Home > NYT calls US aid for tsunami "stingy"
Edito Humanitary International Catastrophes USA
NEW YORK: The New York Times said Thursday that the United States has been stingy
in its response to the Asian tsunami disaster and in giving aid in general.
The newspaper highlighted in an editorial that the 15 million dollars initially
offered by Washington was less than the figure the ruling Republican Party would
spend on President George W Bush’s inauguration in January.
Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have given indignant reactions to a
comment by UN chief disaster relief coordinator Jan Egeland that rich nations
have been "stingy" in giving aid to poorer nations. "We beg to differ," said
the New York Times .
"Mr Egeland was right on target." "We hope Secretary of State Colin Powell was privately embarrassed when, two days into a catastrophic disaster that hit 12 of the world’s poorer countries and will cost billions of dollars to meliorate, he held a press conference to say that America, the world’s richest nation, would contribute 15 million dollars.
"That’s less than half of what Republicans plan to spend on the Bush inaugural festivities." The administration has since increased its aid to 35 million dollars and is also sending transport planes and navy ships with troops that could take part in the disaster operation. But the Times said the 35 million dollars remains "a miserly drop in the bucket."
The newspaper also highlighted the disparity in development aid given by the United States and the European Union. In 2003, the US government gave 16.2 billion dollars, while the EU gave 37.1 billion dollars. It said that in 2002, the figure was 29.9 billion dollars for Europe and 13.2 billion dollars for the United States.
Forum posts
2 January 2005, 02:04
Yup, the Right sure has its priorities straight!!
"Stingy" where helping others is concerned (unless you’re super-rich or a greedy corporation) doesn’t BEGIN to describe it!!
It’s mind-boggling that anyone could even hint at defending this selfish behavior.
2 January 2005, 10:22
As at the 2nd of jan 2005 the people(not the government!) of Australia have personally donated 60 million dollars Australian($1 Australian buys 77 cents US).Australia only has 17 million people.
Most people would surely agree that when the richest country in the world with a population of somewhere in the order of 300 million people give $35 million when $1 billion dollars was spent on advertising for the recent U.S. presidential elaection stingy isn,t even in the ball park,insulting definetly , evil probably .
But then again, what would you expect from a country that built it’s wealth from genocide and slavery and goes around the world telling everyone who’s evil and who’s not !?
2 January 2005, 11:11
I have posted an update message saying that us aid is in fact 350 millions.
for example look at:
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041231-112357-1511r.htm
instead of using counter-arguments, it has been censored.
I see that not only some leftists even dare use such disasters for political motives and spit to the US and its people, but they also use lies too.
And not a word to the americans people who have given a lot of money and no blame to others nations who were much more stingy.
I see that in fact the will to blame and satisfication of your hatred is more important than the truth.
Maybe some even don’t give a SHIT here about that disaster.
Many here are only interested in what they WANT to hear, whatever the US does, this is pathetic.
Spend less time vomiting your frustrations and do something really useful at least for today: disconngo to your local red cross and make a donation like me and many others
Let’s see how long this message will last.
5 January 2005, 14:21
Kudos to the loving and compassionate person who posted the link to The Washington Times article. That very same news article ran in hundreds of newspapers, so it’s revealing that you just happened to come across it in the ultra-conservative Washington Times newspaper.
What has the owner of the Washington Times had to say about the tsunami relief efforts? Since he is the most Reverend Korean billionaire Sun Yung Moon of the Unification Church, and also the self-proclaimed (I kid you not) neocon world messiah, a few words from him might be useful.