That geographic and infrastructural reality is old news, but up until very recently, the conversation around the referendum focused on the possibility that independence could bring a new class of investors into the south, namely major oil and construction companies who have been cut out by the U.S. sanctions on Khartoum.

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That, coupled with high intelligence and a fierce independence of spirit, has put her in a class of her own.

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Independence came, or was won as in Algeria, and the ruling class in the Muslim world made a bid to establish political order and engage with tasks that Smith described.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

"We have to do even more to help middle-class families, to create jobs, to hasten our energy independence, to improve our children's education and to fix our broken immigration system, " he said.

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