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Blogs are a familiar feature on the internet - where users post content in an accumulating manner, with comments, and search options, etc. They facilitate expression and exploration, and via attached comments, also debate and synthesis.


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Blogs

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John Andrews's Blog

Web Address: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/johnandrews
Bio: Born 1962 Living in NW London Love reading Z-Net, Noam Chomsky; John Pilger; Arundhati Roy; Paul Street; Tariq Ali; Edward Herman; William Blum, Naomi Klein and Howard Zinn. Particular interests... (More)

All Andrews Blogs

When Aid is Destructive

By John Andrews at Sep 04, 2008


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Now, I'm all for rich countries giving aid to not so rich countries but....

I would be pretty fed up if I was a US taxpayer and I found out that $1 billion was being given to Georgia as a reward for an act of gross stupidity. What message does this send to the gung-ho president of Georgia? No matter what your folly - we will back you?

I would also be pretty fed up if, year on year, $3 - 4 billion of US taxpayers money was given to Israel so it could continue to act in a despotic manner with its neighbours. No matter how Israel behaves, it would appear that it can always rely on the US to bankroll it.

I think I would also be pretty fed up today if I lived in Haiti / The Dominican Republic and was surrounded by the wreckage from Hurricane Gustav and I became aware that my superpower neighbour was doling out billions in aid to countries on the other side of the world, to countries who are there own worst enemies, yet my own impoverished and wrecked country was not seeing any part of this great hand-out.

Professor Noam Chomsky has written extensively about the 'harm' that US aid can bring to countries - perhaps Georgia can now be added to the list that includes: Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Columbia

 

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Re: When Aid is Destructive

By Marty, David at Nov 24, 2008 12:50 PM

  Hello John,

  This is David from France,

  I am a french libertarian socialist, so...

  As a frenchman, I must say my country is partially responsible to Haiti's misery. And by partially, I mean 75%. This fact calls for great reparations from France, to which the USA should also contribute after - among other things - the 1994 coup backed up by the US (but I shall leave that to you US citizens).

  And as a libertarian socialist, I am not surprised, that is the nature of States that are violent institutions. And more so when it's an imperial power, just like France has been for almost all of its history.

 

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Re: Imperialism

By Andrews, John at Nov 24, 2008 13:53 PM

Hi David Thanks for your comment.I'm in the United Kingdom. Sadly, our respective countries have been responsible for the devastation of much of the world; Africa in particular. Even today, with the empires long gone and discredited, France and the UK are still huge arms exporters, selling indiscriminantly to anyone with money to waste. In fairness to France, though, they kept out of Iraq... but that was pre-Sarkhozy!

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By P., Thanos at Sep 05, 2008 00:46 AM

Do you think its about "doing good"?

The US is not trying to "fix" these countries. Its just installing outposts all over the world. And its planning tourist trips to new countries lately: cosovo, FYROM(what everybody except the Greeks call "macedonia"), Albania and now Georgia.

USA is build a 180.000 square meter embassy in FYROM(not sure if that number is exact anymore, but its more than 100 thousand). There are reports that a new Guantanamo is under construction.

So its not about aid being "destructive". Its very constructive, only for different ends.

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