Nostradamus - Right or Wrong?

I was talking to human rights activist Gearóid Ó Cuinn last night, and he told me a story about the building of Knock Airport in County Mayo, Ireland. Apparently, one justification for the building of such a huge runway in such a small town was to provide a facility for the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims arriving to visit the local shrine dedicated to a sighting there of the Virgin Mary in 1879. However, there is also a local rumour that the innocent pilgrims were merely a foil to conceal the fact that the real reason for its construction was to provide a platform for the landing of US bombers on their way to Libya in the late 1980s.

To some, this may appear to be another urban myth; just one of those teasing conspiracy theories that we all like to believe might be true. Whatever the valid facts are, the idea isn’t as implausible as you might think. No, for such schemes of duplicity are taking place right now in Africa - in particular, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Chinese are investing £4.5bn in the reconstruction of Congo’s crumbling and derelict infrastructure. The vast project, which will triple Congo's current paved road network, is part of a “roads-for-minerals“ deal that was signed in January. As well as the roads, the Congolese have been promised the repair of 2,000 miles of largely defunct railways, the building of 32 hospitals and 145 health centres, the installation of two electricity distribution networks, and the construction of two hydropower dams and two new airports. Impressive stuff indeed, and designed to convince the world, perhaps, that China is the new magnanimous benefactor to the Third World.

If only things were that simple. The truth of the situation is that the Congolese are being robbed blind. In return for a £4.5bn injection, the Chinese stand to gain five or maybe ten times that figure in mineral extraction. The improvements they will be making to the road and rail networks are not part of an altruistic gesture to improve the lot of the Congolese poor workers – no, they are being carried out so that the Chinese can get the minerals out of the country as quickly as possible. Such activity won’t be restricted to the Congo either – China is poised to swallow the whole of the African continent, and there will be very little the rest of the world can do about it. Why else do you think they vetoed the recent resolution for sanctions against Mugabe? This latest action makes a mockery of the G8 which, as an organization, may as well be dismantled for all the world clout it has these days. The West’s Imperialism is finished and there is no point in Gordon Brown bleating on that China’s veto has “cast doubt on its reliability as a G8 ally”. China doesn’t care, and no more does Russia; nobody is listening.

Our position as a World Power has come to an end and we may as well sit back and accept that fact. The good news is that we only have to suffer the indignity of this situation for a few more years. After the 21st December 2012, it won’t matter anymore. Nothing will.

Chins up my lovelies!