Sudan

From the NYTimes:

Key quote--

Despite the image of Sudan as a land of cracked earth and starving people, the economy is booming, with little help from the West. Oil has turned it into one of the fastest growing economies in Africa — if not the world — emboldening the nation’s already belligerent government and giving it the wherewithal to resist Western demands to end the conflict in Darfur. American sanctions have kept many companies from Europe and the United States out of Sudan, but firms from China, Malaysia, India, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are racing in. Direct foreign investment has shot up to $2.3 billion this year, from $128 million in 2000, all while the American government has tried to tighten the screws.

The future belongs to Africa--politically, militarily, economically. And when the US finally gets off this hobbyhorse about Asia, which will have to rule itself anyway, and focus on Africa, China will be there already at every step.

Child labor is up in sub-Saharan Africa, the only place on earth where this happening. Child labor is historically linked with the earliest (and most horrific) phase of industrialization. It is where what Friedman called the economic herd is headed next, like it or not. Without invovlement, this push will make ss Africa the perfect breeding ground for Islamism, 4Gw terrorism, and even perhaps al-Qaeda jihadism. [See Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia].

God save the people of Darfur because it's pretty clear no humans are coming to their aid anytime soon.