Instead of modernising the country and building institutions, its elites looted its resources, leaving the country vulnerable to outside pressure.
"The goal: destroying the Islamic nation ideologically, economically and existentially, and stealing and looting its resources". The protests in Lebanon came in response to calls issued in mosques Friday and in similar leaflets circulated in Beirut and other cities.
The HRF alleges that the Bongo family have used the former French colony as their "feudal state" for decades, systematically looting its vast natural resources, oil wealth and rainforests.
But there are other ways to loot a country of its resources, which remain open to rich and powerful global players.
Like Laos, Cambodia is a country racked with corruption and political oppression, which Robertson described as a "crony capitalist system where Prime Minister Hun Sen permits those close to him to loot natural resources, commit severe rights abuses, and get away with it".
It perpetuates a disconnection between those at the helm, the people and reality; and the rulers feel entitled to abuse power, loot national resources and oppress.
So we decided to go after the regime's massive corruption and illicit financial flows by creating an organisation called The Sentry, aimed at making it harder for them to loot the natural resources of the country to line their pockets and finance their repression.
He presents a lively portrait of the rapacious "looting machine" in which international mining companies contrive with local African elites to strip the continent of its resources.
Russia's own history, its heavy dependence on easily looted natural resources and the evidence so far all make it seem likely that the country will find itself in the second category, not the first.Mr Putin's experiment does seem to have made the state a little stronger and quite a lot more stable, but not noticeably more efficient, and certainly no more accountable or transparent.
