Maxtor2
Interesting, however, you will not be surprised if I take issue with you on a number of points.
With regards drugs - I cannot talk about the US situation as I know little about it. However, surely a cursory glance at the industry would have highlighted major European companies and European activity in this area. Medical research is big business here too. Likewise, these companies must do battle with Chinese and Indian replicants but that does not stop them doing good business in Europe - despite the nature of European Health Systems.
List of European based companies
The above lists most companies operating in Europe, including US firms that have decided to have activities here as well as in the US.
With regards the UN, it looks suspiciously like someone has been watching Faux News (I saw that somewhere and it tickled me). There have been no end of interviews on the ground with UN workers on most TV channels - and likewise similar reports in most of the National newspapers. Is it an International conspiracy to suggest the UN is working when it is not?
UNESCO did have people on the ground as did other UN bodies. You will recall it was UN workers that highlighted problems on the ground with child traffiking and it was a UN plane that hit the water buffalo on the runway in Aceh - one of the very first planes to attempt a landing. There were some who laughed at the UN's misfortune. However, it is having one's cake and eating it to say they goofed and to boot they weren't even there.
To read your post Maxtor we would have to deduce that only US aid got through and it was only delivered by US citizens - is this the case?
Bilateral aid has been an ongoing scourge of Government Aid for many years and the US has been one of the prime exponents. I recall attending a conference at Edinburgh University on Overseas Aid (I nearly moved to that Department) and a gentleman from Africa said there was a pecking order - "get Norwegian or Swedish aid if it is available - they will buy you what you need" he said. "Failing that it is bilateral aid where they give you the money to buy what they want to sell you". Both Britain and the USA were main players in this field. Bilateral Aid can of course also fall into the "what you need" category. (Note this does not apply private giving which tends by nature to be unilateral).
The other myth that should also be nailed is that Europe only gives through State Aid. This is of course madness. Most of the World's best known charitible bodies, from the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, Oxfam, Medicin Sans Frontiers and Christian Aid, originated in Europe, still have their HQs here and are still prominent features of European life. In the UK private donations were double that of the Government. If the US total is $1b then that means that the US people gave double that of the Government. This would suggest that my argument that there is little difference between the two areas is sound and that this entire subject is an enormous red herring. Quite who it serves, or to what purpose, (other than a little ritual UN bashing) is not clear.
The US aid was real and important and undoubtedly saved lives - I share Colin Powell's view that hopefully this will build bridges.
Regardless of the politics in UN HQ and the somewhat unreal atmosphere of the General Council, there are thousands of ordinary aid workers in the UN on the ground and dealing with day to day issues of water, food and health all over the World. By all means lampoon those who play politics in New York but why denigrate the work and dedication of those who are simply trying to make a difference? Note also: Blue Beret peacekeepers are totally separate from ordinary day to day UN aid workers. These fall under the remit of the Security Council and are drawn from full time armed forces around the World. They are separate and distinct from UNESCO etc., and the Byzantine politics the Blue Berets have to work under (or in most cases watch) are as a result of the individual countries that form the World body failing to agree on almost anything. It is not the UN that says they can't act it is partisan politics from individual countries that stymies them (Ban the Veto is my banner )
Meh - not had a good day - as in Camp Granada kindly disregard this letter.
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