coldhearts:

Time to give respect to whom its due .

Your right, then again there both communist countries. The deal between Angola and China is based on oil-for-infrastructure, and well there obviously Chinese workers that are leading the construction process. I honestly do not think that the Chinese are really putting there workers in $20,000.00 a month lodging as most western countries are doing while they invest in Angola. Well I can not prove that. I am not Angolan, but I am a skeptic of what I have been educating myself through what I can grab, listen, or read on too. If there are any Angolans who feel that I am wrong about the Chinese I am all eyes to read and all ears to listen. Hey its the ex-pats that make Luanda the 3rd most expensive city in the world according to Yahoo not the natives.

I agree with Blackspade on this. Now speaking of autocratic and democratic. What works and doesn't work. They both work and they both don't work. It all depends on the people in power, and yes corruption is an on-going thing even within the US. One must remember that we are all humans subjugated to failure and successes, even in government. To say that Angola wont get themselves out of there disparity is irrational and even ignorant to the times. For the Philippines during the Marcos Regime which was funded and upheld by the Americans was a autocratic regime, but look what Marcos did while he was still in power; infrastructure - so that people can go to and from work, education - so that people can be educated to have higher paying jobs, and foreign investment - to create jobs for the populace. This was all created during his regime while he was in power, and yes it toppled because he and his cronies got greedy. Remember this though there economy was a rising star in the pacific, there currency was almost at the same rate as the US dollar. To say that a corrupt man did nothing but hurt the country by not adhering to fair elections is like robbing the good of what he was done in that country. Now look at them they have the elected celebrities who have no ideal vision for the country except for what they could fit in there bank accounts and leisure time. There economy is shot, corruption is rampant at every corner from bribing the local politician to bribing the military for rights to fish on Philippine coast by bombing it (which also not just kills adult fish but juvenile fish as well creating a colorful reef with no fish for years), and they are also the 2nd largest exporters of workers besides Mexico.
Ok, so here is another tangent, China one of the BRIC nations. Now with China, they were never this amazing two decades ago. Not until recently they had a boom, only once they softened up on there trading policies. My point is during and before WWII, the Chinese were going through a civil war. Best described before there war; limited jobs, limited education, and limited health care. After there civil war, the Maoist won which resulted in a bloody Great Leap Forward, but look at them now. There still autocratic, there still communist, and there doing very well, than how I would say this, way better than the US and Europe. They did this through foreign investment with the governments help, and it is to my understanding that the Chinese are helping the Angolans out very very significantly. There crime is lower then that of the US, health care is provided for everybody, and most people have jobs (well those who are following there government guidelines), but still that is all you need to live in a suitable world; food, jobs, health care, and education.
I think the Angolans are going the right direction as long as there leading government stays true to there word. As for Nigeria, it is the perfect example of democracy run by corporate greed. It is the perfect example why those people have a cell phone before they have clean water running through there homes. It is the perfect example of what happens to a nation that looks up to American Capitalism, American Corporatism, and the American 'Help'. I honestly do not think that the ideologies that were implemented for the original 13 colonies should be the implemented on the minds of Africa. My number one reason, the Africans are just not ready for that yet. As for racism you will always find racism everywhere you go. Whether it be the US, Europe, Asia, or Africa that is something that people will have to figure out on there own as a collective. If you get them to work together as partners, and not as; which race or indigenous person holds the hierarchy position, they will eventually learn that hey we all take a crap in the same toilet.