Okay, first of all, this is all from the BBC, so take it with a VERY large pinch of salt. Objective reporting went out the window a long long time ago with these guys. Unsurprisingly, they try to pin all the blame on George Bush, while this sort of thing's been going on for decades, under both Republican and Democrat administrations.
They also make the ludicrous statement that the "only way" Paul Singer, CEO of Elliott Associates makes his money is by suing foreign governments for debt racked up by failed administrations. They have a huge portfolio of property and other investments. Given that the company is worth around $5.6 billion, and that the BBC stated that "vultures" have together recovered $1 billion from the people who owe them money, it seems that this Greg Palast guy has his sums a bit wrong.
As a last point, can someone please explain to me why making people, governments and organisations responsible and accountable for their debts is a bad thing? Many of the creditors to the corrupt regimes were private individuals and businesses whose only chance of seeing some of their money back was to sell it to companies such as Elliott. They have the financial and legal muscle that the small creditors lack necessary to achieve a result. Yes, they make a profit, but they're a business, not a charity.
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