I'm not as familiar with modern problems in Liberia, honestly. I know that they have similar combat zone problems, I just don't know the condition of the situation in 2012 so I would have been speaking about a very serious issue with mere guesses.
Although it was the first country I facepalmed for forgetting when I finally did look at a map. Liberia has an amazingly interesting history. Their capital city looks a lot like the style of old Charleston, South Carolina. Why? Because Liberia was where the masses of former slaves landed when leaving the US after the Civil War, the same workers built both cities. It's also why their flag mirrors our own! Another fun note- Liberia is a major nation for registering cruise liners. Partly because of the flag looking like the US's, but mostly because it's super cheap.
My focus is on West Africa, though. During my college days, because of my work in Kenya starting in 2008 and many of my friends active in
STAND, I started learning about what was going on and studying African history with a focus on the late Colonial and post-Colonial Africa. This was all in the context of a political science degree focusing on American law, political philosophy, and International Relations. I'm not a specialist or expert on African issues. Just a student, subject to being wrong or misremembering from time to time!
I kind of feel you, Kafein, on the "emotional propaganda" thing. I've not yet come to settle on the "ends justifying the means" question in general. I'm just a pragmatist- hell, I directly wrote that we should kill children in the OP.
But this might work and cold rationalism certainly won't. So by being rational, the odds are better on doing it the emotionally-driven way, even if it's not the right way. Whatever leaves the world better in the long-run is the way I'm going to go.
