Yes, that's an extremely important point!

@glennlab Not Dole! Nooooo! My childhood fruit company! I guess we should have seen it coming with all of the slavery going on in the Virgin Islands centuries ago.

@UrsiMajor United fruit (bananas) became Chiquitta, Dole (pineapples) was partly responsible for the annexation of Hawaii.

@glennlab I think the moral of the story is that the US is only interested in property that provides some sort of advantage such as resources or geographic positioning?

We used to think the Afghan war was about oil. Now veterans who fought there are telling us it was more about the opioids. I thought some of these wars were about fear of different political systems gaining popularity. I don't know what's going on anymore.

@UrsiMajor We are simply following the pattern. We were established by corporations, revolted against a corporate takeover of the tea market ( The British East India Company was going to offer lower prices even after the new added tax, but they would have put most if not all of the small locally owned tea companies out of business.) And have continued to provide "assistance" in corporate expansion into other markets.

We are by no means alone in our exploitation of resources. Almost every country has done similar things. First you send trade delegation, then you establish a foothold and entice the locals to work for you at wages better than what they are used to, but still far less than what it is worth, then you begin a military presence, next you influence the government and if it doesn't agree with you, you help in its overthrow.

Thanks, I didn't even know China was involved with Africa. A lot to take in. Thanks for sharing. I will have your articles to start with when conservatives start saying scary things about this particular situation.

@UrsiMajor Glad you have an open mind!

@Krish55 ok, your source is familiar and pretty solid if memory is correct. I should probably go there and see what is happening in the rest of the world once in awhile.

Currently, yes. It was the British for a long time, then the US. The Dutch aren't immune either, especially in Nigeria. No large money/resources wanting nation is immune from doing so.

Yup, the new colonizers.

With USA dollars