World helps U.S. after Katrina. Remember this.

[delphi_ote]

Can we try to be a little nicer on the world stage? At least admit that we're a part of a community and that we need help now and then? Please at the very minimum think about this before you spout off ignorant jingoisms.

Nigeria has pledged $1 million to hurricane disaster relief, government officials told CNN. "Nigeria will be happy to pledge $1 million to the hurricane disaster fund in the spirit of brotherhood," Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said...

China offered $5 million in aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina. If needed, the Chinese government also is prepared to send rescue workers, including medical experts, officials said...

India is making a $5 million donation to the American Red Cross, Ronen Sen, Indian ambassador to the United States, said Saturday. In addition, Sen said India was willing to donate essential medicines to the relief effort....

Taiwan has pledged more than $3 million to the relief effort...

Canada has offered to help in any way it can, and its navy is preparing a ship full of emergency disaster relief supplies to be sent when a request comes...

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...

Germany has offered a range of assistance, including medical and transportation services, water treatment capabilities and aid in searching for victims and supplies. Germany also has said it is ready and willing to "dip into its own emergency oil reserves" to release some 2 million barrels a day for 30 days.

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

Mr Snow and his government colleagues in Washington are pleased that the International Energy Agency has agreed to release 60 million barrels of emergency oil and petroleum reserves.

Half of that will be provided by the US itself but European countries will help by shipping refined products which could start arriving here in about 10 days' time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4211380.stm

Britain was to send 500 000 military ration packs to the southern United States regions devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the ministry of defence said on Sunday.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Hurricane_Katrina/0,,2-10-1942_1764953,00.html

Timken thanked Germany for the willingness to help, including 25 tons of meals that have already been flown to the US. A first plane with 10 tons of food arrived on Saturday, while a second delivery was due to arrive in Pensacola, Florida at about 9 p.m. UTC.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1700331,00.html

Canada will send four ships with emergency supplies and disaster specialists to the southern United States next week to help the rescue operation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, officials said on Friday.

The government of Prime Minister Paul Martin also said it would pump an extra 91,000 barrels per day of extra crude oil to the United States to help overcome fuel shortages.

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/ne...9_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-WEATHER-USA-CANADA-COL.XML

Despite all that's been said, that is really wonderful to see.

 

[LucyR]

Cool. But I imagine there's also a condescending/intent to embarrass, mean spiritedness involved too, but that's human nature.
Some of the monetary values mentioned also seem to be more in keeping with “symbolic gestures”.

However, it's true that the people who directly receive this aid are unlikely to care about such subtleties.

 

[delphi_ote]

Cool. But I imagine there's also a condescending/intent to embarrass, mean spiritedness involved too, but that's human nature.
Some of the monetary values mentioned also seem to be more in keeping with “symbolic gestures”.

However, it's true that the people who directly receive this aid are unlikely to care about such subtleties.

Some of the same things are involved in US donations, but the people on the ground here raise hell to make sure something is done. If it's symbolic of anything, it's that the population of these countries care about people here. To me, this is evidence that the citizens of nations all over the world want to show solidarity and compassion for the U.S. Even in countries where the majority of them disagree with our policies, they've immediately poured out aid.

The world isn't as bad as most Americans make it out to be.

 

[Grammatron]

Some of the same things are involved in US donations, but the people on the ground here raise hell to make sure something is done. If it's symbolic of anything, it's that the population of these countries care about people here. To me, this is evidence that the citizens of nations all over the world want to show solidarity and compassion for the U.S. Even in countries where the majority of them disagree with our policies, they've immediately poured out aid.

The world isn't as bad as most Americans make it out to be.

Most? I think not.

 

[Freakshow]

How much does the US give in foreign aid each year? And I believe it has also been going up over the recent years, not down.

If all the money from the rest of the world to us for Katrina is less than the FY06 budget for foreign aid, does that make us nicer than the rest of the world combined? (That last question was asked facetiously. But I think it still makes a point. When looking at whether or not we are "nice" on the world stage, don't just look at the negative things the US does. Look at the whole picture.)

 

[Ryokan]

Cool. But I imagine there's also a condescending/intent to embarrass, mean spiritedness involved too, but that's human nature.

Wow, you Americans sure are grateful. Makes me all fuzzy and warm inside, thinking about my country sending you money, medicines, oil and expert divers from our navy to help you in your hour of need, and you respond like that.

Yeah, we did it all just to spite you

 

[Grammatron]

Wow, you Americans sure are grateful. Makes me all fuzzy and warm inside, thinking about my country sending you money, medicines, oil and expert divers from our navy to help you in your hour of need, and you respond like that.

Yeah, we did it all just to spite you

LucyR is not American, btw

 

[LucyR]

Wow, you Americans sure are grateful. Makes me all fuzzy and warm inside, thinking about my country sending you money, medicines, oil and expert divers from our navy to help you in your hour of need, and you respond like that.

Yeah, we did it all just to spite you

No, no. I just meant that charity, whether it is from individual to individual or from nation to nation can be done for all sorts of reasons not all of which are necessarily savoury. My remark was not really specific to the US or anyone else. In retrospect it wasn’t very clever or helpful. So now you’ve embarrassed me.

Btw that’s the second time in as many weeks I’ve been mistaken for an American, wonder what it means? Hopefully something good. Maybe it’s just the avatar.

 

[LucyR]

LucyR is not American, btw

Hee! Hee!

It is interesting (at least to me) that quite a lot of the time I see things either from the point of view of an upstanding conservative American or else a decedent European liberal. Mostly though I have no clue. But at least I'm learning.

 

[Ryokan]

LucyR is not American, btw

Well, you know what they say. Nobody's perfect

Oh, sorry for mistaking you for an American. SA? South Africa?

 

[duggie]

Always good for a laugh watching countries make fools of themselves misjudging the "minimum acceptable contribution of the moment", like Japan announcing yesterday $200,000 of aid was on its way (immediately preceded by the Australialians $7,500,000 in the newscast).
Of course even the good ol'USA sometime ◊◊◊◊'s up in this game. I still remember Colin Powell proudly announcing the US was
"immediately pledging $40,000 of aid" in the initial hoursof the Tsunami disaster.

 

[Leif Roar]

Always good for a laugh watching countries make fools of themselves misjudging the "minimum acceptable contribution of the moment", like Japan announcing yesterday $200,000 of aid was on its way (immediately preceded by the Australialians $7,500,000 in the newscast).
Of course even the good ol'USA sometime ◊◊◊◊'s up in this game. I still remember Colin Powell proudly announcing the US was
"immediately pledging $40,000 of aid" in the initial hoursof the Tsunami disaster.

Well, in defense of both Colin Powell and Japan, the immediate emergency aid is not the money per se, but the actual emergency supplies: food, tents, blankets, medicines and so on. As such, the dollar amounts of the initial emergency aid might be more representative of what emergency stores the various nations had that were both appropriate for the situation at hand and available for immediate dispatch to the afflicted area, rather than of which nation has the "greatest heart."

Even after the immediate aid, countries will only send aid that the afflicet country has explicitly requested (sending supplies that are not needed is actually less than useless since it will hamper the needed supplies getting there quickly.)

 

[Rolfe]

How much does the US give in foreign aid each year? And I believe it has also been going up over the recent years, not down.

If all the money from the rest of the world to us for Katrina is less than the FY06 budget for foreign aid, does that make us nicer than the rest of the world combined? (That last question was asked facetiously. But I think it still makes a point. When looking at whether or not we are "nice" on the world stage, don't just look at the negative things the US does. Look at the whole picture.)

Just to put this in perspective. The USA is a big country, and a rich one. Rather than looking at the total monetary amount of aid it donates, try expressing it as a percentage of GNP, or alternatively dividing it by population. Then do the same for the aid budgets of other, smaller countries like Norway.

Then figure who might really be "nicer than the rest of the world".

Rolfe.

 

[delphi_ote]

How much does the US give in foreign aid each year? And I believe it has also been going up over the recent years, not down.

If all the money from the rest of the world to us for Katrina is less than the FY06 budget for foreign aid, does that make us nicer than the rest of the world combined? (That last question was asked facetiously. But I think it still makes a point. When looking at whether or not we are "nice" on the world stage, don't just look at the negative things the US does. Look at the whole picture.)

I meant "nice" in terms of rhetoric from the populace (i.e. freedom fries, Germans and French were "allies" with Saddam, etc.) more than anything else.

You gave a really good example with, "We're #1 even in charity!"

 

[CFLarsen]

2004:

Top: Denmark (0.84%), Luxembourg (0.85%), Netherlands (0.74%), Norway (0.87%), Sweden (0.77%).

Bottom: Greece (0.23%), Italy (0.15%), Japan (0.19%), New Zealand (0.23%), United States (0.16%).
Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2001 to 2004

US Aid has dropped in recent years:

Denmark tops the list of the world's 21 richest countries when it comes to helping poorer nations, a US research institute says.

...

The institute's report found that Denmark ranked highest when it came to aid, trade, investments, migration, environment, security, and technology.

'Danish development aid is the world's best both as regards quantity and quality, given the country's size,' the Center for Global Development said.

The Netherlands, Sweden, and Australia filled the seats after Denmark, while Norway and New Zealand shared the fifth seat.

The United States came in number twelve, scoring few points on developmental aid and protection of the environment.

Japan came in last of the 21 countries.
Source

 

[Kopji]

If you really want to stir things up in the US, how about sending back some genetically modified food?

We are pretty well aware that a poll asking "Would the world be better off if the entire US were suddenly covered by water?" Would garner several affirmative answers.

The aid numbers are not very convincing though. The US has provided a LOT of infrastructure and communication support that will never be measured in anyone's foreign aid budget. We send aircraft carriers and provide military airlifts of food many places and the cost is not counted.

Despite the controversy and how weird it might sound, things like the Iraq war are actually seen like our little aid contribution to making the world a better place.

So I do agree that many times aid seems to involve an opportunity for propaganda not to be missed. (I'm sure earthquake aid to Iran has little US flags stamped on it.)

But seriously, it is nice to see other countries recognizing that something 'titanic-like' is going wrong here, and help is welcome.

 

[Freakshow]

I meant "nice" in terms of rhetoric from the populace (i.e. freedom fries, Germans and French were "allies" with Saddam, etc.) more than anything else.

You gave a really good example with, "We're #1 even in charity!"

What does "the populace" mean? What percentage of the populace made the statements you just quoted?

 

[Freakshow]

2004:

Top: Denmark (0.84%), Luxembourg (0.85%), Netherlands (0.74%), Norway (0.87%), Sweden (0.77%).

Bottom: Greece (0.23%), Italy (0.15%), Japan (0.19%), New Zealand (0.23%), United States (0.16%).
Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2001 to 2004

US Aid has dropped in recent years:

Yes, I know that other countries contribute more as a percentage of GDP. But notice the post made by Kopji, about how much of what we do is not counted in foreign aid numbers.

My point is...too many people see only the negative that the US does. And do not see ANY positive, AT ALL. They are so desperate to hate America, they have to resort to talking about "freedom fries"! That is really stretching it, when finding a reason to dislike the US.

I'm not saying that we are perfect. I do plenty of complaining about my own country on this forum. But I think that some think we are much worse than we are, and focus on the negative so that they can reinforce what is an emotional view against anything that is large and powerful.

 

[delphi_ote]

What does "the populace" mean? What percentage of the populace made the statements you just quoted?

Do you not remember people pouring out wine? Pundits ranting about these things on radio and T.V.? Surely I didn't imagine all that. As to what percentage made the statements I allegedly quoted? Honesty, Freakshow... what relation would that have to anything I've said?

 

[delphi_ote]

They are so desperate to hate America, they have to resort to talking about "freedom fries"!

I see... so the implication is that I am "desperate to hate America?" That's not really a good substitute for rational discussion.