Famine In East Africa

That's still .002% that we could of used for ourselves.

Indeed. When you're in debt up to your eyebrows and almost defaulted only a week or two ago, your first thought should definitely not be "oh, let's throw money at other countries out of the goodness of our hearts!"

I am now known as Flyboy.

Well Obama is from Kenya...

The money doesn't go to the people. It goes to buying government loyalty, which is doing its job. It doesn't go to the people and wasn't meant to, whatever the rhetoric.

Not giving the money leads to things getting worse.

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

1) Government "loyalty"..in Somalia?

2) Got worse? It's Somalia; the country is so fucked up it can only get better at this point.

Yes it could get worse. Al Shabaab might not be busy fighting for the rest of Somalia. Remember that it was only when the Taliban effectively won the 90s portion of the civil war that they could focus on AQ training people against the US and Europe. Putting money into the opposition makes that more difficult with al Shabaab. So yes, we have allies in Somalia and they do keep Al Shabaab busy, which is all one can DO right now.

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

Why fund the "opposition" when we can have all parties engage each other? Who's to say that the group we fund now won't come back 10 years later with a chip on their shoulder.

There isn't. But unless you put in real investment (which basically means occupation), that is all you can do. No nation has tried long enough since this war broke out, and THAT is why this civil war continues 20 years after Barre fell. That is why you fund the opposition. It's not adequate, but in lieu of the geopolitics, its the best one can do.

There are no brackets for the opposition BTW. That's what they are, compared to the AQ affiliated Al-Shabaab.

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

Thing is....we're not the only nation that would rather see and AQ affiliates killed or marginalized; why should we foot the bill?

Because even if they have other targets, we're the primary ones. And we aren't the only ones footing the bill either (105 million won't get you the level of support the TFG has in its war).

Anyway, we're getting off topic. This is about the famine, not the US or what it spends around the world as a government.

I wonder how long a famine lasts on average. The hundreds of thousands per month dying against their population of some 6 million or so, I have a morbid desire to track just how long the population can go before they start significantly shrinking.

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

Well Kino, the famine is an illustration of the Hindi saying: जिसकी लाठी उसकी भेस

I'm sure that it ill continue long after Western news organizations pack up and leave. Not sure what made them decide to come back this time

Pretty sure starvation isn't making them any stronger.

edited 12th Aug '11 2:17:28 PM by Kino

To what end? We have plenty of money, and would be running a surplus right now if not for one single revenue cut of recent and dubious vintage. Penny pinching isn't what keeps world class economies afloat and balances budgets, huge sweeping changes are.

I'd say it's arguably core to the problem. Not just the US of course, but international aid spending in general.

Eric,

edited 13th Aug '11 7:41:32 AM by EricDVH

In that case, we should talk about the AU and specifically Kenya, since they do more than the US in this area. Relatively speaking (because as I said, 105 million is nothing these days) the US isn't that big a deal in this.

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...