>-- Dennis
>They're not begging, they're *working* -- on farms, factories, mines,
plantations, businesses, etc. Their labor is expropriated by a vicious
I may have misquoted Robert Kaplan on his analogy. Substitute "hungry" for "starving". His is fully aware that those outside the limo are exploited by their own elites, and by first-world elites. He also sees geography and climate as being major determinants of history. As for first-world elites, he details how ethnic groups in sub-Sahara Africa spread horizontally, while the countries there were split vertically by the first world, a brain-dead plan that has led to chaos.
>with global culture, I can tell you that in spite of all the obstacles one
could think of, folks who live in the neocolonies produce stunning works of
art, novels, stories
He spends quite a lot of time in his books speaking of the cultures and history of the area he travels through, sometimes going back hundreds of years to explain how a certain ethnic group got where it is now. He spends considerable time on the culture and art of Persia/Iran and Turkey, areas he obvious deeply respects. One thing that impresses me about his books is that he talks to everyone. One day, for example, he may walk into a shantytown in Africa, talking to people there, then have dinner with an ambassador that night.
He's no imperialist, he sees the West as, basically, being clueless as what to do to help, and Western help as often hurting far more than helping. He is not optimistic about what is coming, hence the title of the book, The Coming Anarchy.
You mentioned you deal with global culture. What sorts of things do you do?