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International-UN-NGOs
Annan Urges Rich Countries to Help Poor
2005-06-10
That bleat's starting to wear pretty thin by now. Rich countries have been "helping" poor countries since I was a tad. Some of those same poor countries — war-shattered Japan and Korea, idyllic, agrarian Thailand, steamy, rubber plantation Malaysia — are now in a position to do some helping of their own. The starving children in India are now starting to get plump and happy. Others countries, starting from similar or worse circumstances, shackled themselves to Marxism, "third way" National Socialism, Islam, or outright kleptocracy, and they're stuck right where they were. Places like Zim-Bob-We have actually regressed.

I was a toddler when the Marshal Plan was implemented. I was in junior high when the colonial powers left most of Africa. How the hell old are my grandkids going to be before the continuous demand for money for kleptocrats finally ends? Or will it? Why is it our responsibility to clean up the mess left by Emperor Freddie, Idi Amin, Mobuto Sese Seko, Kwame Nkruma, Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor, Sane Abacha, Jonas Savimbi, and the rest of the host of dear departed or absconded whose relatives send me spam every day, begging my help in secreting their hard-won millions? At what point do the inhabitants of those countries stop either killing each other or hollering "Death to America" and actually start living humdrum lives with families, jobs, and civic responsibilities?
Posted by:Fred

#14  Coldest of the day Grom.
Posted by: Fischer   2005-06-10 19:28  

#13  Why is it our responsibility to clean up the mess left by Mobuto Sese Seko, Jonas Savimbi, (names of kleptocrats who werent so obviously our responsibility snipped)

Do you really want a serious answer to that, Fred?
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-06-10 16:41  

#12  plus they all seem too have money for plenty of weapons and ammo
Posted by: Thraing Hupoluper1864   2005-06-10 16:15  

#11  anyone remember "blackhawk down" thats a reason for no more aid
Posted by: Thraing Hupoluper1864   2005-06-10 16:14  

#10  Hey Annan, how about the rich fucking UN pay for something besides 5 star dinners and child hookers? Or even give the aid money that you have in your personal accounts that is supposed to go to the poor countries? Or even not hand out our forgien aid to the dictators instead of the starving people they rule?

Hypocrite .... leach .... parasite .....

Go fuck yourself and the entire goddamn UN.

I'm sick of this shit....

/rant (apoligize for the language)
Posted by: mmurray821   2005-06-10 12:00  

#9  Bravo to Tom! This thinking outside the box could be just what the UN needs! And add to this that Kofi would be even closer to his homeland nation of Ghana which would cut down on those commutes.
Although I'll probably see Ghana before Kofi does...
Posted by: tu3031   2005-06-10 11:31  

#8  Kofi should just pack up the U.N. and move it to a third-world African country.

For starters, his $1-billion new building would be a great construction project for the local economy. $1-billion will buy a lot of mud bricks, and poor families could sleep in the building at night when Kofi and his staff aren't working there.

There would be dramatic savings for Kofi on his clothing, restaurant, and housing costs (especially if he lives in his office). And his staff could all see the third world first-hand without requiring plane fare.

With living costs so low, Kofi and his staff could accept reduced salaries and contribute the difference to other poor countries.
Posted by: Tom   2005-06-10 11:26  

#7  
That bleat's starting to wear pretty thin by now.

It's no sweat off Goo-fi's ass. After all, it's not HIS money that would be going into the bottomless pit that is Africa.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-06-10 10:48  

#6  Step 1: Get rid of all the morons in charge of those nations.
Step 12: Export Capitalism
12a: Ensure property rights for citizens
12b: Ensure it is possible for people to license new businesses
(Better yet... just get them a copy of Hernando De Soto's book... it has all the steps in it.)
Step 23: Get out of the way and watch them surpass Socialist Europe.
Posted by: eLarson   2005-06-10 10:08  

#5  Nice suit, Kofi. Bet that ran you at least a grand, if you even had to pay for it.
Sorry I can't help you out, but the doc says I suffer from compassion deprivation brought on by constant pleas of corrupt, incompetent diplomats to open my wallet and reward failure. They're pretty sure there's no cure.
Posted by: tu3031   2005-06-10 08:31  

#4  Aid is warranted for short-term problems like tsunami relief.

Aid is rarely good for the long haul: it's just permanent welfare payments to the dominant thugs. Take North Korea for example: why have we been providing food to a country that can afford a million-man army and nuclear and missile facilities?

I view any payments to the U.N. as welfare payments to Kofi. It's high time that he gets a real job.
Posted by: Tom   2005-06-10 08:07  

#3  
phil_b wrote
Name a single African country that is a model for how aid should work.

Would you like the plans for pepertum mobile with this, sir?
Posted by: gromgoru   2005-06-10 06:52  

#2  Total aid to Africa since decolonization is in the region of a trillion dollars. Yet large areas and perhaps most of sub-sharan Africa continues to get worse. People get sicker die sooner and are poorer. If aid works, why hasn't it worked to date? Name a single African country that is a model for how aid should work.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-06-10 04:28  

#1  Total development aid to Africa is $40 billion per year (sub-Saharan Africa's total GDP is about $300 billion). If even half of the aid was actually used for development, instead entirely stolen, then their power, water, and transportation structure would be several times better off. Wipe out their debt and the kleptocrat's cycle of borrowng and stealing will just kick into high gear again.
Posted by: ed   2005-06-10 01:03  

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