[HN Gopher] Notes on Guyana
___________________________________________________________________
Notes on Guyana
Author : impish9208
Score : 92 points
Date : 2024-11-08 21:44 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (mattlakeman.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (mattlakeman.org)
| profsummergig wrote:
| Some things I was shocked to learn when I first learned these a
| couple decades ago (from a Guyanese girl I was seeing in the
| U.S.):
|
| - Guayana and nearby places were British colonies.
|
| - there's a vast Indian (i.e. descended from India) population in
| Guyana and nearby places brought over by the British as
| "indentured workers" (for some reason, Indians were never
| officially called "slaves" by the British) in sugarcane
| plantations. (Interesting to me because I'm from India).
|
| - Guyana speaks English.
|
| - Yes, there are countries in "Latin" America that speak English.
| There are also countries that mainly speak French.
|
| - Guyanese are often considered "Hispanic" in the U.S. though
| they are "Anglo". In fact Guyanese and Belizeans are able to pick
| and choose what to indicate on forms regarding their ethnicity,
| as it suits them.
|
| - My favorite Salsa dance teacher in the U.S. has the last name
| "Persaud" and looks "Latino". Took me about 15 years to realize
| he was of Indian stock (though might be mixed with Latino).
|
| - if Guyana had lower crime, and a well-organized economy, I'd
| move there in a heartbeat. They speak English, have good weather,
| and have massive oil deposits.
| ks2048 wrote:
| > Guyana speaks English.
|
| The article says "My major historical sources include a 1992 US
| Military-commissioned study of Guyana and Belize. No, I have no
| idea why they lumped those two countries together"
|
| This seems to be the connection: only mainland countries south
| of USA primarily English speaking. (Of course both related to
| British colonialism)
| Rygian wrote:
| When you say good weather, where would you place Guyana in this
| map? https://xkcd.com/1916/
| profsummergig wrote:
| Thanks for the link. I'm keeping it for future reference. My
| ideal weather is "slightly warm and slightly humid" all the
| time. Alas, I live in a place where we have 7 months of
| winter each year. One day....
| neves wrote:
| Its neighbor, French Guyana is French territory. Thanks to
| that, Brazil is the country with the largest border to France.
| walterbell wrote:
| Equatorial launch site for French space program.
| pkd wrote:
| One additional bit of context on the Indian indentured labour
| is that crossing the seas was considered a great taboo among
| Hindus, leading to a loss of your "caste" because you had lost
| contact with the holy land. So only the very desperate and
| destitute were willing to take this deal. Or the adventurous.
|
| The British Cellular Jail on the Andaman Islands were
| considered double jeopardy because of this as well.
| walterbell wrote:
| Does this apply today to construction workers in the Middle
| East, whose families remain in SE Asia?
| aatharuv wrote:
| That taboo is long since gone (I'm assuming you're talking
| about South Asia, though).
| jcranmer wrote:
| > - Yes, there are countries in "Latin" America that speak
| English. There are also countries that mainly speak French.
|
| "Latin America" has multiple definitions. Most of those
| definitions do exclude English-speaking Belize and Guyana (and
| Dutch-speaking Suriname).
| profsummergig wrote:
| Ah yes, Dutch too!
|
| Imagine explaining this to middle-America.
| meiraleal wrote:
| "Latin America" is an US-American invention. It is all
| America. The US is just one of the American countries (and
| culture, which is very similar to the other American
| countries but rich).
| lentil_soup wrote:
| Don't think "Latin America" is a US invention, the term
| "Latino" is, though. Latin America is just a term for the
| countries in America colonised by romance language
| countries. As the sibling comment says the exact definition
| varies, but wouldn't say it's a US invention.
|
| What you say about the US just being one of the American
| countries is correct, and it's often a source of confusion
| (intended or not)
| meiraleal wrote:
| > Don't think "Latin America" is a US invention, the term
| "Latino" is, though
|
| You are right. But also the term Latino "creates" Latin
| America, which are the countries Latinos come from. And
| then also a subculture of immigrants in the US, which
| funnily is a bit excluding of Brazilians as not real
| Latinos (as there is also a expectation that everybody
| below the US speaks Spanish).
| foogazi wrote:
| > You are right.
|
| You should have stopped right there.
|
| Latino is a US term to refer to people in the US by their
| origin.
|
| Outside of the US people use Latinoamerica to refer to
| the central and South American former colonies of France,
| Portugal and Spain.
|
| Iberoamerica is used too if you want to be more specific
| and exclude the French colonies
| jowea wrote:
| > Iberoamerica is used too if you want to be more
| specific and exclude the French colonies
|
| Oh yeah it's very funny when you start the "actually
| Quebec is part of Latin America, but the Guyanas aren't,
| except for French Guiana, which isn't actually a country,
| and about Louisiana...."
| meiraleal wrote:
| That is why we get back to "Latin America" doesn't exist
| :) It is all America, for the grievance of US Americans.
| lentil_soup wrote:
| No, Latino is a US person of latinoamerican origin, it's
| something they invented. For example, I am latin
| american, but don't consider myself Latino since I'm from
| South America, but not from the US.
|
| It's a bit of a complex issue since it's the US taking
| over a term or culture and normalising it as the only
| valid one.
| stonesthrowaway wrote:
| > for some reason, Indians were never officially called
| "slaves" by the British
|
| The same goes for chinese, japanese and filipino "slaves". In
| official capacity, they may not have been called slaves, but
| unofficially, they were. There are old portguese books that
| claimed japanese made the best slaves. And there was a british
| viceroy who claimed indians made the best slaves.
|
| > Guyanese are often considered "Hispanic" in the U.S.
|
| Maybe in official documents but certainly not in everyday life.
| Guyanese are considered and treated like indians or 'hindus'
| and they themselves view themselves as indians, not hispanic.
| foogazi wrote:
| > In fact Guyanese and Belizeans are able to pick and choose
| what to indicate on forms regarding their ethnicity, as it
| suits them.
|
| I thought everyone could do this
| wslh wrote:
| > - Yes, there are countries in "Latin" America that speak
| English.
|
| Which one?
| teractiveodular wrote:
| Guyana and Belize.
| petesergeant wrote:
| > for some reason, Indians were never officially called
| "slaves" by the British
|
| An indentured worker and a slave are not the same thing. While
| one would prefer to be neither of those things, generally the
| former voluntarily entered into the arrangement (or in lieu of
| prison), were bound for a fixed term, weren't considered
| property, and had at least some legal recourse. Were some
| indentured workers de-facto slaves? Almost certainly. That
| doesn't mean they were the same thing though.
| Affric wrote:
| Indentured labour was done by contract for a fixed period, and
| they were paid. For people who believe that there was workers
| who got on the ships through their own agency this is
| important. This undoubtedly happened along with those who were
| compelled or deceived.
|
| Frankly, I think the reason that it is not more often referred
| to as slavery is because it wasn't officially referred to as
| such contemporaneously. But there is legitimate debate around
| the differences between Indian indentured servitude and
| slavery.
| shazzy wrote:
| To add to this, Indians could choose to return back home to
| India after their contract was over. Of course lots decided
| to stay, but some did return.
| ks2048 wrote:
| > GDP growth rate (2022) - 63.4% (not a typo)
|
| Wow
| letitgo12345 wrote:
| They found tons of oil
| grotorea wrote:
| Struck black gold, complete with neighbour envy
| MichaelZuo wrote:
| I've always heard intimations that Guyana was worse than French
| Guyana or Suriname as a tourist destination, but yeah this seems
| really surprisingly bad as a tourist destination...
| walterbell wrote:
| 1989, poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,
| https://www.stabroeknews.com/2016/12/02/features/30-years-of...
| frankdenbow wrote:
| Lots of beautiful spots to see in the interior, Kaiteur is the
| highest single drop waterfall in the world. Baganara Island is
| a good vacation spot. Don't believe everything you read on the
| internet.
| jcranmer wrote:
| Considering that the author is doing a blog series on visiting
| some of the more out-of-the-way places, I spent most of the
| piece wondering when he'd stop talking about the history and
| actually go on about the things he saw.
|
| When that list amounts to "I booked it to the next country
| because I exhausted everything worth doing in a day", coming
| from someone who tries hard to do interesting stuff well off
| the beaten path... it really sounds like the only reason to go
| to that country is to check it off the list of the countries to
| visit. Yikes.
| SamPatt wrote:
| I follow a few popular travellers on YouTube and they had
| almost identical experiences.
|
| Here's hoping their new oil wealth will improve their
| infrastructure and reduce crime.
| colesantiago wrote:
| Interesting, what are the opportunities to make money from
| Guyana, it is understood that they have lots of oil and they have
| the fastest growing GDP of any country.
|
| Any ideas?
| walterbell wrote:
| Exxon & Chevron.
|
| https://www.guyanastandard.com/2023/10/23/guyana-to-see-new-...
|
| https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/hess-guyanas-secret-...
| profsummergig wrote:
| For some reason the current leader of Guyana (who has a muslim
| name) hangs out a lot with India's Modi (who is an open
| islamophobe). A strange set of bedfellows.
|
| Theory is that 1) Guyana needs to wage war with Venezuela over
| oil-rich disputed territory [1], and 2) Guyana wants to build a
| lot of infrastructure. Might be opportunities there.
|
| [1]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana%E2%80%93Venezuela_terri...
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| How did Ghana get pulled into this?
| profsummergig wrote:
| Oops, typos. Corrected. Thanks.
| unmole wrote:
| > India's Modi (who is an open islamophobe
|
| Someone should tell the Emiratis and Saudis. They keep
| hanging out with him and signing deals.
| alephnerd wrote:
| > Theory is that 1) Guyana needs to wage war with Venezuela
| over oil-rich disputed territory [1], and 2) Guyana wants to
| build a lot of infrastructure. Might be opportunities there
|
| Ali studied in India so that probably played a significant
| role.
|
| More critically, India's ONGC and Reliance have signifant
| stakes in Venezuela's ONG industry, and act as a mediator
| between Guyana and Venezuela.
|
| Guyana is also trying to become a major ONG exporter now, and
| the biggest greenfield market for that is now India.
| sdlkj- wrote:
| Being Guyanese in tech is an interesting experience. FWIW I have
| yet to meet another Guyanese person at work. In every workplace I
| go to the experience is similar - initially the south asian folks
| approach me, but then once they realize we're not that culturally
| similar I end up in a sort of limbo. Not to say that folks aren't
| welcoming, but every large company ends up having sort of
| cultural cliques, and I never seem to fit into any of them.
|
| Curious if there are any other Guyanese folks out there who're
| willing to share their experience.
| profsummergig wrote:
| Indian here. I've never fit in any of the traditional Indian
| cliques. Such a blessing! At the end of the day, you're going
| to lose your individuality over the group or sub-group you're
| identifying with. And you're going to be pulled into their
| politics and drama. Read Naval's thoughts on the importance of
| solitude and dis-identification with any group, in order to be
| able to become the individual you are meant to be. And thank
| your stars that none of the traditional Indian cliques wants
| you.
| sdlkj- wrote:
| Hah, appreciate the response. Being able to stay out the
| drama is nice - though I do find my self sometimes craving
| the support structures and sense of belonging that these
| cliques provide. Especially when at work all I hear around me
| is Mandarin or Hindi, in the hallways, at lunch, essentially
| in any context except full-on work meetings where it almost
| feels like they're _forced_ to speak English for me.
| profsummergig wrote:
| My 0.02 cents on this issue: it is terribly rude to speak
| Mandarin or Hindi, when in a mixed group setting at work,
| in the USA. Be happy you didn't become one of these rude
| people. Support structures... I get it. It does help to
| have a sort of extended-family sometimes. Here's what I've
| found helpful: get into an activity where such support
| structures organically form. And you can have the support
| structure without attendant ethno-centric drama and
| politics.
|
| There are also downsides to being in these ethnocentric
| cliques. Know the crabs in a bucket effect, and the saying
| about how you can't become a prophet in your own town.
| There's a strong anchoring effect your own people have
| regarding you. When they see you rising up, they wonder why
| you're succeeding and they're not, and try to drag you down
| (instead of celebrating your rise). There's a strong
| hierarchy within these cliques, and you're not supposed to
| break-out of your "correct position" in the hierarchy.
|
| Also, if it helps to know this: I have relatives who are
| thick in the middle of their Indian cliques. What do they
| do when they're not with their clique-members? Trash-talk
| about them.
| sdlkj- wrote:
| I appreciate the response, and it does indeed help. Maybe
| I'm not missing out on much after all.
|
| The activity is good advice. Some of my closest friends
| I've meet though hobbies I enjoyed - I'll just need to
| apply the same strategy, though it definitely feels
| tougher to do without having school as a crutch to force
| socializing.
| em-bee wrote:
| i left my home country and generally stayed away from most
| expat groups primarily to get away from the people i was
| being identified with and pretty much avoid all the things
| you mention.
| easton wrote:
| My dad's side of the family is indo-guyanese (and he was
| specifically in tech for his whole career). It's interesting,
| they've (and I, to a lesser extent) reported something similar,
| where every once in a great while people from India will
| recognize our last name and then slowly realize we don't have
| much in common culturally. Our food is "caribbean-indian" for
| instance (apparently Trinidad has something similar), it's kind
| of different than what you'd get from in a regular Indian
| restaurant.
|
| The comment the author made about the caste system not coming
| to Guyana tracks too, my aunt has encountered people making
| quips about it at work every once in a blue moon.
| frankdenbow wrote:
| Well hello, fellow Guyanese in tech. My grandmother got the
| Cacique crown of honor (second highest civilian honor in the
| country) https://guyanachronicle.com/2017/02/05/outstanding-
| doctor-en...
|
| I remember being lectured that I was latino since Guyana is in
| latin america and I had to explain that, nah.
| walterbell wrote:
| Check out this tech podcast, https://securityconversations.com
| sdlkj- wrote:
| Wow, this is the first tech podcast I've ever found with a
| guyanese host - also interestingly they appear to have a
| carribbean-focused cricket site that appears to be still
| maintained:
|
| https://caribbeancricket.com/
| darrelld wrote:
| Born Guyanese, but only lived there until I was 3, then we
| moved to St. Lucia. Have lots of memories from visiting over
| summers and Christmas multiple times when I was a kid.
|
| Mostly consider myself Lucian and I feel like I've assimilated
| into the American tech population. My history now is just a
| interesting fun fact. Don't meet too many people from the
| Caribbean in general in tech circles, so it's always fun to get
| a reminder that they're out there.
| shazzy wrote:
| I am British born, with Trinidadian and Guyanese parents. I've
| had a very similar experience, not just in tech but throughout
| all areas of my life. I look Indian, but culturally it's very
| different.
|
| Everyone always (perhaps South Asians more commonly) asks where
| I'm from. I say I'm British. They ask "no, really". I say
| Trinidadian and Guyanese heritage. They say "you look like you
| are from India, your family must be from India". It does get a
| bit tiresome.
|
| The only time it actually _really_ annoys me is when I have to
| fill out forms with ethnicity. There is never Asian-Caribbean,
| but always Black-Caribbean, so I always feel that I am never
| being represented.
| itronitron wrote:
| I used to work with a carpenter from Trinidad. This was in
| the southern US, and at an employer where I was probably the
| only college educated person. I recall them as being very
| professional but able to socialize easily with everyone else,
| and they were also insanely good at chess.
| sdlkj- wrote:
| I've had a near identical experience, every ethnicity form is
| makes me feel like I'm lying a little.
| Affric wrote:
| I don't fit in their boxes so generally I go with "prefer not
| to say".
| kagolaub wrote:
| Born Canadian with Jamaican and Guyanese parents. Identical
| experience.
| qcoco wrote:
| Despite externally-incited ethnic conflict, Guyana was a
| comparatively post-tribal melting pot of cultures. Outside
| Guyana, not so much. Are you from India?
| West Indies | South America | Guyana Where are your
| parents from? A couple hundred years ago, my
| ancestors left India Oh <disappointed> [every
| time: wait, what if I had said yes? nevermind]
| walterbell wrote:
| 2023 oil earnings by Guyana: $30 billion GYD 2023 oil
| company (Exxon, Chevron, China National) profits from Guyana:
| $1.3 trillion GYD
|
| https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2024/10/15/exxon-says-don...
|
| _> Exxon is the operator of the Stabroek Block, with 45%
| interest, Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30% interest and
| China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Petroleum Guyana
| Limited holds 25% interest. Last year, the three companies earned
| $1.3 trillion in profits - entirely tax-free in Guyana.. the
| Stabroek Block partners are allowed to recover 75% of the oil
| produced to recover their investment costs, the remaining 25% is
| considered profit, which is split between Guyana and the Stabroek
| Block consortium, giving each 12.5%.
|
| > However, the consortium pays a 2% royalty from its share to
| Guyana. From its 14.5% Guyana then has to pay taxes for the oil
| companies... for 2023, the Government of Guyana (GoG) had to pay
| the combined sum of $306 billion in income taxes for ExxonMobil
| Guyana Limited and its Stabroek Block partners, Hess and CNOOC
| according to the companies' audited financial statements, while
| for the same period Guyana earned $336 billion from its oil._
| profsummergig wrote:
| Unsustainable. Things will probably change after enough
| Guyanese find out.
| blackhawkC17 wrote:
| For those wondering, these figures are quoted in the Guyanese
| dollar, not the U.S. dollar.
|
| 1 Guyanese dollar equals 0.0048 USD.
| smallerfish wrote:
| If you like travelogues, Wild Coast by John Gimlette is a great
| read.
|
| And, Alex Rothman, youtuber, used Gimlette as a source for (well
| produced!) videos he made both about Sri Lanka and Guyana. E.g.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2mszCGt830
| dividendpayee wrote:
| This reminds me of another blog I enjoyed -- there's a link
| shortener called https://y.gy, and .gy is the Guayanese TLD.
| Venezuela was invading Guyana, so the y.gy owner wrote a whole
| essay about what it would mean for the .gy domain if Venezuela
| seizes their physical domain admin infrastructure. Crazy stuff.
| https://app.y.gy/blog/guyana-war
| meiraleal wrote:
| > Venezuela was invading Guyana
|
| Venezuela was threatening to invade Guyana*
| iask wrote:
| Guyana is considered part of the Caribbean because they speak
| 100% English...well creole English (broken English) to be
| precise.
|
| Just like American Indians, the natives there are called
| Amerindian.
|
| There's also a huge Dutch history...dating back to the 1600 if I
| remember correctly.
|
| WOW! It's amazing to see Guyana mentioned on HN.
|
| If you rally want to know Guyanese, get invited to one of our
| parties. Fun and down-to-earth folks...well most, some can
| definitely carry a massive ego seed.
|
| If you haven't met anyone in tech - greetings! A pleasure to meet
| you. 20 years building successful companies and products in the
| USA.
|
| Wakenaam - Dutch - "Waiting for a name".
| foogazi wrote:
| > There's also a huge Dutch history
|
| I thought Suriname was the Dutch Guyana
| wslh wrote:
| Could someone who is more English fluent clarify this statement?
|
| > (including individuals of the male, female, black, Indian,
| white, Chinese, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Jewish persuasion)
|
| What "persuasion" means in this context?
|
| > ...Janet Rosenberg, who to my knowledge is the only Jewish
| female head-of-government (and later state) in history outside of
| Israel (and more recently, Mexico).
|
| There is one more, see:
| <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Dreifuss>.
| dcminter wrote:
| > What "persuasion" means in this context?
|
| "Of the ... persuasion" is a slightly fancy way of saying "who
| are ..."
| munificent wrote:
| In this context, "persuasion" is an idiom just means something
| like "background" "has this attribute".
|
| It doesn't have anything to do with the typical meaning of
| "persuade" because English is weird.
| marssaxman wrote:
| In older writing, one would have used the phrase literally,
| to describe someone's religious or political affiliation:
| beliefs one could have been "persuaded" to adopt. One might
| refer to a preacher "of the Methodist persuasion", say.
|
| The modern usage of the idiom came about as a joke - as
| though someone's sex or ethnic heritage were merely a matter
| of preference. Over time, the original sense has been
| forgotten, and the humor has been lost through repetition, so
| it is now just an odd phrase.
| embedded_hiker wrote:
| The US TV show "All in the Family" in the early 70s
| included the character Archie Bunker, who was an outspoken
| bigot. This might have been the origin of using "the
| Oriental persuasion" as a joke. My parents thought it was
| hilarious, and explained the joke to me. Yes, since then,
| that usage has leaked from being humor to being used in the
| sense above.
| wslh wrote:
| I wonder, what relatively affordable flights you can get to
| Guyana? For example, I cannot find flights from Sao Paulo or Rio
| de Janeiro.
| sdlkj- wrote:
| That is surprising - considering how close they are. I've
| always ended up flying out of New York or Toronto, at what I'd
| consider reasonable prices. I suspect it's because of the
| sizable expat/2nd/3rd gen population in the northeast.
| kgbcia wrote:
| Good read, sent it to my Kindle. It was the CIA who messed up
| that country in the modern era. Glad they found oil and now have
| insane GDP growth. Hope they don't ruin the Amazon rainforest
| nearby. Hope the racial tensions ease down and infrastructure is
| built up, so I can visit one day.
| blackhawkC17 wrote:
| > Glad they found oil and now have insane GDP growth.
|
| Guyana has weak political institutions and high corruption &
| tribalism. It's more likely to become a poor resource-cursed
| nation than a successful one.
|
| I truly hope this isn't the case, but if history teaches us a
| lesson..
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| What country on earth is strong on protection from corruption
| and tribalism? Point out the country and I'll point out the
| nature of the above.
| blackhawkC17 wrote:
| No country is 100% immune to it. But some countries have
| developed systems to tame the effects as much as possible.
|
| Examples are most of Western Europe, the U.S., and Canada.
| There's a clear correlation between low corruption and high
| economic development.
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| I can't speak to western europe, but the clear devotion
| the US and Canada have to capital makes this difficult to
| buy as a general difference. I suspect the distinction in
| corruption between the west and the rest of the world
| must come from a working person's perspective.
|
| And I would _love_ to hear from any non-westerners here
| as I suspect it 's impossible to get a meaningful
| evaluation from the west.
| Affric wrote:
| Count up the number of bribes you have had to pay as a
| normal working person in the west.
|
| Places with big corruption problems have people demanding
| bribes at every turn.
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| That's what I'm saying--corruption looks different in
| different places but society still bends towards the cash
| blackhawkC17 wrote:
| I'm a non-Westerner (Nigerian in particular). Corruption
| in developing/underdeveloped countries is extremely worse
| than in developed countries.
|
| My country is a fitting example. Most citizens (of all
| classes) don't pay taxes, people pay petty bribes to
| violate laws, government officers request for bribes to
| carry out mundane activities like getting a driver's
| license or passport, and citizens are happy to oblige.
|
| Everyone wants to bypass the law and feel smart, not
| realizing that it makes the whole system terrible and
| everyone poorer in the long run (people generally don't
| want to make long-term capital investments in corrupt
| countries, so that's why most of Africa struggles to get
| foreign investment).
|
| This kind of petty corruption is hard to explain to a
| Westerner who hasn't experienced it. And it's no surprise
| that corruption is keeping African nations (and many
| nations from other continents) behind.
| PittleyDunkin wrote:
| I appreciate your comment. I presume you prefer the west
| (at least in terms of political and economic stability)
| to your home country from your comment. Do you have any
| concerns about how capital openly purchases the interests
| of politicians in the us? I guess I had written off the
| difference in citizen comfort to the mountains of cash
| americans roll around on.
| blackhawkC17 wrote:
| > Do you have any concerns about how capital openly
| purchases the interests of politicians in the us?
|
| The U.S. and the West at large aren't perfect, but it
| fairs much better than most of the world in preventing
| corruption.
|
| Capital also purchases influence in
| developing/underdeveloped countries, but in a much worse
| way. It's often very cheap because desperate locals are
| willing to sell out their country for any meager amount.
|
| Here's a fitting example: Benny Steinmetz (a mining
| tycoon) paid $8.5 million in bribes to the spouse of
| Guinea's former President to obtain exploration permits
| for a mine [1].
|
| Steinmetz sold 51% of the mine shortly after for $2.5
| billion [2]. In other words, he extracted 300x the bribe,
| and the Guinean official never bothered to think her
| country was being robbed in broad daylight by the bribe
| she received.
|
| Many similar cases occur in Africa, wherein foreign
| companies pay cheap bribes to rob countries of their
| resources.
|
| The African leaders (and populace) are often willing to
| part with their resources for cash rather than harnessing
| it for internal development (this part is difficult,
| unlike the easy way of collecting cash and spending it
| foolishly).
|
| Add in endless petty corruption, and the result is the
| mediocrity of many countries that we see.
|
| 1- https://www.reuters.com/business/swiss-court-upholds-
| corrupt...
|
| 2 - https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-1000556396#!
| fracus wrote:
| I would have bet a lot of money that Guyana was a country
| somewhere in Africa. I'm so surprised to find out it is South
| America. The article was a good read.
| walterbell wrote:
| At one time, partnered with North Korea!
|
| https://apjjf.org/2015/13/4/Moe-Taylor/4258
|
| _> Mass Games in North Korea.. are without comparison the
| largest choreographed performance in the world.. There are
| three central components.. gymnastics, music, and the panoramic
| backdrop.. The backdrop is created through tens of thousands of
| children aligned in one side of the stadium seats holding books
| of illustrated cards positioned contiguously with each other to
| give the illusion of an imperforate surface; by changing the
| pages of the book in precisely coordinated unison following the
| signals of a conductor, the backdrop image is transformed
| throughout the performance._
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Guinea, Guyana, and Ghana... are hard to keep straight. 2/3 in
| Africa. Add French, New, and Papua combos and no wonder.
| siriaan wrote:
| Just like Andorra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q_iqrvnC_4
| teractiveodular wrote:
| Guyana: South America
|
| French Guiana: South America
|
| Guinea: Africa
|
| Guinea-Bissau: Africa
|
| Equatorial Guinea: Africa
|
| Papua New Guinea: Asia
|
| Bonus fun fact: the guinea pig is from Peru and has no known
| connection to any of these.
| walterbell wrote:
| More spelling fun,
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guiana
| kibwen wrote:
| What an unexpectedly spellbinding historical read.
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