No time at all today (finals);

This is a conflict I admittedly do not know much about, the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of  Congo. I link you to a recent NYT article, which does as good a job as I could in explaining the conflict.

This conflict has all of the “textbook” features of a “modern conflict”: human rights violations, underinvestment in human and physical capital, bad governance and a “resource curse”. The issue is further complicated by geopolitical (“landlocked with bad neighbors”) and ethnic diversity (a legacy of colonial rule similar to many current day Middle-East conflicts) issues.

As I am very busy, I would like to turn the discussion over to you, the reader. What should the U.S. do about the conflict in the DRC? Is is possible to separate a humanitarian “Responsibility to Protect” with an estimated $24 billion in natural resources in the DRC. Do developed countries, who use their own resources, have a right to be “repaid” for their services in the form of preferential natural resource contracts?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, and will be sure to address them as soon as possible (probably Thursday)