Focus on Africa

You heard for sure, lately, in the news, about riots and social movements in Africa - at least, about the retirement of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. This wave of protests may represent, for some, the sign of the "wake of Africa". In my opinion, things could be quite different.

Of course, the "spark" for revolutions can spread from a country to another, this is possible in theory. But, in practice, there is still the need of a "catalyst" for this thing to happen. And the catalyst in this case is the need of the Western countries of a cheap labor source and "emerging markets" to compete and defeat the Asian emerging superpowers. Because, beneath the will of "global peace" displayed by all world leaders, there is still the battle for power and supremacy, taken on economic grounds nowadays. It is my old belief that Africa was kept underdeveloped and poor exactly for this purpose, as a power source for the future.

Actually, it might be just a "remake" of the events in Eastern Europe twenty years ago, or previously the ones in Central and South America. However, even if this is the case, a large part of the African population will benefit from increased life standards with respect to now, as the African countries will have to also become "markets".

But my question is... What will happen next? Will the conflict between West and East remain silent, or explode in a global, final, war?