So I’d say that the main political development to watch is a general coalescing around political pressure to cope with crime – as was the case with NYC, that cut across boundaries and became a great unifier.

Since I guess I qualify as something of an Africa hand by now by experience , besides the resources (natural and human), it really should be remembered that President Bush left a fine legacy of goodwill to the United States throughout sub-Saharan Africa. We can run with that.

There’s also quite a bit of history down in that region – it’s just that having been tangential to our own history, it’s a topic for interested specialists rather than for our mainstream background. But to give you one example from which to start if you’re interested, Zimbabwe is named after a site (inside what is now the country) called “Great Zimbabwe” – which is basically a colossal ruin of a stone fortress and city.

The interests down there for the larger world are natural resources, and also a young population compared to too much of the northern hemisphere.

I don’t know how much we’ve been involved in Africa, but we should be involved as much as we can to assist these countries in developing their economies. If and when they become world powers, I’d much rather they be our friend than Russia’s or China’s.