The increasing frequency and violence of natural disasters and conflicts has contributed to two trends: an increase in donations to aid organizations and greater sophistication in corporations that want to take advantage of disasters.

To some corporations, recently devastated areas represent new markets.  Infant formula producers have excelled at turning disasters into opportunities to enter markets.  The problem starts even before the disaster strikes.  Producers market formula to the poor as a means of improving the quality of children’s lives.

For hundreds of years the continent of Africa has been the scene of destitute poverty, deadly disease, and destructive war. Western powers are often blamed for the miserable state of affairs seen throughout most of the continent and pay massive reparations to support impoverished African nations.  Although Western governments contribute foreign aid to poverty-stricken Africa, they simultaneously allow Western businesses to take advantage of unfair trade policies. In contrast, the Chinese have embarked on what is one of the most brilliant, yet under-appreciated, geopolitical campaigns of our time—and in so doing, they are changing the African landscape.