily to the Repugs.

[Yonivore]

"calls from Ali"

NSA is running a warrantless fishing expedition on everything, international and domestic, not just calls to your buddy Ali.
Where'd you hear that?


Assume that the DNC and various Dem campaign HQ, etc data streams will be made available to Karl Rove and RNC.

Assume that NSA fishing data will be made available for industrial spying purposes on behalf of corps that contribute heavily to the Repugs.
I think you've got this NSA program confused with Clinton and Eschelon.

[xrayzebra]

i find it humorous that the us is trying to teach fair and free democracy overseas while restricting liberties at home

He is. And pray tell what liberties have you lost? I have lost none, but
then I am a conservative and they know that. :lol

[xrayzebra]

How about the right to walk down the street without an ID? or the right to be served with a subpenoa before the Government can take a look at your harddrive, or data-mine your domestic phone conversations, open your international mail, or listen in on your international calls under the guise of the war on terror?

That hasn't changed dummy. Do you know the difference between
"international" and "domestic". Besides Clinton is the one who does the
warrant-less searches of homes. Not Bush.

[xrayzebra]

"calls from Ali"

NSA is running a warrantless fishing expedition on everything, international and domestic, not just calls to your buddy Ali.

Assume that the DNC and various Dem campaign HQ, etc data streams will be made available to Karl Rove and RNC.

Assume that NSA fishing data will be made available for industrial spying purposes on behalf of corps that contribute heavily to the Repugs.

You left out "big oil" and "Halliburton". Hey did you see where Halliburton
had record profits. The monitoring stuff pays off big time, doesn't it.
I think they may build that black helicopter that keeps watch on you
and Nbadan rather.

[Oh, Gee!!]

I do think exstatic makes a good point though. If Hamas truly plays along and engages as a democratically elected government -- with all the "trappings" -- such as meetings and lawmaking (instead of the usual summary executions and intimidation) I think a cruise missile should be deployed to their first assembly.

After all, they've already stated that the destruction of Israel will remain the singular plank in the Hamas platform. What's the point in waiting, bomb 'em as soon as they get enough of their sorry asses in one room to make a difference.

If Hamas remains committed to destroying Israel and Hamas is the duly elected representative government of "Palestine," I say they've joined the Axis of Evil and should be treated accordingly.


Let's start more wars. Good thinking, assbag.

[Mr. Peabody]

Let's start more wars. Good thinking, assbag.

I think the proper phrase is "let's spread more freedom."

[xrayzebra]

How can we spread what some on this board think we are losing? Just thought
I would ask.

[Oh, Gee!!]

How can we spread what some on this board think we are losing? Just thought
I would ask.


because there's only so much to go around. The more we spread to other countries, the less we have for ourselves.

[xrayzebra]

^^Oh, that's how it works. Hmmmm, like if I make a million, I took it from someone
and made them poor. Yeah, got it now.

[Mr. Peabody]

because there's only so much to go around. The more we spread to other countries, the less we have for ourselves.

:lol I think some people here would support that explanation if Bush gave it. :lol

[MannyIsGod]

Well, the Palestinians keep putting shitty leaders in power. Unless Hamas does some huge backtracking, they are going to reap nothing but violence from this election. I woudln't be suprised to see an eventual reoccupation of Gaza by Isreal at this point.

That whole area is occupied by idiots who deserve each other. I'm so tired of their inability to form peace.

[Hook Dem]

Well, the Palestinians keep putting shitty leaders in power. Unless Hamas does some huge backtracking, they are going to reap nothing but violence from this election. I woudln't be suprised to see an eventual reoccupation of Gaza by Isreal at this point.

That whole area is occupied by idiots who deserve each other. I'm so tired of their inability to form peace.
You make a good point Manny! The hate in these people has been inbred since birth. Ever heard of the Hatfields & McCoys? It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth! Meanwhile....Allah approves of it all....right? :lol

[boutons_]

January 28, 2006
In One Village, Anger and a Hunger for Change
By IAN FISHER

DEIR GHASSANA, West Bank, Jan. 27 — It is not hard to find Palestinians here who see the victory of Hamas as the triumph of resistance and of the group's longstanding vow to drive Israel into the sea.

But here, at least with the radical Islamic party's sweep of the Palestinian parliament still fresh, the talk turned more to responsibility — to improve the lives of Palestinians, even if that means Hamas has to moderate itself and, someday, to negotiate with Israel.

From interviews in this village — neither poor nor rich, with deep ties to Fatah but also much sympathy for Hamas — the bottom line seemed to be this: Exhaustion with Fatah's perceived corruption and incompetence, along with the hope that Hamas, known by Israelis for terror but by Palestinians for charity, might actually deliver change.

"Resistance is the second stage," Nazieh Barghouti, 67, an accountant, insisted Friday, amid celebrations with no concern for the rain and cold. "But the main stage is to arrange the house of Palestine."

There seems no simple, single reason why Palestinians gave 76 seats out of 132 to a powerful and deadly militant group, doling out a meager 43 to Fatah, the faction that has dominated political life here for 40 years.

Clearly, some want a bigger fight with Israel. Others want more religion in public life. Some just want change.

"What is the alternative?" asked Khaled Abu Khatah Barghouti, 36, a local director of social services for the Palestinian Authority. "The alternative is Hamas."

"The majority can't explain why they voted for Hamas," he said. "But if you sit with them they will say: 'We hate Fatah. They did nothing for us. A few poor people suddenly became rich people. Hamas worked in another way. They worked with society. They worked with the poor.' "

On the surface, this village of stone walls and gnarled olive trees that local people say date from the Romans may seem a natural stronghold for Fatah. It is dominated by the Barghouti clan, the extended family of Marwan Barghouti, the popular young Fatah leader in an Israeli jail, and many villagers commute about 20 miles every day to Ramallah, the Palestinian administrative capital, to comfortable jobs in government or private business.

But it still delivered well over half of its votes to Hamas, with about a third going to Fatah. Even the list of candidates with Marwan Barghouti, who is still popular here, won less than half as many votes as the Hamas list. In part, it seems, Hamas simply ran a better campaign. A local Hamas activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared being singled out for reprisals by Israelis, said 40 Hamas representatives fanned out with voting lists before the election, making their case and even providing transportation to the polls.

"It was a well-organized campaign," he said, adding that he had expected the victory, "but the numbers were a surprise."

A local Fatah representative conceded that his party had done far less on the ground. Asked why Hamas won, the representative, Muhammad Khalil, shot back: "You should say, 'Why did Fatah lose?' Fatah is now in a period of self-evaluation."

On Friday it seemed as if everyone in town had voted for Hamas. After Friday Prayer — the local mosque was hung with green Hamas flags from the minaret on down — the men of the village convoyed through the streets, with horns honking, and boys on roofs waved flags and thumped on big bass drums.

"God is great!" children in green headbands yelled.

Celebrations like this ignite anger among many Israelis, given Hamas's responsibility for many of the deadliest suicide attacks — in crowded buses, cafes, a discothèque full of teenagers. But villagers here said, with no hesitation, that after five years of on and off conflict, they fully expected Israel now to exert a heavier hand in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

"They knew what they voted for," said Ammar Barghouti, 28, who works for a dry cleaning company in Ramallah. "They know the consequences. If they want to liberate their land, they have to suffer."

Several said they did not worry that Western nations, including those in the European Union, would cut off financial assistance. They said corrupt Fatah leaders had skimmed off much of the money anyway.

"It is not as if the people received any of it," said Nazieh Barghouti, the accountant.

The interviews here seemed to belie suggestions that Palestinians did not really think through their vote for Hamas, that it was an angry and instinctive vote to punish Fatah.

Nearly to a person, they said they had considered the risks, like international isolation or an end to hopes of negotiations with Israel for a Palestinian state. In the end they decided that the balance went to Hamas, which has no reputation for corruption and whose history of resistance might even help make a deal with Israel.

"People, when they chose Hamas, they knew they would face many challenges," said Fadia Barghouti, 33, an English teacher whose husband is in an Israeli jail under suspicion of being a Hamas leader. "The return of the Israeli Army. Financial problems."

"But they elected Hamas," she said. "They respect Hamas. They hate Fatah. They want perhaps a real state. The Israeli Army left Gaza because of resistance, not because of agreements."

She added, though, that for real change, Hamas itself might have to change.

"Now they are not only a resistance group," she said. "They are the government. They should talk and be more realistic. This is a very heavy responsibility they have taken. But I think they will be able to do it."

* Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

[Yonivore]

I agree with the article, boutons. I believe the Palestinians have traded one evil for a worse one.

And, they'll come to regret it.

[MannyIsGod]

I agree with the article, boutons. I believe the Palestinians have traded one evil for a worse one.

And, they'll come to regret it.Of course you do. Its your MO. The problem is that you never look at this country and wonder what it may have done to influence this outcome. Why be introspective when you can blame the people living in extreme poverty?

[Yonivore]

Of course you do. Its your MO. The problem is that you never look at this country and wonder what it may have done to influence this outcome. Why be introspective when you can blame the people living in extreme poverty?
Arafat was living high on the hog, what did he do for Palestinian poverty? That's exactly why Fatah was booted.

We poured billions into Arafatistan...with no strings attached, because they wouldn't allow any outside help in trying to structure a decent government. That's what you get when you throw money at a problem without having any control.

[boutons_]

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/sc/2006/sc060127.gif


http://www.creators.com/0122/CB/CB0127g.gif


http://www.creators.com/0122/LK/LK0127g.gif

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http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/logoprinter.gif


January 29, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist

The Long Transition
By DAVID BROOKS

As I watched the images from Gaza on Friday — the shocked Fatah activists burning cars and firing rifles — I couldn't help thinking that Yasir Arafat didn't live in vain. He instilled habits of mind that still shape his people.

Arafat channeled Palestinian aspirations into a romantic cause. He created symbols: the kaffiyeh, stubble and gun. He created a nationalist mythology, and instilled in his followers a revolutionary mentality: that political struggle is heroic; that lofty militancy is better than mundane governance; that vehemence is better than compromise; that opponents are evil, terrorism is noble and the eventual triumph will be sublime.

Arafat's organization grew decrepit as he aged, but it never became ordinary. Arafat rejected peace at Camp David because it would have meant giving up the struggle for mere administration. Fatah never really had a place for the prosaic tasks that concern most governments.

And so a rival grew in Palestine. Hamas is attentive to average people, but in one way it is like Fatah. Hamas is also driven by a heroic and revolutionary ideology. It also sees politics in absolutist terms, as vengeance and glory, victory or martyrdom.

The Islamists of Hamas are not as fanatical as the leaders of Iran, the former U.S. envoy Dennis Ross says, but one look at their founding charter reveals a mentality that is hate-filled, paranoid and apocalyptic.

And so while Fatah and Hamas are rivals, neither has a democratic mentality. Democracy in its everyday manifestation is bourgeois and unheroic. It is about partial victories, partial defeats and issues that are never resolved and never go away.

Yet a democratic tide is sweeping the globe, promoted not only by the U.S. but by the spirit of the times, and an election came to Palestine. Voters had to choose between two revolutionary movements, one corrupt and one attentive to their needs.

Such bad choices are becoming common across the Arab world. Democratic success depends on democratic voters and leaders, but those voters and leaders can't be created amid tyrants and terrorists. Under these conditions, the transition to democracy is like building a plane during takeoff.

But flight has begun and the democratic transition hurtles on. Palestine is entering the most traumatic phase, when a romantic, revolutionary people is compelled to transform itself into an ordinary, democratic polity.

This is, as I say, a matter of shifting mentalities, from the heroic and inspiring to the pluralistic and mundane, from poetry and theology to prose and administration. The African National Congress mostly achieved this transition in South Africa, thanks to Nelson Mandela. The Russians have only partially achieved this transition, and still favor the vehement, totalitarian politics encouraged by communist education.

There is no Mandela to lead the Palestinians toward this new mentality. There are only terrorists, the friends of terrorists or the hapless Mahmoud Abbas, a corrupt but democratic man perched precariously atop an organization of militants.

The U.S. promoted democracy in the Middle East on the bet that the transition, though traumatic, would not be catastrophic. But it must be conceded that, as Jeffrey Goldberg of The New Yorker has observed, sometimes the fever doesn't break and leave the patient cured. Sometimes the fever leaves the patient dead.

The crisis moment we all knew was coming is at hand, and all we can say now that it's begun is that the old Arab world led by absolutist movements was no paradise either.

But there is progress. Palestinian voters have already brought some accountability to the Palestinian Authority. Europe never held Arafat and his successors accountable for their corruption, lies and killing. But Palestinian voters, beginning their democratic self-education, have.

The first thing we can do now is to in turn hold the Palestinian people accountable for their choice. By clearly and steadfastly isolating Hamas, we can remind Palestinian voters that their choices too have consequences, that in democracy radical options are self-destructive, even if they make you feel good at the time.

If the Europeans refuse to isolate Hamas, if they forgive radicalism, they will destroy this budding cycle of accountability. They will reward the old revolutionary mentality. They will stop the momentum that makes this the most promising moment as well as the most dangerous. For this is the moment when a truly democratic movement might emerge, opposing both Hamas and the old Fatah.

Finding and fostering that opposition will be the next phase of the long transition.

* Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

=======================

the dubya/dickhead administration doesn't have the will and political talent to navigate such a phase and to seek and foster that opposition.

[xrayzebra]

Of course you do. Its your MO. The problem is that you never look at this country and wonder what it may have done to influence this outcome. Why be introspective when you can blame the people living in extreme poverty?

One problem with your theory. You are dealing with people who like
Mexico are corrupt to the core. Doesn't really matter which party you
attempt to deal with. Like old I-are-fat used to do, speak in English and
tell us that he was against terrorism and then in Arabic and tell them
we were bad. And all the while pocketing every dime he would get his
hands on.

[danyel]

If Israel, the US and Europe isolate the palestinians and refuse to talk to them that will only leave the door open to Iran's and Syria's influence and funding and therefor an increased radicalization (if thats even possible) by Hamas.

[Yonivore]

If Israel, the US and Europe isolate the palestinians and refuse to talk to them that will only leave the door open to Iran's and Syria's influence and funding and therefor an increased radicalization (if thats even possible) by Hamas.
First, it's not possible because Hamas embodies the extremism Iran and Syria are in the middle of trying to renew.

Second, the U.S. and Europe have been engaging that region for decades in an attempt to bring them to the table of world nations. If they step backwards, and this is definitely a step backwards, what's the point in continuing to pour our treasure and time into their future?

Screw 'em.

[danyel]

First, it's not possible because Hamas embodies the extremism Iran and Syria are in the middle of trying to renew.

Second, the U.S. and Europe have been engaging that region for decades in an attempt to bring them to the table of world nations. If they step backwards, and this is definitely a step backwards, what's the point in continuing to pour our treasure and time into their future?

Screw 'em.

Yeah, but by funding them, at least in a part, Europe and the US did have some kind of influence in the palestinian leadership, even if it was because of a corrupt interest. If thats stop then there is a absolutely nothing stopping hell to break loose.

[Yonivore]

Yeah, but by funding them, at least in a part, Europe and the US did have some kind of influence in the palestinian leadership, even if it was because of a corrupt interest. If thats stop then there is a absolutely nothing stopping hell to break loose.
If they ever did, they don't anymore.

Arafat played nice in english and fomented hate in whatever language the Palestinians speak. He was busted doing it several times.

Hamas isn't even pretending.

[Yonivore]

The Council of Foreign Relations (http://www.cfr.org/publication/9645/palestinian_authoritys_government.html#9) describes the Palestinian Authority's financial system this way:


Where does the PA government get its funding?

From a combination of overseas assistance and tax collection, Abuznaid says. He estimates that taxes—from businesses in the territories, as well as a customs tax collected by Israel and then paid to the Palestinians—account for about 40 percent of the PA budget. Donations from abroad make up the rest. The PA has run into budget trouble lately, running a massive deficit and sparking the wrath of European donors by adding thousands of people to the security service instead of cutting costs. Experts say Fatah padded its payroll with young militants to win their votes ahead of the polls, and expect the PA will be unable to pay all their salaries after the elections. Since November 2005, the European Union has withheld $42 million in aid payments to the PA as punishment for missed fiscal targets.
Sixty percent of the PA's funds come from foreign donors. American Future (http://americanfuture.net/?p=1297), quoting the Times of London (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2013607,00.html), has a breakdown of donor contributions to the Palestinian Authority (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Authority).


Arab League: $197,000,000
United States: $368,000,000
European Union: $338,000,000
Britain: $43,000,000
Italy: $40,000,000
Sweden: $32,000,000
Germany: $27,000,000
Spain: $17,000,000

TOTAL: $1,062,000,000
How well have these monies been spent? EUFunding.Org (http://www.eufunding.org/accountability/EUWorkingGroupReport.html) has copies of two reports commissioned by the European Parliament in 2003 which examined whether funds provided by the EU were used in a legal and responsible manner. This ought to give some indication of how well donor money is spent in general. The site describes the conclusions reached.


There are two versions, and members were asked yesterday to vote on the report they support. One version, the "majority opinion", is authored by Wynn and Theato, the two budgetary chairmen [Wynn and Theato report] (http://www.eufunding.org/accountability/WGPA-DRA.pdf); the second, by the Foreign Affairs Chairman, Laschet [Laschet report] (http://www.eufunding.org/accountability/DraftConclusionsLaschet.pdf). As it turned out, Laschet's version has the support of many of the proponents of the original petition. "Irreconcilable differences" make it impossible for a single report to be published. The vote on which report to publish could not have been closer: seven for the Wynn/Theato version against six for Laschet.
Apparently 60% of all payrolls were disbursed in cash and not by bank transfer, making it difficult to rule out the possibility that vast sums have been used for purposes other than intended. Nor is it clear whether these monies have been largely used to benefit the ordinary Palestinian people and not to line the pockets of the PA officials.

The Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0601290417jan29,1,5132452.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed) is reporting tensions between the defeated Fatah and the newly elected Hamas.


Young fighters and police affiliated with the defeated Fatah movement staged angry protests Saturday, firing rifles into the air outside the Palestinian presidential compound in Ramallah and marching on the parliament buildings in Gaza and the West Bank. Hundreds of Fatah members marched outside the presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, with some firing automatic rifles skyward. They demanded the resignation of Fatah's Central Committee and rejected any alliance with Hamas in the new government. "No partnership with Hamas," they chanted.
Part of the problem may be rivalry over who will control the money. The fact that a large proportion of the Palestinian Authority's money comes from external sources can create what can be called the Simple Plan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312952716/103-9483678-4319810?v=glance&n=283155) effect, after a book written in 1994 about a group of friends who stumble onto four million dollars and eventually wind up killing each other for its possession. Roger Stern of Johns Hopkins University writing at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0503705102v1) has a more sophisticated version of the Simple Plan effect applied to regional politics. He argues that monopoly rents arising from the huge difference between the lifting cost of oil and the cartel price has created a vast inflow of money from the rest of the world which has destabilized the Middle East. Stern writes that warfare in the Middle East is:


warfare for monopoly proceeds. In such war, the aggressor’s goal is not to deny supply but to gain more of it to sell, as in Iraq’s invasions of Iran and Kuwait. Although this logic escaped U.S. policymakers, it was plain to one economist:


If the [Hussein] regime survives [the coming 1991 Gulf War], without a large U.S. presence . . . the whole region and a far more effective oil monopoly is his. Higher revenues will buy more arms, which will lead to more conquest and hence higher revenues. As he occupies one neighbor after another, he will absorb their wealth and gain territory for launching further attacks. (ref. 22, pp. 537–548 Adelman, M. A. (1993) The Economics of Petroleum Supply MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)
Adelman’s insight is that oil market power, not oil per se, creates instability in the Persian Gulf. More simply, each firmstate’s monopoly proceeds are a potential war prize to another.
The Congo too has been cursed by wealth which is there for the taking, because it is independent of whether the society which surrounds it is devastated. Global Security (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/congo.htm) writes:


It has long been established that the exploitation of these resources, including coltan, gold, and diamonds in eastern Congo, and diamonds, copper, cobalt, and timber in central DRC, contributed to and exacerbated the conflict in the DRC. Concerned with reports of pillaging of resources by the foreign forces, the UN Security Council mandated an independent panel to investigate these allegations. The panel has produced a series of reports, detailing the circumstances of this exploitation.

But whereas the Congo is wracked by a war over its natural riches, the struggle for donor funds in Palestine is a perverse scavenger's brawl over the begging bowl of the Palestinian people. Perhaps never before has a government stood to gain more from the misery of its people (60% foreign aid) than their prosperity (40% taxes). It creates a perverse set of incentives and one wonders whether 'in such wars, the goal is not to diminish misery but to gain more of it to sell ...'. Just wondering. Just thinking out loud...