[Chapter 693: The Brothers Bonding Together for Warmth]
"Damn it, if they keep this up, it's going to turn into a huge mess." Max looked pale, feeling a bit confused. Perhaps it was no big deal, but in the current state of affairs, should they find another place to blend in?
"Chief, aren't they planning to create some kind of development community?"
"Ha, Jack, you must be joking. Kinshasa has over two hundred ethnic groups and more than four hundred factions, not to mention a multitude of religious beliefs. Tell me, what's the use of this so-called community in Southern Africa?"
Jack didn't have much to argue with; the place was indeed chaotic, but it also had an abundance of diamonds. Nearly thirty percent of the world's known reserves -- that was a staggering figure.
"Chief, it really is quite troublesome. There are countless tribes here, and they don't trust each other at all."
"Sigh, I think I'll head back for a while. If possible, I'd rather deal with Congo-Brazzaville."
When it came to the situation in Africa, William White also felt exasperated. Sure, there were advantages to the chaos -- if things were too peaceful, what right did one have to do as they pleased?
The mess left by the Europeans was a problem that could hardly be sorted out.
...
Three days later, a noticeably more haggard Max left William White feeling powerless.
"Max, I don't have a good plan -- just throwing money at it is all I got. We don't have any ties to Congo-Brazzaville, and while the Soviets have crumbled, their lingering influence is still threatening. The important thing is, they don't have anything worth hanging onto."
Since the Europeans discovered the sparkling stones, the continent had never known peace. Diamonds were different from oil; you needed a relatively stable environment to develop oil, but not for diamonds.
In a sense, chaos was more profitable. This might also represent another form of 'guilt from possessing wealth.'
If given the choice, William White believed that ordinary people here would prefer to have no diamond mines at all.
Last century, the guns and smallpox brought by white colonizers halved the local population. Now, it was even worse; they introduced entirely new systems.
He chuckled to himself -- suggesting a tribe-based nation adopt the American way of doing things was akin to encouraging death on a massive scale.
"How about this? Let's head to Namibia -- it's relatively calmer there."
"Sounds good, Kinshasa is just too chaotic. Those tribes are hardly friendly."
William White thought to himself that their friendliness was a joke. They cared only about those stones, paying no attention to the lives of the people around them.
"Sir, doesn't their development community resemble the North American Free Trade Agreement? If it gets off the ground, won't things calm down a bit?"
"Filson, the North American thing was merely a facade. For that to work, you need two strong nations. Apart from South Africa, did they have a second? Moreover, South Africa isn't too reliable right now."
Max reserved some judgment on his boss's assessment. Relative to the rest of Africa, South Africa was practically a paradise -- his subordinates took their vacations there, eager to splurge.
As for William White, he couldn't get into that subject. Once the black folks were allowed to take charge, they certainly managed to wipe out discrimination. The result? Whether black or white, they all ended up broke.
They truly had the skill to turn a moderately developed nation into a developing one. If it weren't for the plentiful resources, they might not even maintain that status.
Of course, not all of it was their fault. In fact, neither the U.S. nor Europe ever wanted them to succeed too well.
"Max, after this period, you should take a vacation. By the way, how are those Europeans doing?"
Speaking of which, Max was fuming. These guys only knew how to stir the pot without realizing what they were doing.
"Sir, either they're propping up their own spokespersons or they're in the process of doing so. It's funny; their judgment seems particularly poor. By the way, the French channel of NBC has high ratings locally."
William White was taken aback; he'd forgotten about that detail. Advertisers didn't care about the numbers, so he hadn't paid attention.
"Don't they have any local TV stations? There aren't many programs on the French channel."
"The locals aren't fond of their own shows. If possible, more programs would be ideal. French is pretty much an official language in Africa."
"Alright, alright. Jason was busy with that. They obviously didn't spend any money; if they bought the proper receivers, many would have bilingual broadcasts."
"Cough cough, well, sir, they just pieced together a cover. At that, they're considered wealthy."
"Sigh, I never expected to profit from them. Increasing some influence would be beneficial too."
The black folks decided to band together; their position was quite clear. After the sanctions from the U.S., they lost their voice. So this entity, which should have been akin to the European Union, now had only Southern Africa left.
William White believed it was pointless, and truthfully, he was right. Their inter-trade was pitiably insignificant. Most of their main income derived from selling raw materials, while buyers were either in Europe or the U.S. Exempting each other from tariffs was simply a waste of time.
You should know that many places were still engaged in barter. There was utterly no need to pursue this endeavor.
If South Africa had performed better, it would have been a different story. The black folks might have been poor, but they had a large population. If this market was managed well, it would be quite promising.
Unfortunately, they couldn't compete with the European industrial products. And later with all the Asian industries advanced, their situation worsened.
Europe and the U.S. depended on Asian manufacturing; Africa was in an even tighter bind. From bucket sandals to television and cars, those products were nearly everywhere.
Max left, and since the boss suggested moving, he needed to prepare. The fact that it could make a group of killers feel confused -- William White had to admit, that was a feat.
[T/N: Too much racism and China propoganda in this chapter.]
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