Harris Announces Plans To Help 80% of Africa Gain Access To the Internet (apnews.com) 94
Vice President Kamala Harris has announced the formation of a new partnership to help provide internet access to 80% of Africa by 2030, up from roughly 40% now. From a report: The announcement comes as follow-through on Harris' visit to the continent last year and in conjunction with this week's visit to Washington by Kenyan President William Ruto. Harris and the Kenyan leader had a public chat on Friday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about how public-private partnerships can increase economic growth. "Many could rightly argue that the future is on the continent of Africa," said Harris, noting that the median age in Africa is 19, a sign of the potential for economic growth. "It is not about, and simply about aid, but about investment and understanding the capacity that exists." Africa has struggled to obtain the capital needed to build up its industrial and technological sectors.
I could have sworn (Score:3, Insightful)
When I started to read the title, I I could have sworn that it was about EVs, like; Harris Announces Plans To Help 80% of Africa Gain Access To EVs.
Anyway, maybe Harris should begin with taking care of American people first.
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FOAD, neoNazi.
Re:I could have sworn (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway, maybe Harris should begin with taking care of American people first.
Taking care of Africa is taking care of America's long-term interests.
Population growth is still soaring in Africa, leading to instability, insurgencies, and more global warming. Prosperity and literacy cause population growth to decline, and getting people online is a good way to help with that.
African countries with open economies and connected citizens are likelier to align with the West. It is the illiterate backwaters hiring Wagner mercenaries.
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No chance - the Chinese have already bought Africa already by making sure they line the pockets of those that matter.
The US and Europe are ham-strung by corruption laws - not as issue for the Chinese where it is all state directed.
Re:I could have sworn (Score:4, Funny)
So we're going to spend US tax dollars to bring more spammers and scammers online.
At one of my companies we blocked the entire African continent's IP range(s). Nothing of value was lost.
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Re:I could have sworn (Score:5, Interesting)
Lol, it isn't bigotry to note how many Americans, mostly old people, get fucked over by African scammers every year. Dropping the B word or the R word doesn't score points with me.
But I will address your serious points despite your ad hominem roll in the mud.
Africa has 2 big problems preventing most of the continent from becoming productive.
1) internal corruption of political leadership
2) Western countries, mostly European, sending endless piles of free shit that locals are perfectly capable of producing but can't because the free shit is free and destroys the possibility of locals developing a real economy
Giving 'free' net to Africa will only destroy the possibility locals develop their own economy around that, too. The odds Kamala decided on her own that Africa 'needed' their net fixed is zero. This is just resume fluff after she's done nothing else for 4 years. Like being Border Czar. This is about fucking over both US tax payers and Africans to give free money to banks and other corporations that are friendly with the administration and lining the pockets of African warlords to make it happen. And why the US anyway? Africa isn't broken because of the US. Europe fucked up Africa big time and still does to this day.
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Bigot: : a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person. especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)
I do not hate or dislike Africans. The ones I've met here were all quality people. I do hate scammers. Africa has a great many scammers. Bringing more online will bring more scammers fucking over old people. That's it. There's no more to it than that.
Africa isn't the only place I'd
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Uh yeah that's an interesting and uncommon definition of the word. If you want to play Alice in Wonderland Humpty Dumpty word games, more power to you. Even so, that definition still does not apply.
I'm aware of why there are so many scammers.
I'm opposed to the causes of so many scammers. I believe we agree on the root causes at heart.
I still don't want my tax dollars going to bring more of them online.
Me not wanting more scammers online is a perfectly rational desire not rooted in ignorance, hatred or in
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Omg now you're rewriting the dictionary. You find dictionaries Orwellian and like Humpty Dumpty you demand that words mean what you want them to mean when you want them to mean that.
Done here. There's no point in dealing with someone who can't even accept the definition of words from one of the most popular English dictionaries on the planet.
Go live in your own little safe space where you can make up whatever you want.
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Wall of text unread. Try paragraphs.
I skimmed for key words and saw more silly shit about Orwell and how I used the wrong dictionary even though you don't know what dictionary I used and this is an American site.
Have a nice day.
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Omg are you still here?
Whatever dude. I'm not reviewing our dozen+ posts to remind myself of exactly what dumb point you were failing to make a week or two ago so I can tell you the same thing again.
Drop the obsession with your dumb thread and move on.
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I'm reply, I just don't read more than the first sentence because what for? After the first 6+ times you said the same nonsense there was no point.
Do you feel special? Let your therapist know.
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*cough* slaves *cough*
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That is ancient history...move the fuck on please.
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*cough* slaves *cough*
Less than 1% of the Atlantic slave trade went to the U.S., and only 4% went to North America.
The vast majority of the Atlantic slave trade went to Brazil and the Caribbean.
The U.S. banned the slave trade in 1807, only the second country to do so after the UK.
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Anyway, maybe Harris should begin with taking care of American people first.
Well, it's possible that in a long game this IS "taking care of American people first". Most developed nations are staring down the barrel of demographic collapse, and we'll need to import younger people to save our aging sorry asses.
Maybe this time we can nicely invite young Africans here to trade our opportunities for their help, rather than stealing and enslaving them. Helping them to be educated and self-sufficient before they come here might be considered a form of altruistic selfishness.
There! Putting
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We've got more than enough already coming across our southern border here in the US.
We don't need the warlords, low education and potential new diseases carrying folks from Africa coming over for any reason at this time.
Re: I could have sworn (Score:2)
To AI, you insensitive clod.
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maybe Harris should begin with taking care of American people first.
Every single time someone says this they never mean "first," they always mean "only." This is the slogan of the selfish, the shortsighted, and the cowardly.
Okay Mr. Maga, let's rephrase it: "Harris announces plans to help open up 80% of Africa to American markets. Social media companies rejoice at the prospect of even more victims, while the domestic spying industry surges on Wall Street. One presumptive presidential nominee is quoted as saying, 'I don't support anything that helps black people or foreig
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> they always mean "only."
It must be handy being able to read people's minds.
> This is the slogan of the selfish, the shortsighted, and the cowardly.
No, it's the slogan of those with a well-formed sense of self-preservation. The US has provided the people of Africa with well over a trillion dollars in foreign aid over the last 50 years. That's roughly an order of magnitude more that what was spent, inflation adjusted, on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe. The US state department has warnings not
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Maybe her boss is already pushing faster 'Net access for most Americans?
Subsidizing Starlink then? (Score:3, Interesting)
Getting internet access out to the whole of Africa is a great goal.
The most practical way to do that of course is by subsidizing Starlink for faster rollout and cheap terminals. So hopefully that is the plan...
Africa already has something like seven African countries supported [starlink.com], seems like it would be easy to expand that.
Re:Subsidizing Starlink then? (Score:4, Interesting)
The most practical way to do that of course is by subsidizing Starlink
That makes sense for rural areas, but not for cities.
It would not be cost-effective for cities, and a satellite passing over Lagos doesn't have near enough bandwidth.
So hopefully that is the plan...
Biden/Harris hate Musk, so I'd be surprised if that's the plan.
African cities do have internet you know... (Score:1)
That makes sense for rural areas, but not for cities.
Wouldn't most of the large cities *already* have decent internet options? What exactly is your plan to improve there? All of the large or even medium size cities in Africa I've been to (just a handful admittedly) had OK internet.
The area you can vastly improve lives, is rural internet (AND electricity while you are at it, but internet connectivity is harder to fix so more important to address).
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All of the large or even medium size cities in Africa I've been to (just a handful admittedly) had OK internet.
That is likely selection bias.
Westerners visit Nairobi, Mombasa, Capetown, Accra, and Dakar.
They're far less likely to visit SH cities like Addis Ababa, Kinshasha, Freetown, Mogadishu, or Bangui.
Re:Subsidizing Starlink then? (Score:4, Insightful)
this is not philanthropy. it's regular business and grooming, getting part of the cake before china has it all. they're a bit late.
Mastercard will register 15 million users in Africa onto its Community Pass platform, providing the interoperable digital infrastructure to facilitate involvement from a range of ecosystem participants.
Equity Bank Group will provide accessible, affordable, and inclusive financial services to farmers and micro-, small-, and medium-sized agricultural businesses to support building of the digital ecosystem.
Microsoft will empower community hubs and digital agents with the necessary connectivity, digital tools, and skilling to become pivotal digital interaction points for essential community services.
Heifer International will catalyze last mile digital visibility and traceability in agriculture through ecosystem strengthening and curated financial and technical support for micro, small, and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs.
Unconnected.org will contribute its technology and management expertise to provide meaningful internet access at affordable costs through savings on hardware, software and connectivity services.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/bri... [whitehouse.gov]
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Great, those motherfuckers can pay for it. I can think of countless things better to do with my tax money than subsidize bankers and Microsoft.
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This isn't a plan to give Africans internet. This is a plan to allow her friends to get government contracts and taxpayer money to go setup a few show towers during a vacation to Africa.
Kenya already has Internet (Score:5, Informative)
It's a bit different for poorer African countries. And this is a good type of investment, it will improve the US standing, provide tangible benefits, and it has much less corruption potential than things like food aid.
She continues to prove that she is a total idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
Best thing that America can do for Africa is MORE 2-way trade and make sure that it is 2-ways.
Do not dump freebie stuff on them and destroy their private companies.
Do not just do business with their top leaders or large businesses, when the ones that REALLY need it are the small and medium size businesses (just like we need it in America).
And above all, do not support businesses/leaders that have worse environmental/labor laws/issues than we have in the west ( Poppa Bush/Clinton/Trump all screwed up NAFTA 1/2 by not requiring Mexico to bring up their environment and labor laws ).
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The article literally says economic growth.
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It works like, this:
US tax dollars get used to build our more net in Africa, destroying the local ISP's who can't compete because they're not funded by US tax dollars but have to run a real business.
Then US banks and Microsoft and other scum bags move in to reap the benefits of raping the African economy.
And US tax payers get more spam and scammers to deal with.
Sounds like the wrong kind of economic development.
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OK, but ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:OK, but ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously. USA has too many problems. Take care of those first please.
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One way or another ... (Score:1)
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Joe is extremely unlikely to be the D candidate and if he is he's behind in almost every poll and losing in most of the battleground states. If the election were today he loses.
Harris is not at all likely to be in the WH. She's already put out feelers for being California Governor.
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Joe is extremely unlikely to be the D candidate
Wow, you're even dumber we thought.
Who is going to be on the top of the ticket, if not Biden? Get a fucking clue.
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Just last week, while reporting the preferred-leader surveys, pundits literally mentioned the GOP is already pretending they've won. It's good of you to confirm that.
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Ok whatever. I read all the new polls every day as they come out. You got your numbers from where?
You do realize it's a common statement going back many elections, "if the election were held today, $candidate would win"?
If you don't know that then you have no business in a discussion on politics.
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> If the election were today he loses.
but it isn't today and he won't be there come November
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Uh yeah as I already said, "If the election were held today" is something that gets said in every election going back. Please see where I already covered this.
Help Africa become developed already (Score:2)
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Why is it our responsibility to fix the mess Europe made?
Princes (Score:2)
Based on the number of princes I have received emails from over the past 25 years I would say Africa is pretty set on Internet access. How about taking care of USA access first Harris? I'm tired of taxpayer money getting spent on other countries that need to get their own house in order first.
Marie Antoinette worrying about essential needs (Score:4, Funny)
If people are hungry, they can look up a place to eat on the internet.
My tax dollars at work. (Score:2)
Starlink (Score:1)
Uh starlink already enables this. Just subsidize neighborhood Starlink terminals and WiFi. Done.
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Border Czar working on African net (Score:3, Funny)
I'm sure she'll fix their network issues right after she solves the border problems. She;s been doing great there. Maybe she'll even visit the border once before she leaves office.
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VP of the US? (Score:2)
I'm sorry, but there's enough to do here in this country with tax payer dollars before you go looking overseas.. This is just not the person I want next in line to the presidency after an 81 year old with clear indications of mental decline... not that I want Trump, but sheesh, give a reasonable choice.
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Internet? (Score:2)
Maybe food, clean water and medicines would be more important, wouldn't it?
Serious whackjob thinking here... (Score:2)
"Africa has struggled to obtain the capital needed to build up its industrial and technological sectors."
Speaking from first-hand experience, it's because, in Africa, funding is stolen as soon as it appears and subsistence thinking remains all the rage. The future is a non-existent country.
It's a garbage continent with garbage cultures.Intentionally ignorant, violent, delusional, masochistic, credulous and enabling, often iin a celebratory manner, of criminality to a degree that would make drug cartels blink.
The continent suffers from some weird form of arrested development and has proven, time and again, to
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Oh yeah, & you're a racist piece of victim-blaming garbage.
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Oh yeah, & you're a racist piece of victim-blaming garbage.
Uninformed opinions are the best. Please continue to spew them wherever you may roam.
The colonial era did nothing to produce the prevelant cultural issues. They existed long before the evil white man arrived with his technology and new ideas. They exist still today. Romanticizing this shiat is how Africa continues to play the victim card at every oppurtunity whilst those in charge continue to abuse their position for personal gain at the direct expense of the population at large.
You'd be hard pressed to mee
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FFS, study some history that wasn't written by other racist pieces of victim-blaming garbage.
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You're still a racist piece of victim-blaming garbage.
BabelFish: Waaaa! - You don't conform with my simplistic, utterly uninformed and delusional view of reality so WAAAAAA!
We get it. You're an adult child incapable of cogent thought or,... you know,... engagement with reality.
Your juvenile view of the universe is both hilarious and depressing. Well done, child. Well done.
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In the meantime (Score:2)
China and Russia try to get 80% of Africa access to food.
Guess who will be more popular by the people.
Really, folks. PRIORITIES!
Today's public private partnerships... (Score:2)
How about getting internet to rural areas (Score:2)
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NOPE. I don't want any of my taxes going to rural Americans who already are the welfare queens of the nation. They are supposed to be independent types who pick themselves up by their own bootstraps and bitch heavily about anybody getting assistance in the cities... where 90% of us live.
Plus they get more voting power their their tiny brains can cope with. Give me equal representation and I'll consider subsidizing your habit of conspiracies.
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Good (Score:2)
If Harris really wants to help Africa (Score:2)
Oh boy... (Score:2)
More virtue signalling and white saviorism poisoning the African continent and compromising African sovereignty and self-sufficiency, all so more American tax dollars can get funneled to multinational conglomerates and self-serving "non-profits".
How about we take that money and instead hand it out as annual bonuses to the top 100 teachers in the US?
More (Score:2)
More Nigerian princes, please. Thank you.