
Rich countries carry out '21st century land grab' - alexandros
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026854.200-rich-countries-carry-out-21st-century-land-grab.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
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flashgordon
What this does not address is that the richer countries have a lot more
leverage than the poorer nations (duh). As a result, even though in theory it
may present a lot more opportunities for the poorer nations to trade resources
for help, the lack of leverage may mean a more tending towards slavery (except
with "formalised" agreements). One way around this would be if the poorer
nations united to increase their collective bargaining power. But isnt the
lack of unity one of the causes of poverty (from wars and ethnic conflicts)?

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mhartl
_History may be repeating itself. Until the mid-20th century, many European
countries grew rich on the resources of their colonies._

This is true, if by "history" you mean "Something about the past that lots of
people believe, but is wrong."

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turkishrevenge
Would you care to elaborate?

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mhartl
Though it makes for a nice good vs. evil story, the idea that big bad European
nations got rich by exploiting resource-rich colonies has little basis in
fact. If I recall my high-school European history right, historians are
divided on whether colonies were even a net economic positive. In any case,
wealth comes from productive capacity (the ability to produce things people
want), and raw materials are only one (relatively minor) aspect of production.

The wealthiest nations are typically those that have expertise at turning raw
materials into other things; in fact, historically many of the wealthiest
nations (such as the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Japan) have been
relatively resource-poor. European countries got rich the old-fashioned way,
through technological innovation, trade, and a division-of-labor society based
on private property rights.

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tjic
So some people value cash more than land, and other people value land more
than cash, and they've worked out a consensual, mutually advantageous deal,
without getting government or a bunch of unelected technocrats in the loop.

Oh Noz! The sky is falling!

