Somalia's Progress

As many of you know, Somalia has been a "black hole" for many years now. Rebel groups have battled for control of cities, pirates have hijacked ships off the coast, and the government is barely existent. After the failed United States Operation Black Hawk, the west has mostly stayed out of the affairs of Somalia. However, in recent months, Somalia has made giant leaps of progress into becoming a more organized and peaceful nation. The government has become much stronger and has held control of Mogadishu for many months now. Shops and stores are opening up again, and the city is beginning to become more like it was so many years ago. The economy is picking up and they are currently exporting at a greater rate than ever before in the last 30 years. Although this progress is promising, there are still many who believe this progress is only temporary. The militant group Al-Shabab is still powerful in other parts of the country, and has tried several times to take back control of the Capitol. The future is promising, but can they hold on to it?

A Somali government soldier patrolling the streets.

Total Control

     Modern society is in slavery. Not to a particular person, but to a thing that controls everything. Oil. People in Africa live in extreme poverty, thousands dying every day from starvation. Meanwhile, in the middle east things are going good all because of their oil. The U.S. Government and other western governments turn a blind eye to the atrocities in smaller African countries, because to them, they don't get anything out of helping them. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, under the first President Bush, the U.S. launched gulf storm, meant to protect Kuwait from Iraq. The total civilian casualty rate is believed to be roughly 4,500. However, a mere four years later when the Hutus were massacring the Tutsis by the thousands in Rwanda. A very large portion of the casualties were children. The Hutus were targeting the child Tutsis hoping to wipe out the next generation of Tutsis. A total of at least one million Tutsis, 15% of the country's total population, were ruthlessly massacred. What did the U.S. and other western powers do? Absolutely nothing. For three months, Bill Clinton and congress decided that no action was necessary to defend these helpless people who had never wronged us. Fear is still in the hearts of the Tutsis in Rwanda. They won't forget when they needed us, we weren't there for them. Perhaps one day, we will need them, and they will remember this occasion, and simply let us suffer, as we made them do.

     Our country has become completely dependent on oil. It's a drug for the whole country that we can't stop using, but sooner or later, it will all run out. When that happens, unless we find a better source of energy within the next few years, will be the end of western prosperity. It's a time bomb we are holding in our hands, not knowing when it will go off, only knowing it eventually will. Time is running out and when it does, it will be too late.

American fighter jets over Iraq during Desert Storm.

An American tank patrolling an oil field.

A pile of machetes used in the Rwandan Genocide.

Corpses of massacred Tutsis.

A common makeshift graveyard.