Belgian control of the Congo was rife with pretty extreme abuse -- the obvious, often horrifying consequences of conquest. But the influx of ambitious businessp

Belgian control of the Congo was rife with pretty extreme abuse -- the obvious, often horrifying consequences of conquest. But the influx of ambitious businesspeople and capital which they claim started the wider outbreak of HIV, is a curious case. Often people will hand-wring about vague cultural factors, but this seems like one of the most concrete major international disasters caused by rapid gentrification and international investment. In many ways, whether you support e.g. more direct foreign investment areas in India and China or not, I'd prefer the conversations about costs to be as well formulated as this (I also suspect free trade and foreign investment in China and India has done a lot more good than HIV has done bad, even if you just count lives saved).