More Good News from Africa

Thomas PM Barnett links to a great article in the Washington Post about the growing middle class in Africa.

This is the stuff that I really think McCain is good at, though he does not talk about it nearly enough. As an unabashed free trader, his approach offers more hope for the growing economies of Latin America and Africa than does Obama's completely protectionist approach.

The irony is that Obama, with his Kenyan heritage, is more hostile in his policy prescriptions to Africa's aspirations than old white Republican McCain.

Africa Ascendant

A great piece from Roger Cohen on good news from Africa (among other places) in the New York Times:

During a short stay in Ghana, which will hold free elections in December, Vodafone had bought a majority stake in Ghana Telecom for $900 million (entering a fiercely competitive mobile-phone market) and I’d heard much about 6 percent annual growth, spreading broadband and new high-end cacao ventures.

Accra, the capital, is buzzing. Russian hedge funds are investing. New construction abounds. Technology enables people in the capital to text money transfers via mobile phone to poor relatives in the bush.

I don’t think that picture is exceptional these days for Africa, where growth averaged close to 6 percent last year and I sense a fundamental change in attitudes to governance, trade, the private sector and political accountability.

His killer summation is, "Africa Ascendant is not yet a slogan that sells. It will be."

Read the whole thing.