some of The New Republic's lies, quoted: ngo's "approved a declaration resolving that Israel -- the only country in the Middle East where citizens freely choose their leaders --". another lie: "No one who knows anyuthing about Africa's postcolonial history can imamgine that sending guilt checks [reparations] to the thuggish and corrupt regimes will help the continent's suffering one bit." Help fight these lies: point out the other Middle East democracies. Discuss the excellent governments throughout all of Africa. don't let TNR get away with these lies!

What's so funny about this (black humor, admittedly) is that TNR has the relevant international law completely upside down.

True, there ARE some thuggish regimes in Africa--during the Cold War the US and its allies expended considerable resources just make sure such regimes took power and stayed there. The Soviets were only marginally better--the sorts of friends of the oppressed that made them wonder, however tritely, "with friends like this, who needs enemies?"

However, the LEGAL upshot of all this is that the debts incurred are invalid--and the original precedent for this was the US insistence that Cuban debt be repudiated after the Spanish-American War. This has lead to the development of the doctrine of odious debt over the course of the 20th century. This doctrine is now an essential part of the campaigns for debt cancellation.

Click on the link provided to read "What are odious debts?" and excerpt from "The Doctrine of Odious Debts," Chapter 17 of the book _Odious Debts: Loose Lending, Corruption, and the Third World's

Environmental Legacy_ by Patricia Adams.