Commentary During the Cold War the leadership of developing countries—or the third world—used the rivalry between the West and the Soviets to enrich themselves. Both the Soviets and the West poured billions into badly governed developing countries in the form of aid and sometimes military assistance. An incredible misuse of global resources resulted from this. Yet resources continued to flow even when it was clear that development aid failed to produce any development; humanitarian aid failed to deal with poverty; military aid propped up bad governments, and much of the aid ended up in the pockets of corrupt elites. The big power rivalry could not be blamed for many issues which now plague developing countries, but it did however prolong the life of bad governance. Why this occurred can be explained by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s comment on America’s support for Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza: “He may be a son …