B
Bruzilla
Guest
I've been watching the news coming out of southern Asia pretty closely as of late, and I'm starting to see a situation building that I think is going to be a real smack on the kisser for lots of do-gooders in our country. Whenever the media isn't bashing Bush for daring to be on vacation, not giving enough aid, giving too much aid, etc., they are starting to notice that relief efforts in the areas hit by the tsunami aren't going anywhere fast. Supplies are sitting around at airports awaiting diplomatic clearance to be brought in; relief workers are denied access to transport into effected areas; the Indonesian government didn't even "know" that many villages and towns were gone until a news crew chartered a helicopter and flew over the areas and gave the video tape to the government, etc. I watched video of an American doctor making an empassioned plea to Indonesian government officials yesterday, his only request being that the government allow himself and other doctors to be allowed aboard military aircraft that are flying to the worst hit areas. The answer from the government: "We'll think about it tommorrow."
This is starting to look a lot like the famine relief efforts in the 80's, when the US and other countries fell all over themselves getting food for starving sub-Saharan Africans, only to see it sold in city markets or left to rot. The reason for this was the simple fact that the countries where the starving masses had fled to were barely able to support their own people, yet alone support millions of sick, poor, starving, homeless, imigrants. So it was better to let those people die than to take responsibility for them. The World was willing to come in, feed these people and make them strong again, pat themselves on the back, and then go home. Meanwhile, those people who were starving would then need housing, schools, jobs, etc., which the World wasn't going to provide.
Now, I see the situation as the governments in south Asia are faced with a similar situation. All the do-gooders are rushing in from all over to help stabilize the situation, but then they'll be out of there. They'll feed and give some clothes to some 100,000+ orphans, maybe even put up temporary shelters for them, but then what? Who's going to raise these kids? Who's going to deal with all of the crime that's going to result from a mass of parentless children? Who's going to rebuild the economic infrastructure of the regions so that those who survived will have jobs? Who will replace the homes that were lost?
I think that the US and the other nations of the World will rush in, offer massive amounts of aid to fix the short-term, hi-visibility, problems, pose for a lot of pictures and do a lot of back-patting, and then be gone... as we always do. So I can see why the governments of the region are dragging their feet. Burying 500,000 to 1,000,000 people who died as a result of starvation, disease, and exposure after the event is do-able for them. Dealing with rebuilding 500,000 to 1,000,000 lives isn't. But, I'm sure in the end it will all be seen as a failure of the Bush administration.
This is starting to look a lot like the famine relief efforts in the 80's, when the US and other countries fell all over themselves getting food for starving sub-Saharan Africans, only to see it sold in city markets or left to rot. The reason for this was the simple fact that the countries where the starving masses had fled to were barely able to support their own people, yet alone support millions of sick, poor, starving, homeless, imigrants. So it was better to let those people die than to take responsibility for them. The World was willing to come in, feed these people and make them strong again, pat themselves on the back, and then go home. Meanwhile, those people who were starving would then need housing, schools, jobs, etc., which the World wasn't going to provide.
Now, I see the situation as the governments in south Asia are faced with a similar situation. All the do-gooders are rushing in from all over to help stabilize the situation, but then they'll be out of there. They'll feed and give some clothes to some 100,000+ orphans, maybe even put up temporary shelters for them, but then what? Who's going to raise these kids? Who's going to deal with all of the crime that's going to result from a mass of parentless children? Who's going to rebuild the economic infrastructure of the regions so that those who survived will have jobs? Who will replace the homes that were lost?
I think that the US and the other nations of the World will rush in, offer massive amounts of aid to fix the short-term, hi-visibility, problems, pose for a lot of pictures and do a lot of back-patting, and then be gone... as we always do. So I can see why the governments of the region are dragging their feet. Burying 500,000 to 1,000,000 people who died as a result of starvation, disease, and exposure after the event is do-able for them. Dealing with rebuilding 500,000 to 1,000,000 lives isn't. But, I'm sure in the end it will all be seen as a failure of the Bush administration.
The wave should have been twice as big & focused only on Indonesia!! I mean who is causing all the trouble in the world anyway?? The Catholics? Baptists? Buddists? You get 3 guesses, the first two do not count....