Tag: Humanitarian Aid

US Aid: The Sick Game

Many Americans including myself have bitched about the aid we give to some countries….not all….just the ones we have some sort of problem with for whatever imagined reason…..

Recently I was having an exchange with my friend over at Lines By Liming on aid that we have sent to Africa over the years…..while I did not agree with him on his responses I did start to think about that aid and did some checking….especially the exports we send to Africa in the form of food aid.

The US exports food and grain to those countries in Africa…..this aid is genetically modified so that the seeds cannot be used to raise their own crops…in other words the seeds are sterile.  This aid sits in receiving yards undistributed because the governments will not give this aid out because the grain may somehow be fed to hungry livestock and that livestock has a large market in the EU….the problem is the EU has a strict policy against genetically modified anything….so the farmers cannot sell their meat and in turn they need more aid to exist.

Basically, the US is making it impossible for the aid to get to the people that needs it….all because of wanting to eliminate the competition…..agri-business is playing a sick game.  So some of this aid goes to waste….to guarantee that more aid will be needed and bought by governments that have trade deals with the US.

This could lead to many misunderstandings when the reports flood in about the aid that the US has given has gone undelivered…..but the story will be that the natives are too lazy to even use the aid they are given….a great story….but completely false.

Where Does Your Donation Go?

Let wish all you FATHERS and very happy Father’s Day……..enjoy your day……

I am not one that gives easily…..I check out almost anyone that ask for money…..sorry but I do not trust blindly no matter who asks.  I have seen good stuff done by these charities and I have seen crap done…..after Katrina there was a wealth of people looking for donations and much of it never made it South…….

The Red Cross did an excellent job as far as I could see after Katrina…..they were there in numbers and did amazing work…..so when I read a piece about them and Haiti I was surprised to say the least…….

The American Red Cross raised nearly $500 million after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, but what happened to the money? According to an NPR and Pro Publica report, the organization claims to have provided 130,000 people with homes but in fact built only six permanent homes. The Red Cross says land-rights issues hindered its efforts, but reporters found other problems, like lengthy bureaucratic delays, changes in staffing, and a full year in which nothing happened. “They never had a real plan for what they wanted to do in housing,” says Lee Malany, who was in charge of the organization’s Haiti shelter program. He says Red Cross leadership, including CEO Gail McGovern, seemed more concerned with publicity than project details.

NPR and Pro Publica look at the struggling Haitian community of Campeche, part of a Port-au-Prince neighborhood where the Red Cross promised to spent $24 million on rebuilding—but residents say it never happened. The Red Cross reacted with an email that accused reporters of “creating ill will in the community, which may give rise to a security incident. We will hold you and your news organizations fully responsible.” The Red Cross also says it provided Haitians with temporary housing, rental assistance, clean water, vaccinations, sanitation, and other services (but won’t give details on projects or expenses). A press conference about the report got heated in Haiti this week, Pro Publica reports, and NPR says there may be a Congressional hearing. Click to see the Red Cross’ full response.

What happened to the money?

I suggest that everyone pay close attention to the charities that they give to……all may not be as it appears…….look for the “hinkey”……………please give but give wisely.

Do You Remember The Yazidis?

God I hope so!  They are the ones that gave the US a chance to re-enter into the war in Iraq.

The Yazidis were those people trapped on the mountain top in Northern Iraq by the on rush of ISIS…….according to reports there were some 20,000 trapped on the mountain that needed food and water and shelter….in short a humanitarian crisis that the US could use for the geopolitical ambitions…..

After the US got involved it was reported that there were far fewer than 20,00 and they were able to come and go at will…..but it made for a great excuse to use military force…I am sure the M-IC was pleased.

Recently it has reported that Yazidi women were kidnapped after the men of their village were executed and thy were sold into marriage to ISIS fighters…..their horror stories have been widely reported…..especially about the ordeal they, the women, suffered at the hands of the fighters……

It seems that the Yazidis may be exacting revenge on everybody for what has happened to them…..

Iraqi Yazidis are carrying out “revenge” attacks on Arab villagers they believe to have sided with Islamic State militants during persecution of the minority group last year, it has been claimed.

“The aim is to expel Arabs from the area so that only Yazidis remain,” 41-year-old Dhafer Ali Hussein from Sibaya, one of the affected villages,” said. “They want to change the map.”

Some members of the minority are now blaming local Arabs for aiding the militants, “looting their possessions and actively participating in what they call attempted genocide”. Though villagers living in Sibaya admitted that some men had joined IS, they said those men have since fled, or were killed when Kurdish peshmerga fighters forced Islamic State out of the area in December.

This small incident just illustrates the tensions within Iraq/Syria……this is an indication of the life after ISIS……petty squabbling for decades to come.

The Tribal mentality will win out every time……an eye for an eye…….this, IMO, is what will be the future of Iraq once ISIS is defeated and eliminated…..the ethnic troubles of Iraq will be far from over.  The tit for tat revenge will be a subject of study for years.

Rest in Peace, Kayla

By now everyone has heard of the death of the extremely brave young lady at the hands of ISIS…….and her brave words in her last letter says it all……

Along with confirming the death of their only daughter today, Kayla Mueller’s parents have released the last letter she wrote to them while in the hands of ISIS. It begins, “Everyone, If you are receiving this letter it means I am still detained but my cell mates (starting from 11/2/2014) have been released. I have asked them to contact you + send you this letter.” Standout portions of the letter, which the New York Times has published in full:

  • “It’s hard to know what to say. Please know that I am in a safe location, completely unharmed + healthy (put on weight in fact); I have been treated w/ the utmost respect + kindness.”
  • “I could only but write the letter a paragraph at a time, just the thought of you all sends me into a fit of tears.”
  • “If you could say I have ‘suffered’ at all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through; I will never ask you to forgive me as I do not deserve forgiveness.”
  • “I miss you all as if it has been a decade of forced separation. … I have had many hours to think how only in your absence have I finally @ 25 years old come to realize your place in my life.”
  • “The gift that is each one of you + the person I could + could not be if you were not a part of my life, my family, my support. I DO NOT want the negotiations for my release to be your duty, if there is any other option take it, even if it takes more time.”
  • “I am not breaking down + I will not give in no matter how long it takes. … I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I + by God’s will we will be together soon.”
  • She closes: “All my everything, Kayla”

The world should remember the words of this young woman……she showed a lot of bravery and dignity in the face of certain sad consequences….her only “sin” was trying to do what is right and honorable…….this world needs more Kaylas.

Rest In Peace

America To The Rescue

America is fighting so many bad guys that it is a bit confusing at times……we are fighting a do nothing Congress, and China over trade and Russia over Ukraine and ISIS just because and then there is the big one…..the Ebola outbreak.

The battle against the Ebola virus is a fight that needs to be fought……if we can keep it in Africa then the US and the rest of the world will be safe from the pandemic that some are predicting……if you think that was a callous statement on my part then I will agree…it was….but everything we are doing appears to be just that….keep it in Africa.

As part of his promised “scaled-up response” to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, President Obama is expected to announce during a visit to the CDC today that the US will be sending 3,000 military personnel in an effort that could cost up to $750 million over the next six months, the Washington Post reports. The American contingent, which will take about two weeks to set up, aims to build 17 health care facilities with 100 beds each and train up to 500 health workers a week, the AP reports; the US will set up headquarters in Monrovia, Liberia. “This is a really significant response,” one global health expert tells the Post. “This is really beginning to seem like a game-changer.”

The US announcement comes as the head of Doctors Without Borders warns that the international response is “dangerously behind,” adds the AP. The military workers will also help distribute home health-care kits and educate locals on how to handle the disease, according to the AP. “This humanitarian intervention should serve as a firewall against a global security crisis that has the potential to reach American soil,” says Sen. Chris Coons, who has been pushing for increased US intervention. The UN Security Council will hold a rare emergency meeting on Thursday to talk about the public health crisis.

Sounds like we are trying to keep the virus in Africa, at least to me, it does.

My next point is….where do we find an “extra” $750 million to fund this operation?  Was it between the cushions on the Oval Office couch?

We should work to help with the control and the cure, if possible…….but it appears that the US will once again be doing the heavy lifting on this issue……

Iraq’s Rescue Con Job

Thoughts from an empty room……

 

For weeks we have heard about the thousands upon thousands of people trapped on the top of the mountains in Iraq…..we have been dropping humanitarian supplies to them like water, MREs and such……..and these people were used to get the US to return to Iraq in a military way…..and then………

The only good news coming out of Iraq, so far, is that there are way less people trapped in the Sinjar Mountains by IS….the US was considering sending in the special forces to help these people be rescued and now that is been scrapped because the need is just not there.

The news say that people made their way off the mountain in darkness so there are far fewer than had been reported.  The question that has not been asked is….if they were trapped and made their way off the mountain….where did they go?  There has been no reports of more Yazidis showing up….so where did they go?  Or while distributing supplies NO one noticed the lack of massive amounts of refugees?  Or why there has been no reports of an influx of Yazidi refugees…seems that would have been a story that needed filing.

Now if they are not there is it possible that there were NEVER as many as 20,000 people trapped on the mountain?  If they were never there where did this story originate?  The Kurds seem to be the biggest beneficiaries of the aid to the region….could they have blown this out to gain even more?

The situation with IS has the world on edge and the Kurds are looking like the saviors of the region….makes a great narrative for what they really want….succession.

Now I have other questions….is the US being played by the Kurds?  Or is the US just looking for a fight?  What will the next “crisis” be that the US will be needed to solve?

This country is being played or it is possible that we want to return to Iraq and are just manufacturing crises to justify that return?

The prez has called our efforts to help the besieged people on the mountain a success……he is taking credit for all the ‘success’……he has stated that NO further operation will be needed………sounds like propaganda to me.

So I ask again….was this a fabricated humanitarian crisis?  If so, by whom?

To me it sounds like a con job……a con job like so many others….think Gulf of Tonkin and WMDs……..

Any opinions?

 

 

The Gaza Saga

Yep, we all know that Israel is kicking the crap out of the civilian population of Gaza….there are many views, many reports and many opinions…….I would like to bring my reader up to date on some of the stuff that may not be making into our MSM reports….after all they only have about 30 seconds to help make Israel’s case for them…..

Every Western media outlet has been reporting on the casualties in Gaza…..30…..50…..100 and now 200+ and it continues to rise……but now Israel does not have to hang its head when the dead civilians are brought up……for you see after 1200+ rockets fired by Hamas Israel now has a death……one single death……..

An Israeli man was hit with a mortar and killed near the Gaza border today, making him the first Israeli to die in a lopsided conflict that has seen nearly 200 Palestinians killed. The man was delivering food to soldiers when the mortar struck, a police spokesman tells the AP. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the rocket, according to al-Jazeera.

Then there is the humanitarian needs……but first….I recall back about a year ago when Syria was starting to get ugly people like McCain and Graham were all bitchy and demanding that the US supply humanitarian aid to the Syrians….and yet they are so silent about the needs of Palestinians….why is that you think?

Gaza is in dire straights…….

Israel has intensified its efforts against Hamas, claiming to have intercepted four rockets in Tel Aviv and bombed 39 targets—including the homes of several high-ranking Hamas leaders last night—after a brief ceasefire yesterday, the New York Times reports. But now residents of the Gaza Strip have a new problem: no water and overflowing sewage systems, reports NBC News. The continued airstrikes have reportedly caused massive damage to water and sewage infrastructure in Gaza and destroyed at least 560 homes, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, which is calling the situation an emergency. The Red Cross says the issue could “quickly turn into a catastrophe.” “Within days, the entire population of the Strip may be desperately short of water,” the Red Cross’ Israeli chief said in a statement. “Water is becoming contaminated and sewage is overflowing, bringing a serious risk of disease.”

Israel has had the support of most of the Western world for their recent actions taken against Hamas…..but that may be coming to an end…….

GAZA (Reuters) – Four Palestinian children were killed and one was critically wounded on a Gaza beach on Wednesday by a shell fired by an Israeli naval gunboat, a Palestinian health official said.

Asked about the incident, an Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said he was checking the report.

“The kids were playing football on the beach. They were all … under the age of 15,” said Ahmed Abu Hassera, 22.

“When the first shell hit the land, they ran away but another shell hit them all,” said Abu Hassera, whose shirt was stained with blood.

“It looked as if the shells were chasing them,” he told Reuters.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, said four of the youngsters were killed and a fifth youth was in critical condition. “This is a cowardly crime,” he said.

The Gaza beach area has been shelled frequently since Israel began its offensive in the enclave on July 8 following a surge in Palestinian cross-border rocket strikes.

This will give Israel the bad press they richly deserve……I think that they will be looking for a way to end this current conflict……….they cannot afford to lose too much western support….it is what keeps them in control……

But Bebe has said unequivocally…..

Netanyahu was asked a number of times whether the government had certain political goals and whether he was in contact with Egypt or other countries to try to bring about a cease-fire through diplomatic means, MKs said.

“I am not talking to anybody about a cease-fire right now,” Netanyahu told the committee. “It’s not even on the agenda.”

Funny how events can make you out a liar…ain’t it?

P.S.  Israel in an attempt to control any bad press from the deaths of those children have declared a 5 hour ceasefire for “humanitarian” reasons…..

As I was writing this word came down that Israel will cease fire on Friday……funny how ‘humanitarian concerns kick in when the bad press starts, huh?

Humanitarian Con

Note:  I apologize….this post was suppose to be in August and so much has happened that it just got pushed back…..and back………

We know that over a million refugees have taken it on the lame…….over 100,000 deaths including the gas attack ones…..and almost daily people like John Kerry walks out in front of cameras and chants over and over the need for humanitarian aid for Syria…….we hear the it is our, meaning the US, duty to do whatever it is needed to help the people of Syria…….the problem I have is this whole humanitarian crisis con…….

Let’s start with the issue du jour…..gas attacks…..there is some reporting that our original accusations may have been a bit pre-mature…….

And now reports have surfaced that German Intelligence believes that Assad did not personally order the attacks.

President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month’s chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered calls for US military intervention, and blocked numerous requests from his military commanders to use chemical weapons against regime opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported , citing unidentified, high-level national security sources.

The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence service, and deployed off the Syrian coast, Bild am Sonntag said. The intercepted communications suggested Assad, who is accused of war crimes by the west, including foreign secretary William Hague, was not himself involved in last month’s attack or in other instances when government forces have allegedly used chemical weapons.

Was the accusation an Iraq-esque accusation?

But there was another report…….

Source:SMH

United Nations investigators have listed a wide range of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Syria, but provided no conclusion on the issue of chemical weapons use.

“On the evidence currently available, it was not possible to reach a finding about the chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrators,” the team probing human rights violations in Syria said in its latest report on Wednesday.

It was clear however that “the majority of casualties result from unlawful attacks using conventional weapons,” the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime “have continued to conduct widespread attacks on the civilian population, committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity,” according to the report, which covers the period from May 15 to July 15.

Sounds more like a play from the Bush book of tricks than the truth……

Let me be upfront, I am coming at this issue from an international relations position…….now that I have passed along some info on the much maligned gas attacks….I want to turn our attention to the “humanitarian” crisis we hear so much about from Kerry, Obama and other players in this game……

Since the early days of the Syrian situation there has been calls for some sort of humanitarian intervention…..coming from john McCain, Lindsey Graham, Pres. Obama, John Kerry and a whole flock of pundits and “experts”…..first when there were civilian deaths then when there were a massive amount of refugees and then the recent gas attack…..and these people will not let up….a constant barrage of demands for humanitarian intervention…..but there is a problem.

Using force to stop the fighting among competing groups or provide the necessary security to feed starving people or to deal with some sort of ethnic cleansing cannot be accomplished without an invitation of the country’s leadership…..as justified as armed intervention in support of humanitarian causes may seem….it is not…in fact it is not legal within the borders of a sovereign country.

Now the US has found a way around this piece of international law…….if we do not like the government in power then we simply find a group and state that they speak for the people…..and then we can act in any way we desire because we are acting on a request of a legitimate spokesperson of the people…..and this is what we are doing in Syria.

As you listen to Obama and Kerry and all the minor admin players ask yourself where you have heard all this before….all the accusations and condemnations……all have been used before…….does 2002 ring a bell?

This humanitarian thing is nothing but a con……..a con to justify the removal of a person or government we do not approve of at this time.  The problem is the humanitarian intervention could possibly add to the bloodshed and add to the humanitarian crisis…….basically…a lose lose scenario!

It Is Not The First Time!

From the VOMITORIUM

By now we have all heard the news of last weeks Israeli attack on a aid ship bound for Gaza….if not let me help…..

Israel attacked a flotilla of ships in international waters carrying food, medicine and other aid to Gaza, killing at least 10 civilians on board and injuring at least 30 more (many reports now put the numbers at 19 dead and 60 injured).  The Israeli Defense Forces is claiming that its soldiers were attacked with clubs,  knives and “handguns” when they boarded the ship without permission, but none of the Israeli soldiers were killed while two are reported injured.  Those on the ships emphatically state that the IDF came on board shooting (though see this video and discussion here, as well as this).  An IDF spokesman said:  “Our initial findings show that at least 10 convoy participants were killed.”   (Salon website)

A horrible thing to happen, right?  Well there is more to this story that has gotten little to NO play on the media sites in the US…..one of the people killed by Israeli commandos was an American citizen……

A 19-year-old American citizen is among the nine victims of Israel’s deadly raid on the Freedom Flotilla Monday, the New York Times is reporting today.

Furkan Dogan, who was born in the U.S. and lived here for four years before moving to Turkey with his parents, was shot once in the chest and four times in the head in close range, according to the article.

For the first time the Israelis have killed an American in their battle with the Palestinians……thinking….thinking…..well that is not quite accurate……Israel has killed Americans in the past…….USS Liberty….(see next post for more on this attack)

Now my question is….how long will this situation continue…..it degrades both sides of the conflict to allow it to go any further than today.  I am NOT assigning blame here just telling what I know and you be the judge….