Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
African nations are ex-colonial administrative units. The term "African state" doesn't mean much in practice.
Having been independent for between 30-50 years African nations have lost the ability to blame all their current woes on the legacy of colonialism and the Cold War (principally the USA) - except in their own minds it appears.

It is not conducive to informed debate when old hackneyed cliches and soundbites are dropped into a thread without substantiation and often out of context.

It continues to interest me how the USA continues to be criticised its role during the Cold War period as if there was no threat from the competing interests of the Soviet Union and Communist China.

Yes in retrospect with the 20:20 vision of a monday morning quarterback it is obvious that the US fumbled a number of situations... but this incessant whining about the USA and the almost complete lack of comment (thereby probably indicating a lack of understanding) of the role of other Cold War players is irritating to say the least. The USA were not operating in a vacuum.