And yet they're leading the world on a policy issue that nearly every
person in rich, developed nations has in their top 10 most urgent
concerns. Galling isn't it?
You're sitting here celebrating what exactly? Their continued descent into eternal poverty and de-industrialization? Most people over there have a shit standard of living, but people like you are sitting here and celebrating that?
Here's an example I have first hand experience with.
Portugal was often considered the "poor man of Europe". When I was there at the end of the last century it was almost impossible to get reliable communication without a satellite phone. I was stuck out in the mountains where nobody could afford a telephone since the cost of having copper run over 10km was too much even if the whole village clubbed together.
I returned to London and thought rather little of it for years until I spoke to a family member there who said, I'll just email you some photos over. Seconds later my inbox was filled with hi-res jpegs. This must be costing you a fortune, I said, thinking of the old satphone. No, we're using the new dish!
In Portugal, between 1999 and 2004, using a big EU development grant, most of the "poor south" went from having no telecoms at all to having some of the finest and cheapest in Europe. It was perfect for new LOS microwave links that meshed across the country. In fact, without a legacy of copper providers to wrestle with, the transition was cheaper and smoother.
It's called "leapfrogging", which is a concept used in economics and business to describe rapid growth that bypasses stages assumed to be necessary, see Schumpeter, Stiglitz and Tirole and [0]
I do know a little something of what Ethiopia is like from people who've served or lived there - so the lecture from someone who probably can't find it on a map is a tad tedious. As I understand it's a beautiful and fertile place, sadly torn by endless war.
Anyway, you may know that African countries are leapfrogging at an astonishing rate, often spurred by Chinese investment. Indeed their "disadvantage" may be their greatest advantage, of not being under the heel of Western interests. They don't need to go through the environmentally devastating process of petrochemical industrialism if they can just go straight to a post-petro economy.
Now if you've got something civil and interesting to say about Chinese investment, what that might mean I'd love to hear. But all said, hats-off to them.
It was a very nice country and I'd love to go back, but it's still the "poor south" of Europe.
Maybe you can "leapfrog" on phone service, but there's no modernist replacement for clean water, sewage disposal, and reliable electric power.