>but it's a truth that must be confronted

Why? I really do not care anymore. How much have been poured in? How many marshall plans in $? While Germany rose from a bombed out nation in 1945 to the EU's strongest economy?

South Korea too is even more impressive, from an illiterate peasant nation to now with Samsung and all that.

Japan got hit with the most destructive man made weapon, twice. Granted, they were an Asian powerhouse up to WW2.

I think the key is education and "making your own shit". Have any African nations made weapons, planes, tanks, communications equipment, trains, cars, and now computers and phones in the same ilk?

Being Swedish, we are 10milion only and have made planes, submarines, ericsson + vast mining and forest operations with assorted companies. :)