Kleptocracy Quotes
In this context, “rent" means payment is required for the use or right to use anything such as using land for a pipeline, for mining, prospecting for oil, the rights to fish for caviar sturgeon, erecting a building, obtaining an official document, etc. The Russian economic system and culture has created a striving for getting paid to grant rights as opposed to getting paid for making something, creating something, or performing a service for someone. In the breakup of the Soviet Union, some individuals obtained (by various means) the right to charge rent to others for much of the great trove of Russian land, waters and other natural resources. They became billionaires – oligarchs – and many are still paying off government officials to control those rights.
His foundation is trying to improve development and health in much of the world and he was remarking on how difficult it is if the local government is not attuned to it and supportive.
TR won the Nobel Peace prize for mediating between Czarist Russia and the Japanese both of which believed he thought well of them.
At the time, the Congo was notorious for the huge number of rapes and the fact that rape was being used as a tool of intimidation by the government troops who the government claims are there to protect the public and also by the rebel forces who claim to be fighting for the people including the women they rape. In reality, the Congo is very rich in natural resources and the battles for control of the country are all really driven by the money to be made from the resources. The absurd denial by the ambassador has got to be one of the more hypocritical denials in diplomatic annals.
Rent Seeking: When a company, organization or individual uses their resources to obtain an economic gain from others without reciprocating any benefits back to society through wealth. Google Definition
This is one of the best statements on one of the major reason that terrible leaders stay in power in much of the world but especially Africa. In Uganda, they got rid of the maniacal dictator, Idi Amin, by allowing him to keep some of the money he stole and giving him asylum from world prosecution in Saudi Arabia. It was an unjust and unfair solution as he was never accountable for his crimes against humanity, and he lived well on the money he stole, but thousands of lives were saved and Uganda then was able to grow and develop. It is a Hobsen’s choice for Africa and the World. Both solutions are terrible, and few have ever been able to choose the pragmatic route that was taken in Uganda.
