All columnists are allowed to have pet peeves, so here's one of mine. I can't abide the assumption that just because a country sits on top of natural resources, it is potentially rich. It is now conventional wisdom that the Arab economies are "failures" because they have wasted their oil wealth. After the recent death of Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan guerrilla leader, we were told that his nation should be one of the richest in Africa--all those diamonds and precious metals under the jungle, you see.
Gimme a break. Resources are a curse as much as a blessing, for two reasons....
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