Re: Donations hit $2.6bn as nations dig deep
By John Garnaut
January 3, 2005
World leaders have fallen into step with the remarkable outpouring of generosity from ordinary people as a huge increase in US Government relief pushed the global government fund for tsunami aid to $2.6billion.
A day after President George Bush increased the US pledge to $US350 million (...) the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, announced his country would contribute up to $US500 million. Aid from the Australian Government totals $60million, while individual and corporate donations have passed $64million to four agencies in seven days, making it the country's greatest relief effort.
That figure already exceeds all emergency fundraising last year and is expected to double as other organisations tally the money they have collected and more donations flow through.
The secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, said the world had responded generously to the largest disaster the UN had faced.
[...]
smh.com.au
All these pledges of financial aid are heartening indeed... Yet, it also could turn out to be a cunning bait-and-switch by the US war machine. The bait consisting of those hundreds of millions of dollars pledged to tsunami-hit countries. However, it's gonna take months to deliver the funds --months during which the warmongering campaign against Iran will likely escalate... So much so that the US will bring the Iran case before the UN Security Council and ask for tougher sanctions against Iran... Now, throw into that scenario the South Asian countries --Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka-- and try to figure out their responses to the US crusade against Iran... Get the picture? Four months from now, the "switch" will be turned on: either tsunami-hit South Asia falls into line with the US and give a UN greenlight for whatever sanctions against Iran or.... it can kiss goodbye to the "relief monies".... Brilliant, isn't it?
Gus |
