Vol. 5 No. 1 (2010)

We open this edition of the Journal with an article about a new initiative which is in the planning on the part of certain southern European Union (EU) members to support private sector small business in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia with financial support. Given the current financial instability of some existing EU members one might wonder if devoting resources from countries within the EU to countries outside the EU is the wisest course of action but anything that could possibly slow the flow of terrorists and immigration to Europe from North Africa is probably worth a try as being in everybody’s interest. It also demonstrates a continued belief that the foreign aid concept of the richest countries in the world providing financial support to less developed countries with few or no strings attached will foster economic growth. When such help was government to government much of the money usually found its way into the pockets of speculators and government executives and their cronies; This new approach directly to small businesses which attempts to avoid government middle men may be a more fruitful way to go about things, Time will tell but thus far we are a long way from executing this program.