Cheese and Crackers: Comments
I hate Euroweenies.
I'm waiting for Egeland to get out his personal checkbook.
Waiting...
Waiting......
Someone needs to remind me again why we give the UN 23% of its funds and tax-free real estate in Manhattan in exchange for constant criticism.
Bianci Jagger, speaking right now on Crossfire, just gave Jan Egeland credit for USAID's $20 million in relief funds.
I may be wrong about this, but it's quite possible that the figure you cite for the emergency aid coming from the EU is only for money from the EU itself, not from individual member states (of which there are 25). So don't get carried away with EU-bashing just yet.
In any case, there is usually a big difference between what is pledged and what actually arrives. Billions of dollars were pledged to the victims of the Bam earthquake, but only tens of millions have been received one year on.
Very true, I'll look into that when Red Cross posts some numbers. I'm having a tough time finding private donation info though...
Their servers are creaking under a heavy load at the moment, but the page that I'm linking to is: http://www.ifrc.org/helpnow/
dona...te_response.asp
I know this sounds crazy, but there is actually such a thing as "too much" disaster assistance. We probably haven't reached that stage yet for people hit by the tsunami, but there is a point at which we should be thinking long term, not just sending food and water for immediate need. Here's what ticks me off, though: you can rest assured the U.S. government will give more money, food and supplies than any other government; private U.S. citizens will give more money than other nations' private citizens; and U.S. military resources will transport disaster assistance given by other governments -- who don't have the logistics capability our military has. Then when it is all over, we will be criticized for not doing enough. F
FSO, no good deed goes unpunished. You know that.
How do you sleep at night? Using a disaster in which so far 60,000 people have lost their lives to launch a narrow-minded wingnut bit of hate-speech against the EU is sickening. Where's your soul?
'Yeah, pretty much.'
A video I saw of him he made the point that some religions in the past called for tithing 1/10 of income, and contrasted this with the fraction of a percent we give.
I just think, as a relief organizer, he is emotionally overwhelmed by recent events. The toll is staggering, and further death can be prevented with aid.
Actus:
And the best way to get aid is to criticize your biggest donor? I don't think so.
You could be right though, he's backed off his previous statements. Or tried to.
Just a further thought on the egeland comment: Since we are not socialist in America, people and companies are allowed to become highly successful, thus extremely amplifiying our GNI. If we decided to run America in a business stifling socialist style (like the scandinavians) then we would knock that GNI way down and our percentage of giving per GNI would go way up. So really, we should destroy our economy so that we could brag that we are giving 10% of our GNI to the poor unfortunates who are so unlucky as to be living in a country with a non-US style government...
Drew:
I think you are missing the point. We are not the ones who are "Using a disaster in which so far 60,000 people have lost their lives to launch a narrow-minded wingnut bit of hate-speech". I think you need to see the original comments fom the EU/UN crowd. They are the ones using this to push their socialist agenda. Meanwhile we continue to out-donate the rest of the world. I sleep just fine at night, thanks.
" you can rest assured the U.S. government will give more money, food and supplies than any other government; private U.S. citizens will give more money than other nations' private citizens; and U.S. military resources will transport disaster assistance given by other governments"
It's all well and good criticising your favourite enemy in times like these, but first try and get your facts straight: dozens of European, and Asian countries have sent teams of emergency aid workers, supplies and logistical support to the region already, without totting it all up into neat round figures to parade around on national TV. To claim, a priori, that it will be the good old USofA that does all the hard work while the rest of the world stands by just doesn't cut it in the face of the facts.
Thanks for such a great Blog. Its enlightening to see such words of wisdom comming from Massachusetts of all places! I am in agreement on your every point. As for the comments form the peoplke from EU about losing sleep... grow up. Look outside your box. CNN is not a "News" network so please do not refrence US news by watching our leftest point of view. CNN has other agendas.. news comes second to them. Its quite obvious from our recent elections that their leftest points of view is quickly becomming the minority (Thank God).
I feel really saddened by the Tsunami. Im amazed by the devistation. Our country will of course be the leaders in the Aid.. and of course our nation will again be made out to be the bad guys.. Amazing isnt it?
Frank-
We donate lots of money, more than anyone else has even come close to donating. We send ships. We send sailors. We send supplies. We have soldiers cancelling their leave to go assist.
And then we are called STINGY?
The reason those numbers are on the news is because the rest of the world looks to us (as much as it ticks off the Eurotrash) to see what our response is going to be and goes from there.
Jordan,
I'm not going to try and play one-up with you here: who knows how much each country has sent, per capita or GDP?
What I do find interesting, though, is that this thread immediately descends into EU-bashing, and that nobody has picked up on the fact that the money promised so far (from the US AND the EU) amounts to about the pre-Christmas weekend taking of one large shopping mall.
I mean, there are people over there who have lost EVERYTHING, and we're bickering about whether the average citizen in America has donated a cent more than the average citizen in Europe. Time to get a grip...
Frank,
hear hear!
I realise that I'm just contributing to the bickering, but...
You seem to be a little selective in your comparisons of US/EU. If you look at the last article referenced (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/
L28593949.htm), you'll see that the EU is ready to release 30 Million Euros (US$40.7 Million), on top of US$4 Million already given. This is in addition to the amounts donated by the individual countries, which total a further US$53 Million.
So, (at least according to the Reuters article - and they're normally pretty unbiased), the US is contributing $35 million, while the EU is contributing over $97 Million.
It's easy to sing the praises of the US donating more than any other country, and in absolute terms that's true, but surely you have to take into account the population size of the country? Or are you saying that the US, with 293 Million people, should only be expected to contribute the same amount as (for example) the UK, with 58 Million?
I agree that E
hmm the EU (that's the organisation, not the countries) is giving an additional 30 million euro's on top of the initial 3 million that was promised. This is just from the EU. I know for a fact that a lot of coutrnies are sendig money and goods besides what the EU is sending.
see for yourself: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/...k/
L28593949.htm
And about the UN being cheap bastards: how about you USA people finally pay the back-log of membership fees you owe the UN. I believe it was in the region of 500 million dollars? (!)
http://www.disinfopedia.org/
wiki...=United_Nations
Seems like my post got truncated...
I wanted to say that I agree that Egeland's comments were unnecessary, and agree with Actus that the amounts donated are tiny, when you look at the donation per head of population: The US is donating 12 cents, France is donating a miserly 0.2 cents, and even Australia's donation, at $1.34 seems pretty small to me.
Let's hope that private donations help increase the figures, so that the relief organisations can provide not only immediate aid, but also long-term support to help rebuild their towns, and industries.
Frank & Drew,
I just looked at a Reuters website (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/
L28593949.htm) giving nation-by-nation totals of what is being sent to help victims of the disaster. Is that 'totting it all up into neat round figures to parade around on national TV'? Is Reuters an American organization? Their contact phone numbers don't look like they're in the northern hemisphere.
Like other countries don't do that? Oh I'm sorry, other countries just seem to use national TV to criticize (bash) the US for ANYTHING it or it's citizens do, especially if the citizens aren't as 'enlightened' as their citizens in their own nationalistic, hilier-than-thou opinion.
"the good old USofA that does all the hard work while the rest of the world stands by just doesn't cut it in the face of the facts" Take a look at what that paragon of world citizenship France is doing. 100,000 euros, 16 rescuers and 10 tonnes aid. If what the US has pledged "amounts to about
Seems like I got truncated too.
If what the US has pledged "amounts to about the pre-Christmas weekend taking of one large shopping mall.", then what France is sending amounts to the New Years Day take at a 7-11 in Beverly Hills.
And Drew, why aren't you asking Mr. Egeland how he sleeps at night. He put forth a "narrow-minded wingnut bit of hate-speech" when he accused non-socialist nations of being stingy.
Actually, I'm going to sleep better at night knowing if I keep reading this thread, Drew and Frank will teach me how to think just like all of the good citizens of the world.
Mr. Nobody
Jordan:
'And the best way to get aid is to criticize your biggest donor? I don't think so.'
He didn't pick out the US. he said 'we' the western democracies. The richer more developed countries.
Comparisons to France are nice and dandy and make us feel great.
all,
As to private donations, here's a few organizations (that don't show up in the US aid total) that are providing disaster relief. I'll post the list in sections get the entire list out.
Action Against Hunger
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201
New York, NY 10018
212-967-7800
http://www.aah-usa.org
American Jewish World Service
45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10018
800-889-7146
http://www.ajws.org
ADRA International
9-11 Fund
12501 Old Columbus Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904
800-424-2372
http://www.adra.org
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC Crisis Fund)
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA
215-241-7000
http://www.afsc.org
Catholic Relief Services
PO Box 17090
Baltimore, MD 21203-7090
800-736-3467
http://www.catholicrelief.org
CARE
151 Ellis Street
Atlanta, GA 30503
800-521-CARE
http://www.careusa.org/
Direct Relief International
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
805-964-4767
http://www.directrelief
More list:
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
PO Box 2247
New York, NY 10116-2247
888-392-0392
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
International Medical Corps
1919 Santa Monica Boulevard Suite 300
Santa Monica CA 90404
800-481-4462
http://www.imcworldwide.org
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
PO Box 372
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
41-22-730-4222
http://www.ifrc.org/
International Orthodox Christian Charities
Middle East Crisis Response
PO Box 630225
Baltimore, MD 21263-0225
877-803-4622
http://www.iocc.org
Lutheran World Relief
PO Box 17061
Baltimore MD 21298-9832
800-597-5972
http://www.lwr.org
MAP International
2200 Glynco Parkway
PO Box 215000
Brunswick, GA 3121-5000
800-225-8550
http://www.map.org
Mercy Corps
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208
800-852-2100
http://www.mercycorps.org
Northwest Medical Teams
PO Box 10
Portland, OR 97207-0010
503-624-1000
http://www.nwmedicalteams.org
More list:
Operation USA
8320 Melrose Avenue, Ste. 200
Los Angles, CA 90069
800-678-7255
http://www.opusa.org
Plan USA
155 Plan Way
Warwick, RI 02886
800-556-7918
http://www.planusa.org
Relief International
1575 Westwood Blvd.
Suite 201
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(800) 573-3332
http://www.ri.org
Save the Children
Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund
54 Wilton Road
Westport, CT 06880
800-728-3843
www.savethechildren.org
Sri Lankan Disaster Relief Fund
Acct. # 002013396
Victory State Bank
755 Forest Ave.
Staten Island, NY 10310
http://sibv.org
United Methodist Church Committee on Relief
475 Riverside Dr., Room 330
New York, NY 10115
(800) 554-8583
http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
US Fund for UNICEF
333 East 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
800-FOR-KIDS
http://www.unicefusa.org
World Concern
19303 Fremont Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98133
800-755-5022
http://www.worldconcern.org
World Emergency Relief
P.O. Box 131570
Carlsbad, CA 92013
(760
Last of the list. I'm sure there are more.
World Emergency Relief
P.O. Box 131570
Carlsbad, CA 92013
(760) 930-8001
http://www.wer-us.org
World Relief
7 E. Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
443-451-1900
http://www.wr.org
World Vision
PO Box 70288
Tacoma, Washington 98481-0288
888-56-CHILD
http://www.worldvision.org
I linked to the USAID list in the video's post as well Mister Nobody. Thanks though
Jordan, I think you're suffering from a few deep, and in my mind obvious, philosophical errors:
1) This is no longer aid, and it is no longer charity. It is possible that the death toll will rise exponentially. At this point, the sheer calculus of bodies designates this disaster as far beyond the pale of any conception of "charity." By the same logic, was Bush giving "aid" to the Iraqi people when he cited Saddam's genocidal activities as one of his reasons for going to war ? Was it "charity" when the Allies liberated the Nazi concentration camps? I understand this is the result of a natural disaster, and those were the result of political actions, but my point is that a mass grave is a mass grave, whatever or whoever caused it. When you hear the numbers, what, really, is the difference? This is really as simple as asking yourself if you can go into Aceh, see the mass graves, and STILL not feel desperate and frustrated enough to call the U.S. stingy. Have you ever see
[continued...]
Have you ever seen a mass grave?
2) $35 million from the U.S. is a drop in the bucket of its GDP, and, indeed, of its aid budget, compared to any other nation. Don't make the naturallistic fallacy here: just because "they" are stingy, doesn't give the U.S. license to be stingy as well. And, again, "stingy" is only derogatory if you're thinking of this as "charity," which is a typically disconnected, First World, and, dare I say it, bourgeois way to look at this. To add on to the first point, it is no longer charity when you are the only one with the budget to help. Then it becomes an obligation, insofar as human life is valued: with this administration, it is doubtful. And any self-respecting Republican would agree.
There are some times when death tolls transcend politics and demand action. So, we can quibble all we want about whether or not people are being "fair" to the U.S., or whether or not $15 million is a "reasonably" charitable
So, we can quibble all we want about whether or not people are being "fair" to the U.S., or whether or not $15 million is a "reasonably" charitable amount. It's all hot air and arrogance when you descend from the abstract.
The issue is really this simple: The death toll soared past 100,000. It will surely soar into the millions when starvation and disease set in. Money is needed to stanch its progress: where will it come from?
The money will come from people with souls....who live in all countries...as always...
Any way you slice it, the bottom line is WE give, then immediately get criticized (for one reason or another) by those with a political agenda. Eventually we get dumped on by those WE gave to.
Seems to be the natural order of things these days....
the fact is , that when we said we were sending 15 million in aid , we also said in a first installment , didnt anyone catch that in the news briefs? weve allocated a second disbursment of aid , and i am sure we will allocate more..... and we are in the midle of fighting a war which is eating up alot of money , social programs are being slashed here , taxes on property have been raised steadily , schools are clamoring for money and aid , and a variety of other economic maladies , but we are still sending more then the europeans and american private relief agencies are sending alot as well not to mention the american public ( myself included ) , but lets not get into us / eu bashing , this statement and sentiment came from the un , lay the blame where it belongs....
everyone in the world who is contributing is important regardless of their donations , yes even the french.... (laughs)
it really is about the poor people who have suffered. lets not forget that.
There is a big difference between 'promising' to donate (like the US usually does) and really donating. I'll give you one fact and a promis: through a national organisation, backed up by our government, Dutch citizens donated up to 3 million euro's so far. The government will double this amount. Further more, ther will be a nationwide broadcast on all television channels next Tuesday to collect more money. Usually this wil total up to 20 million plus...
But instead of arguing about 'who's the bigger donater', wouldn't it be better to 'do' something, and really help the victims? They will be needing our support for years to come. This disaster isn't over in a couple of weeks or months....
So, develop ideas, and start making plans for activities to generate money. Adopt families, communities, regions and keep paying attention and keep caring for a long time to come.
But DO something!
you know , i dont want to get into bashing , but the U.S. GIVES more , not just promises and your statement just irritates me. i dont know where you are getting your facts from ,or if that was just a self serving statement. where is your proof that america usually promises and then renegs? considering we ARE the ones who spend the most worldwide? thats a proven fact. my us tax dollars have been sent to help , my military which is funded by us tax dollars is on its way to help ( though im not sure why we are sending 2 carrier groups... ), ive personaly donated to help monaterialy ,and i have donated goods to a charity collection to send over seas..... and im just a typical american....
so my tax dollars are going , my personal money is going and goods i have purchased with my money and donated are going to help these poor people....
but the us usually just promises and doesnt donate ?!!!.... i fart in your general direction sir! you said , instead of arguing how about doing som
doing something , yet you started your statement right off with a directed inflamatory statement , typical.
and the aid given often does not take into consideration us corporate donations as well. so you are quite wrong about the usa promising and not delivering....
but you were right about one thing , just do something about it dont argue... every dollar/euro/rupie/yen/mark/pound sterling / (insert your countries monetary denomination here ) is important , and it needs to be about the people and not how much bigger one countries johnson is then anothers.
This is disgusting. Tens of thousands of people have died, and you find it necessary to argue about who donated how much.
I couldn't agree more!
So, let's UN-ite!
The Giving USA Foundation clocks American citizens as giving 241 billion a year to charitable organizations.
241 billion dollars.
This is 2.2 percent of our Gross National Product, the prefered measuring stick used by the UN and Europe. That's 2.2 percent before any aid given out by our government.
Mister Nobody:
Reuters Head Office is in the UK, certainly in the northern hemisphere, although they have offices in 200 cities in 94 countries worldwide. Their CEO is American, and they are well-known for reporting news that is reliable and unbiased.
You can read their Independence and trust principles here:
http://about.reuters.com/
aboutus...ndependence.asp
I'm really quite amazed at how paranoid the US is. Jan Egeland didn't single out the US for criticism. His exact comment was:
"We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich countries, and it is beyond me why are we so stingy, really"
See, no mention of the US, the EU, or even of the "Socialist countries" that others have quoted above.
Now, while he was almost certainly including the US, I very much doubt he was excluding the UK, Germany, France, etc., and yet it's the Yanks who got on their high horses and started making comparisons between the US and the EU.
!!US Out of the UN...UN out of the US!!
!!US Out of the UN...UN out of the US!!
!!US Out of the UN...UN out of the US!!
That is a simple message for all those who want to de-privatize all human endeavors. We don't need some government lifer telling us how and when to donate to and assist our neighbors.
Time to bring this UN issue to a head.
1) Pray and find a non-government way to help the survivors of the Tsunami.
2) Work with your friends to kick the UN out of the US and get us out of the UN.
(off topic, I know...)Still I wonder how many more allies the U.S. will lose in the next four years of Bush administration... And I know for a fact that a lot of American citizens are worried about that question too.
Piet,
"Still I wonder how many more allies the U.S. will lose in the next four years of Bush administration..."
you only have to look at Bryan's comments to find an answer to that question. And I know for a fact that a lot of American citizens are NOT worried about that.
...that you want to get into some sort of Mother Teresa contest over this is very sad indeed.
There may be over 100,000 people dead, millions are displaced.. entire local communities are destroyed, economies ruined.
Could you please put away your Euro-, US- or UN-bashing for some other time..
ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Aid Organization) a heavyweight in international aid
Financially speaking, ECHO is a heavyweight in the world of international emergency aid. It had budgeted some €500 million on humanitarian aid projects in 2004, with a reserve of some €220 million, which will be tapped to finance the current emergency measures in South Asia. It has already sent experts to the affected countries to gather its own impression of what needs to be done. Projects that are financed by ECHO funding will be realized by aid groups and non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, including the Red Cross and German Agro Action, among others. Their funding applications will be processed and checked by Brussels, which will either approve or deny the request. As far as government agencies go, ECHO is considered in NGO circles to be fairly efficient.
Aid from Germany and the rest of the world has begun pouring into devastated Asian countries. Berlin Tuesday pledged €20 million in financial help on top of technical and engineering experts already on the ground. Germany has sent a second team of experts from its federal disaster relief organization, Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), to Sri Lanka, and aid workers are en route to Thailand as well at the start of an effort to clean up devastation tsunamis wreaked on the Indian Ocean nations. The German interior ministry said several teams with experts had been sent to Sri Lanka to help restore water supplies, following the arrival of three German THW staff workers in the capital city Colombo on Monday. They will travel with mobile water treatment and testing equipment.
German workers in Phuket
In addition, the Thai government requested THW help in its effort to locate bodies still buried under rubble. German Teams are making their way to the island of Phuket to aid in the search.
Germany increases aid - Airbus A 310 MRT MedEvac to Thailand
Schröder announced that Germany would make available €20 million ($27.25 million) in emergency aid, 10 times the figure it had announced on Tuesday. The chancellor, who cut short his Christmas holiday to return to Berlin, also said he would propose a debt moratorium for Indonesia and Somalia among Paris Club members when they meet on Jan. 20. The government has also called on ordinary Germans to donate the money they would normally have spent on traditional New Year's Eve firecrackers to relief funds.
In general I find it very sad to start such an narrowminded thread - to compare numbers and statistics. Never trust statistics... especially if you want to abuse them. You seem to mix up a strange kind of US-NAtionalism with a good amount of disinformation. That's the wrong way, boy!
+++++++++++++++++++++++
The EU's aid chief Louis Michel has underlined that that the full extent of the damage isn't yet known, and that aid groups don't yet have the complete picture of where aid is needed most. A spokeswoman for ECHO said the task force would be able to name 10 concrete aid projects by Friday, that would use up the first €10 million of the EU's €30 million aid budget. More projects are expected to take shape in the coming year once the exact needs of the people in the crisis areas are assessed.
Focus on medium-term
At the same time, Michel warned that given the enormous scale of the disaster, there is a risk of failing to prepare for the massive task of reconstruction
At the same time, Michel warned that given the enormous scale of the disaster, there is a risk of failing to prepare for the massive task of reconstruction that will come afterwards.
Efforts must focus as much on the medium-term rehabilitation phase as immediate emergency efforts, Michel said, noting that it would be a huge mistake to leave a gap between the two stages.
"I am very anxious about the linkage between the emergency phase and the second phase of rehabilitation and reconstruction.If there is a gap between the two phases, I think it will have catastrophic consequences," he said.
USofA the biggest donor?? Where? What? Who?
Spain alone is giving 50 million euros (68 million dolars); oh wait, they sure want to hear about this at freerepublic, but probably won't believe it or try to ban my instead.
So, now that you're not the biggest donor, can we continue to criticize USofA? And say that some of you are quite stingy?
Where? What? Who? Come on!!
Wanna help?
www.landinzicht.be/reisverslag/index.htm
Sorry for the fact that the site is in Dutch. In a few words: this tourist (on a world trip) happened to be in the tsunami area and helps to rebuild small shops and restaurants in a small bay. An amount of 36.000 euro's was already donated and one small shop/restaurant owner was helped in rebuilding his small business. Now they've committed themselves to help all the small business owners in the bay. All damages were not insured for. Now you have a chance to help directly!!!!
OK, well given the level of nationalism here and sensitivity over comparative state aid donations, this may seem a little egregiously inflammatory. But what the hell:
Le Figaro agrees US is 'stingy', compares aid pledged to pet food sales
PARIS, Dec 30 (AFP) - One of France's leading daily newspapers, Le Figaro, sided with criticism that the United States had been "stingy" in its aid pledges over the Asian tsunami disaster, comparing the sum promised to the amount spent on pet food and Iraq military operations.
US President George W. Bush's initial promise to release just 15 million dollars in emergency aid was "completely riduculous given the magnitude of the catastrophe," an editorial said.
That sum represented "less than half the daily sales of dog and cat food in the United States," it said.
Put another way, it was "one-tenth of the cost of the daily cost of the war in Iraq for the US army" or "half the price of a new F-16 fighter jet," it said.
The rest of the article:
It noted that Washington had "hastily" doubled the aid amount to 35 million dollars once a UN spokesman castigated wealthy countries generally for being "stingy," but said the global public relations damage had already been done.
"Its image as a superpower -- whether a bullying one or a caring one -- is at stake," Le Figaro said, adding that the US prestige in Asia has probably taken a hit.
France, the newspaper said, had given proportionally much more, though it opined that Asia's economic prospects might have driven the "diplomatic gesture" behind that sum.
French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday ordered his government to nearly double its aid to the disaster-struck region to 44 million euros (57 million dollars).
I don't really have time to read all the comments, but I will say this: regardless of whether the criticism of the US, specifically, was warranted, I think it is not out of the question to say that pretty much every single developed country out there *could* stand to be more generous as a general rule (not just with an eye towards this particular disaster). I think that's a legitimate criticism, and it's a brush that all the developed countries could be tarred with.
That said, I looked at the link to the article that has the country-by-country breakdown of aid. The one that struck me as I skimmed through was Canada. Not a lotta people there, but they sure did give a relatively significant chunk of change....
Well, about the money of the "Euroweenies" vs the mighty Yanks; in US dollars:
- the US: 35 million
- Euroweenies, just the biggest doners included from the bbc source; 172 million
When all the European figures will come together I would assume it will be ten times the US figure.
source: bbc
I would also like to inform you that individual donors are giving more in UK than the US official figure.
As for the charity donation figures of US GPD given above, very very little of it goes abroad.
The blogger says US is the largest giver of foreign aid; which is not true by any means, but forgets to mention that the most part of that foreign aid it does give goes to Israel of all needy nations, in the form of guns & bombs & fighter airplanes. Most of the rest has previously gone to Turkey, to help them keep their Kurds in guard, but now that Turkey was not very enthuasistic in the Iraq issue that mone
Could you please all just stop ?
It is not about who gives how much. It is about let us all give as much as we can. We are not only US or Euro Citizens. We are now World Citizens. It is a global concern to help those people down there. The last thing i want to hear, drowning in misery and despair is two guys discussing: "Hey, i will give him 200 $ for rescue", "and me will give him 400 $" Just let us all stop bashing each other and starting to think about helping.
Otherwise I will have to say that ALL that bash each other in here aren't the least bit interested in what happens to the people.
End of my contribution to this disgusting discussion.
I'm completely with you "one of the Euroweenies", and I've already donated as a world citizen myself to help out those poor people over there, but who started this shit? Who is complaining about why do they get called "stingy" or why are they being critized??
It is so arrogant of them ...
Don't look so smug.
Faye Wachs said she was impressed by the efforts of the Thai government and the International Committee for the Red Cross, but "she was appalled at the treatment they got" from the U.S. government, her mother said.
At the airport in Bangkok, other governments had set up booths to greet nationals who had been affected and to help repatriate them, she said.
That was not the case with the U.S. government, Wachs told her mother. It took the couple three hours, she said, to find the officials from the American consulate, who were in the VIP lounge.
Read more here:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/29...iver/
index.html
Hmmmm.
We pledged $40 million ?
I Don't feel so smug about that.
I used to spout off about how great my birthplace (San Antonio, TX) was before I spent the last 20 years traveling the world. Now I know better.
Get out and see the world from some place other than an all-inclusive tourist hotel or CNN, and you'll start seeing our country (and it's government.. which I now see as two totally different things) from a more balanced perspective.
Keep in mind that as the realization of the magnitude of the disaster started to hit home, the amounts pledged by countries, increased.
Last I saw:
EU: 33 million euros
plus....
France: 15 million euros
Germany 2 Million euros
Austria 1 million euros
Netherlands 2 million euros
Thats more that us.
and get this.....
The Canadian gov't has pledged $40 million cdn ($32 mil USD compared to our $40 mil)and yet they have 1/10th of our population.
I personally have given $500 USD and I don't want or need a pat on
You might hate the euries....but a very small country of Holland contributed 27 million euro relief money already (more than $30 mill).
And the Dutch people are also raising funds themselves....by selling stuff from their homes...people who work in restaurants give their tip money etc.
At the end of next week, the Dutch inhabitants will have raised between 70-100 million euro's.
Because we in Holland also will held a special TV program in wich we raise money. Lost time we did that in Holland was in 1999...for the people in Kosovo (Yugoslavia). The Dutch people gathered 52 million euro's that night !!
Stop that stupid war on lies in Iraq and get the soldiers to area's where they are needed like now in Asia or in Sudan.
Why are many Americans so defensive?
1. A single UN official makes an offhand remark about Western countries (no specific country was mentioned) being too 'stingy' in regard to foreign aid. Several other UN officials quickly disagree.
2. Somehow, this is interpreted by many Americans, including the supposedly intelligent Colin Powell, as a large scale attack on the USA by the 'evil forces' of the UN and EU.
How did number two possibly come about? Is this just cheap political point scoring (against 'evil leftist' organisations) or do many Americans actually believe that UN and EU forces are marching on Washington?
On another note, this blog post is hopelessly obsolete as most countries have rapidly escalated aid pledges. The conditions linked to that aid and how much is actually delivered make comparisons problematic.
$350 million
Are you both happy now
If you are interested in the views the asians here have of you, instead of constantly blabbing who is bigger and better, just ask.
Jim,
American living in Thailand
Thanks for the help from everyone
we need it, and appreciate it
the initial pledge by Bush was a PR disaster of unimaginable proportions - it was viewed in Europe as "here's the U.S. again, not giving a flying fcuk about the rest of the world".
Sorry guys , but whoever is managing your president's PR seriously needs a enormous kick up the ass. I honestly haven't seen such an incompetent U.S. administration in years.
Re: charity, actually yes, pretty much by definition, a conservative or libertarian filters everything through selfishness, thus will tend to view a good deed for someone else (with no tangible reward) as being nothing but charity. Don't bother trying to argue compassion or global humanitarian responsibility with him because the world revolves around him, as far as he is concerned.
Re: the initial pledge being bad PR, in the context of global sentiment, the typical response is "we don't need your seal of approval"--conservatives like little slogans that are easy to say from the comfort of home, far from the sentiment's consequences.
The one good aspect of the race about 'who bids most' is, that the total of money made available for the poor victims of the disaster is increasing. After China pledged 60 million $, the US quickly increased their pledge to 350 million $.
Right now the situation is roughly as follows: Japan 500 million $, EU incl. individual members 500 million $, US 350 million $. Source: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/...k/
L01661463.htm
I would not say the US are not generous, they spend 150 billion $ to make a big mess of Iraq.
If it comes to foreign aid which is actually thought to help the poor, the US are at the bottom of the top twenty, despite all bragging: http://www.nationmaster.com/
grap...eco_aid_don_cap
Just to put the US aid in perspective:
Japan donated 375 million Euro(about 478 million dollars).
My country ,the netherlands,has pledged up to 27 million euro's up till now. That's without the charity donations made by private citizens who have already donated 26 million through donations to aid agencies. The big tv relief action is tomorow so I'm sure that total will go up. This 26 million was donated within 1 week after the quacke and I admit that this is pretty unique and has never happend before in our historie.
To put things even more in perspective.... our country now has 16 million people living here. How many americans are there today?
Bush is doing great so far. Appointing Clinton and, his father, Bush was just awesome.
the blogger here is an idiot. The criticism was directed at (now pay attention) WEALTHY COUNTRIES and not just the US. Now if you UN-haters have some guilt about the small percentage that the US give, that is your problem. Moreover, he wasn't talking about the tsunami aid but foreign aid in general. Basically he was saying that because the wealthy countries are "stingy" with their regular aid, they should give more to the relief aid. GET IT????
But what are facts when you can take shots at the UN (an organization WE, the USA, help found)
Not only is the U.S. low in aid in terms of percent of GDP, but also in terms of aid per capita: the U.S. is one of the "stingiest" of the top 21 developed countries giving only about a nickle per person. Compare this to Norway that gives 9 times that per person and most of the other European countries are closer to Norway. The fact that the U.S. gives more in total dollars is irrelevant - we have more people, duh! More than half of U.S. aid goes to the Middle East. Very little of it goes to address extreme poverty and most of it is directed at ultimately benefiting U.S. corporations (by USAID's own admission).
hey,
good to see that pig ignorance and good old-fashioned in your face capitalism is alive and well and flourishing right here in your toilet. Oh sorry, I mean web site
Germany has just contributed 500 MIO EUROS, Australia gave even more.
Is it really necessary to compare these figures? Do you need to use this events to release you stupid, small minded comments?
Nearly 200'000 people have died ... and more will die of disesases. Instead of waving a flag (stick it where the sun is never shining) go out and collect some money.
Roger
(From Europe)
This is very stupid discussion you begun saying that the US would be the best of all and all this brainwashed and conceited arguments...:
Germany Promises €500 Million in Aid -the decision was announced after a meeting of the German cabinet today! German Chancellor Schröder pledged €500 million ($661 million) towards reconstruction efforts in the tsunami-affected regions of South Asia on Wednesday, making Germany one of the single largest donors so far. With 60 Germans already confirmed dead and more than 1,000 missing in the massive sea surges, the disaster has struck a chord with the public here and individual donations totalling around €170 million have been made.
I am very sad to read your ungrateful posts, some of you are really ugly, they desserve an atomic bomb in the ass.
fact: usa is a third world country, just watch the poors in your streets, the ones you usuualy hide....
as usual you don't understand anthing: the shame is not the hurricane and the pitiful reponse, the shame is the poverty of your people:
IDIOTS
forget it.
Sinceres condoleances to the victim's families, that will not bring them back, but this tragedy is first a natural disaster with a unusual amplitude (excuse my english).
nothing else is more important than the "victims" future.
ciao
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