I assume you're saying that asking for his extradition pushed Taylor into a corner, and that he has little option now but to return to his supporters in Liberia and perhaps re- ignite the region. But wouldn't he have just waited his time for this anyway if he still has significant support there?

As for leaving Africa alone, the simple answer is diamonds, oil, uranium. Before that it was slaves, gold, etc. The Moslem world didn't let Africa be before the Europeans arrived, and the Chinese or whoever won't be any better when the Americans have passed.

The question is whether social arrangements that worked, if badly, in the days of spears and bows and arrows can still work in the days of mass communications and mass destruction. And before anyone bites my head off, the question is directed as much at Europe and America as at Africa and Asia.