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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (51608)	8/16/1999 4:02:00 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

There have been serious accusations against regimes like that in Ethiopia (remember that famine?) of diverting aid dollars to line the pockets of officials in the regime, and also of using the ensuing starvation, which was unnecessary, to attempt to undermine the bid of Eritrea to secede....

To: The Philosopher who wrote (51608)	8/16/1999 7:36:00 PM
From: Dayuhan	Respond to of 108807

I don't know what percentage of our foreign aid goes to military aid and what percentage to food aid, but I belive it is seriously slanted in the former direction, whereas I think starving people would far rather receive food than have their governments receive more weapons. The foreign aid equation is a great deal more complicated than that. Many aid projects have budgets which are totally out of proportion to the work that actually takes place; much of the money never gets anywhere near the project. Many of the unilateral and multilateral agencies which administer aid programs demand the retention of consulting firms, usually firms approved by them. These firms are owned and staffed by former employees of the same agencies, and the relationship is cozy, to say the least. The fees involved are staggering; the work is often derisory, though always extensive and exquisitely bound. The money is paid off by the taxpayers; those of the donating country where direct grants are involved, those of the recipient country for loans. It is a thoroughly parasitic industry. It is very instructive to visit the sites of some projects on which a few tens of millions have been spent, and look at what has actually been done.