Yet another reason to tell the UN to fuck itself

[Eidolon Faer]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/1 ... index.html

Donations to tsunami relief 'generous,' U.N. says

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations' emergency relief coordinator said Tuesday that the international response to the tsunami catastrophe in southern Asia has been "very generous" despite earlier comments in which he called some nations "stingy."

"The international assistance that has come and been pledged from the United States, from Europe and from countries in the region has also been very generous," Jan Egeland said in brief remarks at the world body's headquarters.

"I have been misinterpreted when I yesterday said that my belief that rich countries in general can be more generous. This has nothing to do with any particular country or the response to this emergency. We're in early days and the response has so far been overwhelmingly positive," he added.

Monday, Egeland called for a major international response to the tsunami disaster -- and went so far as to call the U.S. government and others "stingy" on foreign aid in general.

"If, actually, the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of the gross national income, I think that is stingy, really," he said. "I don't think that is very generous."

In an interview Monday night with CNN, Egeland reiterated his view: "It bothers me that we -- the rich nations -- are not becoming more generous the more rich we become."

His remarks prompted U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday to assert that the United States is "not stingy" when it comes to providing aid to countries in distress.

Powell said the United States has responded with help for countries devastated by the weekend's tsunamis and will continue to assess the situation with an eye toward providing more aid.

"The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world," he said.

Powell told CNN's "American Morning" that the catastrophe was "unprecedented in scope and scale."

He said the United States had responded to an appeal by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent by providing $4 million of the $7 million it initially requested worldwide.

The U.S. State Department said an additional $20 million in aid will be added to the $15 million the United States has already pledged for nations hit by the tsunamis.

In addition, said Powell, nine patrol planes and 12 C-130 cargo planes packed with relief supplies were on their way to southern Asia.

Tell you what you lutefisk-slurping Norse twit, we'll match Norway's contributions to the relief effort dollar for dollar.

[Jarochai Alabaster]

Oh nos, someone under a lot of stress said something a bit rash! Whatever will we do?!

[Relbeek Einre]

The US Government has earmarked more money for the upcoming inagural gala than it has to disaster relief. I heard a lot of right-wingers use this event as an opportunity to bash the UN and it sickens me.

[Relbeek Einre]

Oh and for the record ...

We're Americans, for Christ's sake. We should be the types of people to jump to the aid of the eleven nations devastated by this quake.

In some of these nations dealing with open rebellion, the government and the rebels are laying down arms and picking up relief efforts together. it's amazing what the human spirit could do. We should do no less.

What we SHOULD do is offer up one billion dollars to the relief effort, and challenge the EU, Russia and China to do the same. Not only is it simply the right thing to do, but it's an unprecedented opportunity to reclaim some of the international standing we've lost thanks to the Iraq situation.

And where the hell is President Bush? We've heard nary a peep from the man and it's been almost three days.

[Partha]

He's on vacation for the umpteenth time. What are we up to now, 250 days or so of vacation in less than one term?

Oh, yeah, and Eid.....Norway manages to donate a hefty share of it's GNP while also maintaining it's own military. We can't do either. There's a lesson there.

[Klast Brell]

If the US were held up to the same standards the AM radio neocons hold the UN to this might be worth debating. As it is, we have a president who encourages charity. Surely with such leadership the US can come up with better than a tenth of a percent for disaster releif.

[Croinc]

I am looking for the same people that said during the campaign "OH NOES, HUGE DEFICITS BY TEH EMPORER BUSH!!!"

Liberals, wru?

[Croinc]

Oh yeah and Partha, plz move to norway, kthks.

[Eidolon Faer]

Well, gotta love it when the group that brought us the Iraq Oil for Food scam comes begging for a handout and then bitches that it's not enough. Sorry, that just doesn't fly. We should cut them out of the loop and do our own relief efforts if we want to be charitable. At least we know the people we help won't be eating animal feed while UN suits skim the difference.

The UN is a complete waste of perfectly good Manhattan parking spaces.

[Partha]

Oh yeah and Partha, plz move to norway, kthks.

Fuck that, my mother's family would disown me. The perils of being Swedish.

[Embar Angylwrath]

Oh and for the record ...

We're Americans, for Christ's sake. We should be the types of people to jump to the aid of the eleven nations devastated by this quake.

In some of these nations dealing with open rebellion, the government and the rebels are laying down arms and picking up relief efforts together. it's amazing what the human spirit could do. We should do no less.

What we SHOULD do is offer up one billion dollars to the relief effort, and challenge the EU, Russia and China to do the same. Not only is it simply the right thing to do, but it's an unprecedented opportunity to reclaim some of the international standing we've lost thanks to the Iraq situation.

And where the hell is President Bush? We've heard nary a peep from the man and it's been almost three days.

The only thing we Americans get for helping people out is a big "Fuck you, you should give more" from the world community. Some countries even resent the help later (France).

I say we buy some of the land from one of the devastated nations. Maybe a nice tropical island or two. That way there is no charity, they earned every penny, and they can feel good about themselves. We get a nice vacation spot at a good price (or maybe a place for a Navy base). Everybody wins.

[Relbeek Einre]

The only thing we Americans get for helping people out is a big "Fuck you, you should give more" from the world community.

That's a faleshood, perpetuated by neocons to justify thumbing our nose at the world.

[Chants Evensong]

Americans are extremely generous. Private international aid donations from Americans total about 40 billion dollars a year. This dwarfs private donations from other countries. This is about four times more than the US Government. Nevertheless, the US government provides more in raw dollars than any other country. Americans also account for 57 percent of international food donations. Private and food donations are not counted by the UN so to them, we look stingy.

Americans are not stingy. They are not thumbing thier noses at the world. They just don't rely on the government to do it for them. They do it themselves. Bush should be commended for fostering this tremendous sense of charity in the American people.

The 40 million for the inauguration also came from private donations.

The current 10 million pledged is only the tip of the iceberg. This disater has yet to play itself out. Once it becomes clearer when and how to provide more financial relief, Americans will donate much, much more.

[Riggen]

Thank you, Chants. I'd buy you a beer if I could.

[Relbeek Einre]

Bush should be commended for fostering this tremendous sense of charity in the American people.

He's done no such thing. Any time during the last 72 hours he could have come out and told the American people that the victims need our money and support. He didn't. He's been silent. Appallingly silent.

40 million for the inauguration came from private donations, true. An equal to greater amount is being footed by the government.

Again, it seems the only accusations of "stinginess" were misquoted, and not directed at the US specifically. Of course, the right wing pundits don't care about accuracy, they only care about demonizing the UN at every opportunity.

It's true the US gives more, both in governmental and private donations, than anyone. That's not the point. The point is the President and his allies are more concerned with a very, very shallow political agenda than in doing the right thing, or even a very SMART political action like putting some money into recovering the political capital we lost in Iraq.

[Chants Evensong]

But Bush has encouraged charity.

Klast accurated noted:
[quote}As it is, we have a president who encourages charity.[/quote]

And he has not been silent. Bush sent letters of condolence to Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Maldives and Malaysia -- all countries affected by the Sunday earthquake and tidal waves.

Your hatred of Bush is bordering on the irrational. How you are able to divine a "very, very shallow political [Bush] agenda" from the wake of a devastating tsunami is beyond me.

And no. Inauguations are privately funded. Have been for a long time. Only a small portion is funded by public money.

[vaulos]

Probably worth pointing out:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/ ... index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A suggestion by a U.N. official that the world's richest nations were "stingy" irritated the Bush administration, especially when U.S. aid for Asia's earthquake is expected to eventually rise from the millions to more than $1 billion.

[Relbeek Einre]

But Bush has encouraged charity.

Yes, I don't deny that. All presidents have encouraged charity. This is not unusual.

And he has not been silent. Bush sent letters of condolence to Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Maldives and Malaysia -- all countries affected by the Sunday earthquake and tidal waves.

Again, good. I wasn't aware of that and I've been scouring the media reports for any indication of it. However, he needs to speak publicly, and to us as well as to the world. And he hasn't, and that's conspicuous by its absence. Any of the previous four presidents would have been talking about it to the American people.

And no, I don't hate Bush. (If you want to know who I hate, it's Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft.) I hate his agenda, and his apparent determination to destroy any semblance of positive international relations. I don't like that he isn't sending more than letters and a pittance - isn't calling on the American people to give what we can - or dispatching military from the Pacific to assist in the search and rescue - or anything in the short term.

I imagine that not even this administration is daft enough to drop the ball in the long term and we'll see much larger US participation, even leadership, in what will be the greatest disaster relief and reconstruction effort the world has seen. But in the short term, during the crisis, we had an opportunity to provide strong leadership in the world community, and we dropped the ball.

And if you don't think this Administration has an agenda to undermine the UN at every opportunity, you haven't been paying attention.

[vaulos]

Why should we provide leadership for this crisis? And by doing what?

[Relbeek Einre]

Because we're America, the lone superpower in the world, we are very well equipped to prevent this 23,000 death tol from increasing tenfold, and because we need to regain some of the political capital we've lost.

And I answered the second question.