Bill Gates Says 'America First' Endangers U.S. Influence in Africa

[DonViejo]

Source: Bloomberg News




By Gerrit De Vynck and Marie Mawad

January 24, 2018, 9:48 AM EST Updated on January 24, 2018, 10:31 AM EST

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and the second-richest person in the world, said there’s a danger that U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach could damage the U.S.’s influence in Africa in the long term.

Other countries like China are continuing to push into the African continent, and the U.S. should not pull back, Gates said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait in Davos, Switzerland. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent about $12 billion on global health projects in the last five years, focusing on diseases like malaria and tuberculosis.

In “the balance of hard power versus soft power, the U.S. uniquely has a ratio emphasizing hard power and I’d hate to see it go even further,” Gates said. “You don’t want to give up your soft power tools.”

Trump has questioned the value of funding for developing countries, sometimes saying other nations benefit from the U.S. without reciprocating. The president has proposed cutting funding for malaria, though Gates said he’s optimistic that won’t happen.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-24/gates-says-america-first-endangers-u-s-influence-in-africa?cmpid=socialflow-facebook-politics&utm_content=politics&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

[Initech]

1. See, Bill, that is a great point.

However, the "America First" crowd are a bunch of hardcore racists and couldn't give a flying fuck about the US's standing in Africa.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. There's no such thing. They still want the cheap overseas labor and pretty much maintain

the status quo while getting the added benefit of locking down the racist vote. It's all lip service and bullshit. If anything call it what it is, "Billionaires First".

[DorothyG]

5. How much labor/products do we get from Africa?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. What does that have to do with wat I said? nt

[DorothyG]

7. Sorry, perhaps I misunderstood.

the article was about Africa and you mentioned cheap overseas labor sources. What overseas labor were you referring to?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. Let me be as clear as I can then. There is no such thing as "America first" with this crew. As

indicated by a certain bloated talking scrotum's predilection to apply for more foreign worker visas for his shitty resorts. His and his daughter/wife's penchant for using sweat shop labor for their shitty products. In other words. So called "America first" with these rats is an illusion and a con. A stupid slogan. Nothing else. Hopefully I've articulated in more detail what I said above.

[lark]

3. Nope, Gates has the details wrong.

"America First" endangers US influence and standing in the entire world, as it's intended to do by it's author, Putin.

[appalachiablue]

4. Four usages of hard power and soft power in two sequence remarks.

Amazing how often these hack terms are still used, esp. by established people in business, finance and politics.

No ability or desire to come up with different words/phrases or something more original is a shame.

Diminishes the point they're trying to make IMO. Same with well worn- window of opportunity, icon, wheelhouse. gad.

Naturally Gates is pressing hard for US involvement and the global corporate agenda in Africa.