Foriegn Aid Disaster Relief and Tsunami's
01-13-2005 | 05:43 AM
#1
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Foriegn Aid Disaster Relief and Tsunami's
In light of Indonesia's comments today regarding US aid.
Was there such a thing as foreign aid prior to 1900? I don't know the answer to this, any historians?
Is there really a government obligation to help countries we know are not our friends? I'm not aware of one. I have no problem with private contribution to those countries.
How much foreign aid has the US given to other countries in $ since WWII to countries who aren't our allies?
Is it time that we take another look at our overseas fund dispensations?
Why aid and abet your enemy? Why help subsidize the economy of a nation that supports terrorism and believes your very way of life is wrong?
Has giving away all this foreign aid created a structure wherein other nations believe we OWE them this aid just because we are more successful than them?
I'm just hanging these out there for discussion as I'm really torn over the answers. My gut instinct tells me to pull the aid and give it nations who do support us. I feel we're just rearming an enemy economy by helping to promote a Muslim nation that believes we are evil.
You don't look a gift horse in the mouth..
fltsfshr
Was there such a thing as foreign aid prior to 1900? I don't know the answer to this, any historians?
Is there really a government obligation to help countries we know are not our friends? I'm not aware of one. I have no problem with private contribution to those countries.
How much foreign aid has the US given to other countries in $ since WWII to countries who aren't our allies?
Is it time that we take another look at our overseas fund dispensations?
Why aid and abet your enemy? Why help subsidize the economy of a nation that supports terrorism and believes your very way of life is wrong?
Has giving away all this foreign aid created a structure wherein other nations believe we OWE them this aid just because we are more successful than them?
I'm just hanging these out there for discussion as I'm really torn over the answers. My gut instinct tells me to pull the aid and give it nations who do support us. I feel we're just rearming an enemy economy by helping to promote a Muslim nation that believes we are evil.
You don't look a gift horse in the mouth..
fltsfshr
01-13-2005 | 11:16 AM
#3
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,868
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WOW
Is everyone scared of this thread? No opinions really? Hmmmm
Can I have some aid too? You don't care where it goes?
We're not only turning the other cheek we're turning a blind eye?
It doesn't make sense.
fltsfshr
Is everyone scared of this thread? No opinions really? Hmmmm
Can I have some aid too? You don't care where it goes?
We're not only turning the other cheek we're turning a blind eye?
It doesn't make sense.
fltsfshr
01-13-2005 | 12:04 PM
#4
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From: Rockwall, TEXAS!
I'm tired of being where we're not wanted. This has got to be the nadir of stupidity. I say pull the financial aid after we get our American victims out. I guess they don't need our tourist dollars after they rebuild, either. 
01-13-2005 | 01:11 PM
#6
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From: SoCal
They want all military out within 3 months--thanks, but get out. Here's something that Diplomad just wrote regarding the NYT (Rob), and touches on this subject tangentially.
...sorry, it's a bit long.
The Evil of Good? Thinking About Unintended Consequences
The Chief Diplomad is sitting in an airport. Tired. Glad to be returning to my usual corner of the Far Abroad. I ran across this NY Times article titled "For Honduras and Iran, World's Aid Evaporated" by Ginger Thompson and Nazila Fathi. In many ways it's a usual NYT product: lots of cutesy, lazy, historically inaccurate statements casually tossed out such as,
Central America, as a battlefield of the cold war, has long been accustomed to foreign occupation. But the people of Honduras had never seen anything like the military operations that arrived to bring aid after Hurricane Mitch.
What does that mean, "accustomed to foreign occupation?" When during the Cold War was Central America occupied? But my friends, for a moment disregard the liberal weirdness and read the whole thing. Here are bits and pieces,
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - The people of San Miguel Arc
...sorry, it's a bit long.
The Evil of Good? Thinking About Unintended Consequences
The Chief Diplomad is sitting in an airport. Tired. Glad to be returning to my usual corner of the Far Abroad. I ran across this NY Times article titled "For Honduras and Iran, World's Aid Evaporated" by Ginger Thompson and Nazila Fathi. In many ways it's a usual NYT product: lots of cutesy, lazy, historically inaccurate statements casually tossed out such as,
Central America, as a battlefield of the cold war, has long been accustomed to foreign occupation. But the people of Honduras had never seen anything like the military operations that arrived to bring aid after Hurricane Mitch.
What does that mean, "accustomed to foreign occupation?" When during the Cold War was Central America occupied? But my friends, for a moment disregard the liberal weirdness and read the whole thing. Here are bits and pieces,
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - The people of San Miguel Arc
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01-13-2005 | 01:41 PM
#8
Joined: Feb 2003
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From: The (S)Low Country
Portion of an AP report:
Indonesia's moves - which include an order that aid workers declare their travel plans or face expulsion - highlight its sensitivities over foreign involvement in the humanitarian effort, especially that of foreign troops.
Indonesia wants foreign troops out of the country by late March. The United States has the largest presence by far in south Asia with about 13,000 troops - almost all offshore.
However, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Indonesian authorities had informed the United States there is no departure deadline for U.S. troops.
"Nobody is asking us to go home," Boucher said. "The Indonesian statement about three months, they tell us, was intended as an estimate about how long the military part of the operation might be necessary."
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said the overall tsunami relief effort was progressing well except in Sumatra, where "huge problems" remain.
"It is still an uphill battle in the region," Egeland said in New York.
Survivors among the tens of thousands living in refugee camps in Banda Aceh have welcomed the foreign troops, who have been flying helicopter aid missions to otherwise inaccessible areas and running field hospitals.
"If they leave, we will starve," said Syarwan, 27, a tailor who is living with some 45 relatives under a tarp at a camp.
The cornerstone of the anti-malaria offensive is an insecticide spraying operation, where fumigators will walk from house to house in all neighborhoods of Banda Aceh.
They will spray the walls and put a small chalk mark on the outside of the front door as they leave so that no homes are left out and locations covered can be accurately mapped.
The tents in the refugee camps dotted around the city will also be sprayed, but those are home to only a tiny fraction of the population. Most people have been taken in by other families.
In communities along the west coast of Sumatra where almost all buildings were wiped out, the main defense will be pesticide-impregnated plastic sheeting, which villagers use for shelter.
"This will be the first situation where there is an incredible threatening epidemic and where if we get everything in place without obstruction ... we have a chance of stemming the starting point of an epidemic which otherwise will undoubtedly happen," Allan said.
Although malaria is endemic in the area, meaning it is widespread under normal circumstances and the local population is used to getting repeatedly infected, that does not provide protection from any outbreak that might emerge from the tsunami.
"They are even more likely to get sick. A lot of them have already got diarrhea, poor nutrition. They are stressed, they've got multiple infections already and their immune systems are weakened," Allan said. "Any immunity they had is gone."
Associated Press medical writer Emma Ross contributed to this report from Jakarta.
Indonesia's moves - which include an order that aid workers declare their travel plans or face expulsion - highlight its sensitivities over foreign involvement in the humanitarian effort, especially that of foreign troops.
Indonesia wants foreign troops out of the country by late March. The United States has the largest presence by far in south Asia with about 13,000 troops - almost all offshore.
However, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Indonesian authorities had informed the United States there is no departure deadline for U.S. troops.
"Nobody is asking us to go home," Boucher said. "The Indonesian statement about three months, they tell us, was intended as an estimate about how long the military part of the operation might be necessary."
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said the overall tsunami relief effort was progressing well except in Sumatra, where "huge problems" remain.
"It is still an uphill battle in the region," Egeland said in New York.
Survivors among the tens of thousands living in refugee camps in Banda Aceh have welcomed the foreign troops, who have been flying helicopter aid missions to otherwise inaccessible areas and running field hospitals.
"If they leave, we will starve," said Syarwan, 27, a tailor who is living with some 45 relatives under a tarp at a camp.
The cornerstone of the anti-malaria offensive is an insecticide spraying operation, where fumigators will walk from house to house in all neighborhoods of Banda Aceh.
They will spray the walls and put a small chalk mark on the outside of the front door as they leave so that no homes are left out and locations covered can be accurately mapped.
The tents in the refugee camps dotted around the city will also be sprayed, but those are home to only a tiny fraction of the population. Most people have been taken in by other families.
In communities along the west coast of Sumatra where almost all buildings were wiped out, the main defense will be pesticide-impregnated plastic sheeting, which villagers use for shelter.
"This will be the first situation where there is an incredible threatening epidemic and where if we get everything in place without obstruction ... we have a chance of stemming the starting point of an epidemic which otherwise will undoubtedly happen," Allan said.
Although malaria is endemic in the area, meaning it is widespread under normal circumstances and the local population is used to getting repeatedly infected, that does not provide protection from any outbreak that might emerge from the tsunami.
"They are even more likely to get sick. A lot of them have already got diarrhea, poor nutrition. They are stressed, they've got multiple infections already and their immune systems are weakened," Allan said. "Any immunity they had is gone."
Associated Press medical writer Emma Ross contributed to this report from Jakarta.
01-13-2005 | 03:36 PM
#9
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From: SoCal
Valentine covered Indonesia. Quite curious. They've got their own internal conflicts, and don't seem to like anyone with a military uniform running around their back yard, whether we're helping or not. It seems as if we'll still be there after three months, but at the same time they've asked our flat-top to move out of their waters, so our helo's can't refuel there now...
As for the Diplomad article, it's frustrating to see relief come to a backwards portion of the world, see things "fixed", and then have the place turn to squalor afterwards. I believe that the reader was trying to say three things--Americans are not to blame if those we help cannot "get it together" after we've left. And throwing money at the problem is not the answer. Next, the author uses post WWII Europe as an example of a population that was ravaged by war, yet its people had the skills needed to rebuild and overcome the devestation of their homes, livelihood, etceteras.
Perhaps an answer lies in the comparison.
As for the Diplomad article, it's frustrating to see relief come to a backwards portion of the world, see things "fixed", and then have the place turn to squalor afterwards. I believe that the reader was trying to say three things--Americans are not to blame if those we help cannot "get it together" after we've left. And throwing money at the problem is not the answer. Next, the author uses post WWII Europe as an example of a population that was ravaged by war, yet its people had the skills needed to rebuild and overcome the devestation of their homes, livelihood, etceteras.
Perhaps an answer lies in the comparison.
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