Saturday, June 03, 2006
Foreign Policy Stupidity
So it would take $23 billion a year to fight AIDS in Africa. So far the world has pledged $8 billion.
Making up the difference would be difficult for Africa, as many African nationals have a GDP of only around $10 billion a year.
The developed nations of the world, however, could make up the difference more easily. The US spends $100 billion a year in Iraq alone and four or five times that every year on its military alone.
AIDS in Africa kills 2 million people every year at its current rate. Most countries in the southern reaches of Africa have adult infection rates anywhere from 20-35 percent.
Pakistan’s mammoth earthquake last October that killed 87,000 or more led to over $5 billion in international aid. However, Saudi Arabia sent more aid than the United States.
US aid helped the image of the US after the Asian tsunami of 2004. One might think that US foreign policy experts would be more generous, if for no other reason than public relations.
When Condi Rice and Stephen Hadley are running your foreign policy, you get stupidity and selfishness like this. Although maybe I am being unfair. Maybe I should be saying that when Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld are running your foreign policy…
Because they are. Don Rumsfeld’s department gets $439 billion a year in funding, plus “emergency” funding that puts the total above $500 billion. The second-highest funded department in the president’s cabinet (more than the State Department) is the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (at $68 billion a year).
The Department of Defense is our foreign policy. Thus we send the marines to help in Indonesia, where its earthquake has killed 6,500 people. When you invest half a trillion dollars a year in your military its understandable that you might want to make it a multi-purpose instrument. So we can use marines and airmen where aid workers should be.
# posted by BitterHarvest @ 12:08 PM 
