Comments on: “Killing me would not be in your interest”

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:03:12 +0000

Well to do and financially secure citizens should spend and help stimulate the econmony. Even though the recession is deep and real .....millions of Americans are still doing very well and could afford it. Paint the house, do some new landscaping, use the caterer, take the entire office for lunch at the neighborhood tavern!!! And you multi, multi, millionaires.... give a grant or a loan to a worthy small business, sometimes as little as $50,000 would help them stay in business and create jobs!!! It is time for us to help each other.

By: vincent

vincent — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:34:16 +0000

I wish everyone would stop compairing there countries money to the dollar. It really doesn't make sense to. If all these "Poor Countries" concentrated on how to .... They would be able know how!

By: Sherry D.

Sherry D. — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:18:52 +0000

Hopefully, you will have a discussion regarding the payment of bonuses at AIG. Please, enlighten me. I view the argument that AIG is putting forth as justification for their actions as nonsense. If I heard their explanation correctly, they claim that they have to pay the "best and the brightest" or they will leave the company. Well, the best and the brightest do not lead their company into financial ruin. So, let them leave. Am I to believe that if the government had not provided TARP funds that they would have funding to pay these bonuses? This is the strongest argument to support the premise that no company is too big to fail. I subscribe to the thinking that the bigger they are the harder they fall, but fail they must if they do not operate efficiently. This is truly an outrage. Obama's administration should demand that they repay the money owed the government immediately. Let's stop trying to bail out irresponsible CEOs. It does not work. They are not good corporate citizens, they are the worst and their behavior is criminal.

By: Stan

Stan — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:18:37 +0000

I was just watching the News and find it utterly stuppid for any Country to stop a Girl from going to school. I know it's their belief, but why in the hell would you want to be with a woman, who can't balance a check book or read a book to your children! Third World Countries need to wake up, women are the back bone of the Unites States as well as all the Entire World, without them their would be know world at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't saw a man yet have a baby. If you allowed women to get Educated, then they could tell you how stuppid it is to be fighting over Religion and killing thousands of people. The same way it's going on in Africa, it's Utterly stupid, wake up people.

By: harilala

harilala — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:34:42 +0000

anderson, you have always been great at investigative reporting. you should look at the political crisis in madagascar a little more closely because the western world is only hearing a one sided story fueled by french news medias that are biased and with an agenda. i'm not sure if there is another country on earth where the person who is trying to take over the government is actually a citizen of another country. that is the case in madagascar, Andry Rajoelina aka TGV is a malagasy french citizen who is in cahoots with the former president Didier Ratsiraka (who by the way went into hiding in France after losing a presidential election, after committing atrocious crimes in madagascar).
so another outlet, with unbiased opinions need to really dig deep and share the reality of the madagascar political crisis because the malagasy people is suffering.

thank you!

By: Carl Parisien Natick MA

Carl Parisien Natick MA — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 02:25:09 +0000

Carl Parisien Natick MA – its a shame its come to this. Madagascar has so many things going for it. CNN should move this story to the forefront.

By: JOHN

JOHN — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:03:21 +0000

Quite a pathetic situation for Madgascar,African countries generally are being ripped apart by selfish and ambitious leaders who manipulates the constitution to siut themselves with little regard for common man.
May God bless Africa with good leaders.
John

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:51:41 +0000

Thanks for pointing out that countries that may seem obscure to some are globally significant in other respects, and for the excellent links at the end of the story.

By: Ricardo (Brasil)

Ricardo (Brasil) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:41:03 +0000

I agree with the author that it is totally dependent upon a global society to protect and preserve the wonderful resources that can be found in Madagascar, however as equally as important to protect and preserve are the human resources that live there too. There obviously needs to be more discussion about the societal infrastructure of that nation that creates such instability for human life. – And speaking of "human life", I completely disagree with the assumption that our distant "relatives" are primates. No thanks! Save that logic to describe politicians.

By: Lisa Sullivan

Lisa Sullivan — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:02:08 +0000

"Madagascar’s President says “killing me would not be in your interest.” He was addressing the army. He could have been addressing us all."

Fabulous.

By: Will Gibson

Will Gibson — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:32:22 +0000

So what's your point?

By: Dave - Columbus

Dave - Columbus — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 03:54:33 +0000

The people of Madagascar could really care less what we think. They are trying to survive. They are only doing what they believe needs to be done. We live in a country where the poorest of the poor live better than 95% of the rest of the world. And we are lecturing them? We don't understand them! Some people in the US need to go live in a 3rd world country for a month and then try to tell me how horrible things are right now for us.

Don't get me wrong... what they are doing there (corruption, slash and burn forests, etc.) is not in the best interest of the country or the world. But the citizens of that country could care less what we think.

Jon – Way to take money from the defense budget. Just let the radicals invade and there will not be a US to help other countries anymore. Good plan. Let's take your $30 billion from the $1.3 trillion they just gave Amtrak (already a failure) or from the $700 billion bank bailout (where some should be allowed to fail).

By: Jeff Goldberg

Jeff Goldberg — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:44:35 +0000

Unfortunately, politicians (or the countries/multinationals behind them) and scientists do not think alike ...

My viewpoint: What we currently see in Madagascar is exactly the same scenario that France used in Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). One does not need to go far to see that France is stirring many of its former colonies, especially those that "dared" to turn its back on them, for the last couple of years. Madagascar implemented a promising market economy, which is backed by the US among others (Read the Millenium Challenge program and many more). The results were not that spectacular YET, due to many reasons, but cleaning more than 25 years of mess of Ratsirk and his French acolytes is not easy ... couple that with current corruption within the government. But that's one of many reasons to have a market economy.

Madagascar is a beautiful country with (finally) a promising economy ... but unfortunately, it may disappear if the media - especially those that do not speak French - keep silent. Come on CNN ... New York Times ... and the others ... you owe it to the world!

Respectfully yours.

By: Don, WA

Don, WA — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:34:00 +0000

Not only that, but I believe madagascar also grows the world's finest vanilla beans.

By: Annie Kate

Annie Kate — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:44:28 +0000

I've read that scientists making a census of species in Madagascar have not only discovered many new species which we did not know about that are still in existence, but species that are already extinct as well. The biodiversity in this one small island is an example of our planet's biodiversity and how we need to preserve both. The plant or animal may seem insignificant in and of itself but they may be the next cure for cancer or other human maladies and the animals the only way to keep the plants growing as they distribute seeds through the forest.

Madagascar is a wonderful case study in why we need to treasure and preserve all the species we find here on Earth. I hope that people do not have to go back to agriculture and slash and burn – in trying to feed themselves and their families they could destroy the very species that will one day save people from some terrible plague.

By: Jon Lilly

Jon Lilly — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:07:06 +0000

Global poverty has huge economic and geopolitical ramifications.

The Borgen Project (www.borgenproject.org) has some interesting insight into addressing the issues of global poverty, something we can remedy easily and sustainably.

Some interesting figures to ponder:
$30 billion USD: The annual shortfall to end global poverty.
$550 billion USD: The annual US defense budget.