French generosity in wake of Katrina

[Ziggurat]

I just can't imagine that one of the most vibrant economies and cultures would deliberately insult another country at the expense of people's lives, but the French (IMHO) have done just that. Shame on them.

No, the French have done nothing of the sort. They couldn't possibly have delivered such an insult even if they wanted to, because they do NOT in fact have a vibrant economy or culture. Those are both quite stagnant, and so we should cut them some slack.

But seriously, though, while aid from foreign countries is welcome and appreciated, and can certainly help alleviate suffering, only help in the form of rescue personnel WITH their own transportation (boats and/or helicopters) during the first few days would really have impacted the death toll. I certainly love to bash the French (see above), and I think there's usually more than enough to justify it, but it this case I really don't think anyone's death can be attributed to their pettiness or stinginess.

 

[Skeptic]

would you please take a look at the link in my original post it is from the French Foreign Ministry. Don't you think that is evidence enough?

Not in this case. Their web site might not be up to date, or it might only include help sent through official Foreign Ministry channels, not including (say) material sent by the French armed forces or private citizens, etc.

 

[BPSCG]

Australias aid adds up to about a buck twenty per taxpayer. What have you done with my $1.20? Not squandered it I hope.....

Well, neither Mrs. BPSCG nor I have been particularly hard-hit by the hurricane, so we forwarded your donation to someone we felt could make much better use of it: The Fund to Re-Elect Ariel Sharon.

You don't have to thank us.

 

[Bearguin]

Re: Re: French generosity in wake of Katrina

But seriously, though, while aid from foreign countries is welcome and appreciated, and can certainly help alleviate suffering, only help in the form of rescue personnel WITH their own transportation (boats and/or helicopters) during the first few days would really have impacted the death toll.

Hey. We did that.

CANADA: Three navy ships, coast guard vessel, helicopters.

Can you please keep the copters when we're done? Just steal them or something. We need an excuse to buy some that actually work.

 

[delphi_ote]

Take a look at what the Franch have managed to scrape up and donate to a city proud of it French heritage. see: http://www.info-france-usa.org/# and click on "related articles" that opens the pdf. You will note that all the significant donations (staff, equipment) are from NGOs like the Red Cross.

The Franch government has provided --

81 tents
240 tarps
1000 meals
1000 bars of soap
300 jerry cans
500 cooking kits
4 people for 5 days

I wanted to write to the French Embassy and suggest it may actually detract from the rescue effort to have to provide personnel to off-load the aircraft for such meager stock, and perhaps the money was beter spent caring for the grass at the American Cemetary in Normandy, but alas the stuff has arrived.

I just can't imagine that one of the most vibrant economies and cultures would deliberately insult another country at the expense of people's lives, but the French (IMHO) have done just that. Shame on them.

France has offered mobile help from rescue teams in the French Antilles in the Caribbean, including a civil defense detachment of 35 people, tents, camp beds, generators, motor pumps, water treatment units and emergency kits, two CASA cargo aircraft, a ship (Batral Francis Garnier) and the frigate Ventose with its Panther helicopter, and a hurricane disaster unit...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/katrina.world.aid/

Shame on YOU for not doing more research.

 

[The Fool]

Re: Re: Re: Re: A+B=C

Fool, you will be forever enshrined in my memory for your bigotry. Bangladesh has every reason to know what the people of New Orleans are going through - except when it happens to them the casualties tend to be in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands. It gets floods like these on a regular basis. It's one of the poorest countries around, and $1,000,000 is a lot of money to them. They could spend it on their own flood defences, but no, they've offered to help the US. I think that speaks volumes about their humanity - and not very much for yours.

Forgive me Tim. I have been a naughty boy....


anyway...times a wastin...lets all get back to the frog bash.....

 

[tim]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A+B=C

Forgive me Tim. I have been a naughty boy....


anyway...times a wastin...lets all get back to the frog bash.....

Fool, I as wrong and I offer an unreserved apology. That you were being sarcastic, I accept.
A moral from this story - Do not ever let a wombat with food poisoning near a computer keyboard. Sorry, mate ..........

 

[stamenflicker]

Anyone notice that if you take most of Westernized Europe, and add it together (with Australia as the only exception) you hardly get anywhere near what some of these non-Western countries are doing. Wasn't it these same European countries criticizing the US for being stingy during the tsunamis? Talk about leading by example.

Flick

 

[KelvinG]

It would appear that comparing disaster relief contributions is becoming the equivalent of an international pissing contest between nations.

Ah well, I guess if guilt and international pressure is a factor in convincing a country to up the ante, then I suppose it's all for a good cause.

 

[Peter Cartoon]

France has offered mobile help from rescue teams in the French Antilles in the Caribbean, including a civil defense detachment of 35 people, tents, camp beds, generators, motor pumps, water treatment units and emergency kits, two CASA cargo aircraft, a ship (Batral Francis Garnier) and the frigate Ventose with its Panther helicopter, and a hurricane disaster unit...

Hey Delphi_ote... Shame on me? I don't think so. You must be taking logic lessons from the Fool. Perhaps you should do some more research rather then cutting and pasting from the web. The CASA aircraft are being provided by EADS North America. The majority of the supplies was French and British, mostly from NGOs.

Here is a link a picture of the actual unloading of the aircraft, note the airbus logo (not the French Air Force). The container was all of it.
http://www.eads.net/xml/content/OF00000000400004/7/65/40919657.jpg

EADS NA was awarded an 130MM contract for aircraft by the US Coast Guard in June!

 

[epepke]

It would appear that comparing disaster relief contributions is becoming the equivalent of an international pissing contest between nations.

Yeah, it is.

But then again, turnabout is fair play. The "pathetic" contributions of the US government to the tsunami victims of $350M was a sort of much supercilious jocularity and boffo ha-ha for many Francophile-equivalents, who had barely abated their chortling over "Freedom Fries."

 

[The Fool]

Hey Delphi_ote... Shame on me? I don't think so. You must be taking logic lessons from the Fool. Perhaps you should do some more research rather then cutting and pasting from the web. The CASA aircraft are being provided by EADS North America. The majority of the supplies was French and British, mostly from NGOs.

Here is a link a picture of the actual unloading of the aircraft, note the airbus logo (not the French Air Force). The container was all of it.
http://www.eads.net/xml/content/OF00000000400004/7/65/40919657.jpg

EADS NA was awarded an 130MM contract for aircraft by the US Coast Guard in June!

Well Mr Cartoon, I've tried all I can think of to get the French government to relax the purse strings. I have held my breath and even tried jumping up and down on the spot....what are you doing about it? Maybe you could burn all your Edith Piaf records?

come on Mr Cartoon...sing with me! All join in if you wish!

Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Ni Le Bien Qu'on M'a Fait, Ni Le Mal
Tout Ca M'est Bien Egal
Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Car Ma Vie, Car Me Joies
Aujourd'hui Ca Commence Avec Toi

 

[Leif Roar]

Hey Delphi_ote... Shame on me? I don't think so. You must be taking logic lessons from the Fool. Perhaps you should do some more research rather then cutting and pasting from the web. The CASA aircraft are being provided by EADS North America. The majority of the supplies was French and British, mostly from NGOs.

Here is a link a picture of the actual unloading of the aircraft, note the airbus logo (not the French Air Force). The container was all of it.
http://www.eads.net/xml/content/OF00000000400004/7/65/40919657.jpg

EADS NA was awarded an 130MM contract for aircraft by the US Coast Guard in June!

Errr. That's not a CASA. That's a Beluga; an entirely different airplane that the EADS has put to the disposal of the French and UK governments. It has nothing to do with the two CASAs supplied by France.

As for "The container was all of it."? Don't be silly. Nobody would use a large cargo airplane to transport a single container.