I write this while American unmanned flights and 18 American “specialists” are looking for those 200 unfortunate girls abducted by Boko Haram, a group our very own Hillary Clinton had refused to place on the State Department’s terrorist watch list.  Boko Haram is as bad as it gets and as violent as can be, but is no different from Al-Nusra Front or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, fighting in Syria against the government of Bashar al-Assad.  What unites all three is their anti-Christianity, but don’t look for that while watching TV or reading the newspapers.  Killing Christians and burning down churches is the main business of Boko Haram, but for some strange reason no one in the West is zeroing in on it, certainly not the New York Times or the Washington Post, and none of the main TV networks.  The fact that it’s black African Muslims killing black African Christians still seems too sensitive an issue in our race-conscious media, as if black-on-black crime is somehow a lesser evil than white-on-black crime.

Let’s face it: It is instant hara-kiri for any public person today to mention the so-called warrior gene, MAOA-2R, which has been linked to violent behavior in men abused as children and is more common in blacks than in whites.  Mention that gene, and you go the way of Jimmy the Greek—a TV pundit from Ohio who used to give gambling predictions before NFL games—who said that black people’s muscularity was not conducive to them becoming champion swimmers.  He was fired forthwith and blacklisted.  (Incidentally, have you ever seen a great black swimmer?  I haven’t, but maybe I’m colorblind.)

Social institutions and culture explain why Europeans are superior to, say, Middle Easterners and Africans—or so say scholars like Francis Fukuyama.  I think it’s Islam and race that keep them down.  Why is it that more books are published in Spain in one year than all the books published in the Middle East since time began?  Don’t reach for the Google button.  It’s Islam, stupid.  That, and a propensity to violence of the MAOA-2R variant.  Mind you, the latest horror in Nigeria does not absolve the Christian rulers, such as that Christian con man posing as a good guy, president Goodluck Jonathan—as corrupt a leader as Mugabe, and that’s really saying something.

So, don’t just wait and pray, dear readers, that some white knights from U.S. Special Forces or the British SAS will suddenly find the girls and set them free to a glorious future.  Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, where 350 tribes speak 250 languages.  Yes, 350 tribes speaking 250 languages, and without intending a pun, the problem is hardly black and white.  Nigeria is, statistically, the richest country in Africa, but her oil and gas wealth is pillaged by a tiny ruling minority elite, one you sometimes see flying in first class covered in jewels and laughing rather loudly.  Another way of recognizing this tiny elite group is by their weight.  Every man, woman, and child is very, very overweight.  And, I hate to admit, most likely of the Christian persuasion.

Which brings me to the real problem of Africa, in general, and Nigeria, in particular.  There are very few institutions that function properly in Nigeria and in Africa, and those that do are leftovers from white rule in South Africa.  The Nigerian army is totally corrupt, vastly underpaid, and indistinguishable from the terrorists, as is the civil service and the judiciary.  Yet we in the West expect democracy in Africa to function as if it were Switzerland.  At least this is how our civil servants and diplomats react when an atrocity such as the kidnapping and sale for ten dollars each takes place.  The great kleptocracy of Nigeria’s oil wealth is the only institution that functions perfectly in Africa, no ifs or buts about it.  This is what Michelle Obama should have said after the outrage, rather than turning it into a feminist issue.  But I’m whistling Dixie, as old Bing Crosby used to say.

What is to be done?  Absolutely nothing, I’m afraid, unless we reimperialize Africa, and this time play it straight.  Not very practical, I admit, but such is the misery African rulers have imposed on their hapless minions that it’s worth a think-through.  Remake the map according to tribes and customs, install Western-trained, honest civil servants, and oversee fair elections after a decent time frame.  But now I’m really whistling Dixie, and some pundits might even go as far as to call me a racist.  Be that as it may.  Africa will continue to be the suffering center of the world until someone someday sees the light and takes charge.  Don’t hold your breath.