Khaddafi Day: "China Will Win In Africa"

I watched Erick Stackelbeck's new Stak Attack at Hot Air on what Khadaffi is up to and you should too. And it reminded me of something I've wanted to blog about for a while now.

Qaddafi's still evil, as Erick documents, but he's not stupid. He's even smarter than Saddam, and hence he's still alive. And for both of those reasons, he's worth paying attention to. Something he posted on his blog a while back (you knew he had a blog, didn't you? Everyone has one) rang a few bells up in my drafty old belfry.

I have this friend--smart guy--who travels a lot and his job took him to Africa for an extended stay. Over a dinner after his return, less than a year ago, he mentioned how many inroads China is making on the African continent. This was something he had seen himself and discussed with people there. Africa is rich in natural resources that the developed world needs--petroleum, diamonds, uranium, that one kind of metal they use to make cell phones--and China considers itself a world power. And they're gaining influence.

What was especially interesting was his explanation as to why. China will play ball with anybody. They don't demand a buttload of human rights reforms or transparency in government. They'll bribe leaders, and they'll sell guns to keep their populace in line (In fairness, we do that too--but not to just anybody.) Unlike America, they don't have a bug up their rears about democracy and freedom and accountability and transparency. So they're welcome in a lot of places that American ideals are not.

That was nearly a year ago. Here's Qaddafi addressing a group of Oxford students this May:

What is happening now is the emergence of a conflict between China and the US over Africa. It is my duty to be the first to sound the alarm against this menace.

This subject is being broached very timidly and hesitantly. It is like someone who is suffering from a disease but decides to ignore it until it is too late. I do not wish to hide the truth from the peoples of Africa or of the whole world. A new conflict is emerging in Africa. It will take Africa back to being an arena of competition between the major powers. That conflict is likely to drain the energy of its main protagonists; the US and China.

Let me describe clearly the approach taken by each of those two countries. America is taking a harsh, rough approach to Africa. It is coming in with soldiers, weapons and military bases. It is seeking military bases and an American military command in Africa. It grossly interferes in the internal affairs of Africa. Human rights, which are not given any attention inside the US itself, are used as a pretext to penetrate African and to exert pressure on it. It trumpets human rights and democracy despite the fact that democracy does not exist in America or elsewhere. It talks of good governance, while in reality there is no such thing. It interferes in each and every aspect of internal affairs. If a lackey of America or an agent of the CIA is apprehended or investigated, America demands to know every detail. Where that person was incarcerated, what happened to him and why? Is there any country in the world that could request similar information from America about one of its own citizens under similar circumstances? Of course not. Then how could America arrogate such right to itself. This is America’s harsh approach into Africa.

China and the US are competitors. They both wish to colonize Africa and benefit from its wealth. However, China is taking a soft approach. China does not lecture African countries about their system of government, human rights, freedom of expression, good governance or such like. China never interferes in the internal affairs of other states. It does not bring in soldiers, military bases or military command. More than 600 Chinese corporations are penetrating deep into Africa. Some Chinese communities have started to settle in Africa. This is China’s soft approach.

Because of that soft approach, Africans are welcoming China warmly. This will no doubt be to China’s benefit. Africans are wary of the US because of its harsh approach. ... China will win in Africa.

What to do? America's "hard" vision of freedom and liberty used to be our greatest selling point. We can't abandon it or ignore it. More importantly, we can't be false to our Charter, which stated that

"...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

All Men. Africans included. We had a little intramural discussion about that a century and a half ago. Those principles inspired some of the world's greatest struggles against tyranny--at home and abroad. They're true, and they're not just rhetoric, and if we forget them than we're just China with better cars.

No, that's non-negotiable, so we have to double down. We can't back off of our founding ideals and even if we sometimes fail to live up to them, even if we sometimes disagree what they mean and what they require in a given situation. The ideas are out there and they've already changed the world. Because they're true. And thugs like Qad'haffee are scared of them. We ought to be proud of them.

So I think, as a start, we ought to fire up the public diplomacy engines into the redline. We need to start preaching the American dream all over the world once again. We need a serious and vital Voice of America going on everywhere in every medium we can reach. We won't convince Kaddafy and Mugabe and the goons of Khartoum, but we're not trying to. We're trying to reach people directly, real people who might be kindled with the idea of self-government and disgusted with tyranny.

Especially flatulent tyranny. That's the worstest kind.

Past JYB Libya blogging here, supporting some very cautious engagement with him--if nothing else to set an example to the Mugabes and Chavezes of the world.