Helping this country is futile

NATO has been at it for years, yet look at the current situation. Surely it is time for the foreigners to get out and let the locals settle it themselves (let me know if you recognized the place):

"[...]

For years the electricity grid has been so unreliable that just keeping the lights on in his retail stores has been a daily struggle...

Even if...can overcome those political hurdles, its economy has been so devastated by war that it imports even staples like milk and meat. It is ranked by Transparency International, the Berlin-based anticorruption watchdog, as the world’s fourth most corrupt economy, after Cameroon, Cambodia and Albania. Whether...can build a successful economy will help determine whether it can become a full-fledged country...or will remain a poor adopted orphan of the West...

For the foreseeable future, Western analysts say, ...'s economy will remain dependent on generous aid, its security assured by 16,000 NATO troops...

Scrap metal from old cars is ...’s biggest export. Infrastructure is creaky, businesspeople complain that bribery is commonplace and unemployment is about 50 percent, government officials say..."

I'm awaiting the droning, gloom- and doom-laden CBC documentary on the country (Milnet.ca comment thread here). More material to support the "no real hope in sight" view for the CBC can be found here.

Damian P.

Posted by markc at March 25, 2008 10:23 PM