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Post by Moses on Dec 31, 2004 3:31:23 GMT -5
BBC: UK leads world quake aid effort[/size] Britain is leading the global drive to raise money for the victims of the Asian tsunami, with public donations of up to £1m an hour pouring in. The total of public pledges now tops £25m and the government has raised its donation from £15m to £50m, responding to public calls to be more generous. (rest: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4136545.stm) washingtonpost: Bush Says America Will Lead Global Relief Effort [/size] By Jim VandeHei and Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, December 30, 2004; Page A01 CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 29 -- President Bush said Wednesday that the United States will spearhead a worldwide effort to provide financial, military and humanitarian assistance to the Asian nations devastated by one of the world's deadliest natural disasters. Speaking publicly for the first time since Sunday's Indian Ocean tsunami, Bush told reporters that the United States, India, Japan and Australia are forming an international coalition to provide immediate relief and rescue assistance, as well as longer-term help with rebuilding. ....Bush was criticized for not taking a break from his vacation until Wednesday to address the issue in person and for offering an initial pledge of only $15 million in assistance. The administration was pressed Wednesday to explain the timing and amount of its relief pledge. ....But critics noted that the U.S. aid so far is about the equivalent of what the United States spends in seven hours for its military operations in Iraq. "We spend $35 million before breakfast every day in Iraq," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. ....Spain has pledged $68 million, almost twice what the United States has contributed so far. Japan has pledged $30 million, Britain $29 million, Australia $27.6 million, Germany $27 million, France $20.5 million and Denmark $15.5 million, the United Nations reported. The current U.S. aid is also significantly lower than in other recent natural disasters. After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, when about 9,000 people were killed and 3 million were left homeless in Central America, the United States provided $988 million in relief assistance. (rest: www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A33290-2004Dec29?language=printer)NYTimes Typist for Neocon interests advises Bush: It's About Aid, and an ImageBy DAVID E. SANGER .... As Asia suffers through a 9/11 of its own - a natural calamity instead of a man-made one, but at least 25 times more deadly - President Bush's response in coming weeks may well determine his success in repairing relations strained by three years of relentless American focus on terrorism. It took 72 hours after the tsunamis washed away countless villages and tens of thousands of lives before Mr. Bush appeared in public to declare that the United States had the rudiments of a plan for addressing "loss and grief to the world that is beyond our comprehension." His aides said it took that long to understand the magnitude of the tragedy and to plan a recovery effort that must stretch from remote villages of Indonesia to the eastern coast of Africa. But the aid effort that has now begun presents Mr. Bush with an opportunity to battle, with action rather than just words, the perception that took root in his first four years in office that he is all about America first. "It's a tragedy but it is also an opportunity to demonstrate that terrorism doesn't drive out everything else," said Morton Abramowitz, who served as American ambassador to Thailand a quarter century ago and went on to become one of the founders of the International Crisis Group, which helps prepare governments to respond to unexpected shocks. "It's a chance for him to show what kind of country we are." Mr. Bush and his aides have long argued that the administration's reputation around the world is undeserved. Andrew S. Natsios, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, said on Wednesday that American funds for disaster relief alone were $2.4 billion last year, 40 percent of the worldwide contributions for this purpose. "We are by far the largest donor," he said. "No one even comes close to us." ....But perceptions set in a first term have a way of becoming the political canvas of the second. And America's response to this tragedy, some administration officials acknowledged, is crucial in places like Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, where the earthquake and tsunami first hit and where Islamic fundamentalism, never a political force during the cold war, is seeking to make inroads. Any missteps by the United States in the country's politically volatile environment, noted a senior American official who is frequently in Southeast Asia, "will be exploited by the Islamic extremists to bolster their own case." [It's all about the "war on terror" [i.e. Israeli interests/agenda] with them. They have no souls] In this case, early reports indicate that even in a holiday week, the bureaucracy swung into gear fairly quickly. To some degree, the war of perceptions has to do with whether the Asian nations believe Mr. Bush focuses on the tsunami tragedy with the same kind of energy he put in to making sure that other nations signed on to his counterterrorism agenda after Sept. 11. Just weeks after those attacks, Mr. Bush traveled to Shanghai for the annual summit of Asian leaders and made clear he would judge allies on the basis of how well they joined the fight. Among the first visitors to the Oval Office after the attack was Megawati Sukarnoputri, then Indonesia's president. She pledged to join the hunt for Al Qaeda operatives on her territory, and largely made good on the promise. On Wednesday morning Mr. Bush, operating from a trailer just across the road from his ranch that has been converted into a secure communications center, called the leaders of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and India to pledge his support. "I assured those leaders this is only the beginning of our help," he said of the $35 million that the administration has pledged so far. Mr. Bush's aides are aware that the depth of America's compassion will be compared to what other nations are spending, what Washington spends on lesser disasters at home, and what is now being spent in Iraq. (for rest: www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/international/worldspecial4/30prexy.html?pagewanted=print&position=)
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Post by Moses on Dec 31, 2004 9:57:52 GMT -5
news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=39443745:45pm (UK) Bush 'Undermining UN with Aid Coalition'By Jamie Lyons, PA Political Correspondent United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster. The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the worldís response. But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN. ìI think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,î she said. ìOnly really the UN can do that job,î she told BBC Radio Fourís PM programme. ìIt is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.î<br> Ms Short said the coalition countries did not have good records on responding to international disasters. She said the US was ìvery bad at coordinating with anyoneî and India had its own problems to deal with. ìI don't know what that is about but it sounds very much, I am afraid, like the US trying to have a separate operation and not work with the rest of the world through the UN system,î she added.
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Post by Moses on Dec 31, 2004 11:34:35 GMT -5
2/3 of the neocon trio assigned to Washington by the Times rush to type up Tsunami PR opportunism promotion: December 31, 2004 ASSESSMENTS [sic] In Efforts to Organize Aid, Powell and Governor Bush Will Tour Ravaged Areas By STEVEN R. WEISMAN [Mr. Bumiller- his wife types up little Bush promotions, Weisman spins for Israeli interests at State] and DAVID E. SANGER WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 - Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, seeking to raise the American profile in the international relief effort in Asia, will tour devastated parts of the region next week to assess the need for future aid programs along with Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida , the White House announced Thursday.
Mr. Powell also moved on Thursday to step up coordination between the United Nations and a core group of countries organized earlier in the week by the Bush administration to speed aid and avoid duplication. [brazen liars, these typists, shameless promoters of propaganda] The "core group" - consisting of India, Japan and Australia, as well as the United States - was established earlier this week. [by a cabal with VERY close connections to Israel]
The decision to send Mr. Powell and Governor Bush, President Bush's brother, was seen by administration officials as likely to help defuse whatever hurt feelings there might be in Asia that the president was slow to respond, at least compared with how quickly many other nations reacted to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. [not at all for domestic promotion of the Bush dynasty and its "compassion"]
Administration officials also said a diplomatic payoff might also grow out of the current crisis, if disaster relief efforts encourage cooperation in areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka with long-running separatist insurgencies. [And "Islamic" issues]
Speaking with the new president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President Bush said that the movement of aid into northern Aceh province, near the earthquake's epicenter, might extend a truce in the fighting between government troops and rebels and present an opportunity [for Usraeli operations/penetration/presense] for further cooperation, an administration official said.
"He made the same point in the conversation with Sri Lanka's leader," the official said, referring to the insurgency that has gone on for 20 years in the north and east of that island nation, particularly on the low-lying Jaffna peninsula, which was especially hard hit.
Mr. Powell reiterated several times on Thursday that the American contribution of $35 million for relief efforts from East Africa to South and Southeast Asia was only the beginning, based on initial assessments of American teams that sprang into action within hours of the earthquake on Sunday.
"As the need becomes clearer, you can expect the United States to make more significant contributions in the days, weeks and months ahead," Mr. Powell said outside the Indonesian Embassy, where he signed a condolence book. He also signed similar books at the Sri Lankan and Thai Embassies.
Aid officials said that the United States' move early in the week to set up the core group of countries was an innovation in international relief efforts necessitated by the fact that the disaster had spread across thousands of miles and affected many countries.
Four days after the first reports of the earthquake and tsunami set the administration into action, the architecture of its response was becoming clearer.
The center of Mr. Powell's efforts was his video conference call at 11 a.m. Thursday with Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations; James D. Wolfensohn, the president of the World Bank, and other international relief officials. They were joined by envoys from India, Australia and Japan at the State Department.
"The intention is to use the core group as a launching pad to get others to join in," said J. Edward Fox, assistant administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. "Usually you have a lot of countries working together in one place, under one tent, but you can't do that with a crisis that stretches across 5,000 miles."
Richard A. Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said that meanwhile, two separate task forces headed by department officials were up and running: one to coordinate an interagency task force on relief efforts and the other to track missing or injured Americans.
Marc Grossman, under secretary of state for political affairs, was named on Wednesday as the head of the interagency task force, which includes top military officials at the Pentagon.
A senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that so far, there was no need to add to the $35 million set aside by the United States for immediate relief, but that the money would be available when the time came to distribute it, once assessments are made. The official said that $500 million in government aid had been raised so far around the world, and that this had been matched by a like amount of private contributions.
The idea of setting up a core group of nations outside the United Nations came spontaneously, according to officials of various countries, as it became clear that [Israeli allies] Australia, Japan and India had relief capabilities as well as military forces in the region, even though India was itself a major victim.
"This is the first time that you have had a country that was hit on such a scale by a natural disaster but that has also been one of the biggest participants in the ongoing effort to help others," said Ambassador Ronen Sen of India. "We had more people on the ground in other countries than any other country, from Day 1."
Even as Indian forces were helping relief efforts in the 1,400 miles of Indian coastline, they were also being dispatched to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, island nations off the Indian coast.
There was no intent to exclude any other nations, only to avoid duplication, Mr. Sen said. "We are certainly not trying to be competitive in any way," he added.
Steven R. Weisman reported from Washington for this article, and David E. Sanger from Crawford, Tex.
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Post by Moses on Dec 31, 2004 14:46:58 GMT -5
Echo, Echo, Echo.... MSNBC.com Bush Needs to Lead on Tsunami There’s still time for the U.S. government to make up for its lackluster early response to one of the worst human disasters of modern times. WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY By Eleanor CliftNewsweek Updated: 4:15 p.m. ET Dec. 30, 2004[/size] Dec. 30 - With hardly anybody around over Christmas weekend, a handful of Capitol Hill aides scrambled to respond to the unfolding catastrophe in South Asia. The earthquake off the coast of Indonesia occurred at 7:59 A.M. local time on Dec. 26 (7:59 P.M. EST Dec. 25). When a staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations committee managed to reach a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department on Saturday night, he conveyed this message on behalf of Republicans and Democrats alike: “We want a much more rapid response. Tell us what we can do to help.”<br> For the first 36 hours after the tsunamis devastated the coastal areas of several countries, the administration had no response. Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the cameras Monday to pledge $15 million, a sum so small relative to the task that the head of the U.N. relief effort berated the world community for its stinginess. Embarrassed, the administration upped its contribution to $35 million ($5 million less than what Republicans plan to spend on the inauguration). The amount is still far short of what is needed and expected from the world’s richest country. “Our initial allocation should have been $100 million, and even that is a down payment,” says a Senate staffer. <br> Rebuilding the stricken areas and caring for a million displaced people will cost many billions of dollars. “We’re probably going to end up paying a decent share of that,” says the staffer, a Democrat. “If not, it’s a travesty. And if we pay for it, let’s get out front, show we’re a country that does more than just kill people.” The hardest hit country is Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world. Taking the lead role in the relief effort is an opportunity for President Bush to improve the perception of America and his administration. “Imagine the public diplomacy impact of having Indonesians see U.S. military forces rescue their fallen countrymen. I don’t know why the administration is so pigheaded about this,” said the aide. It is part of this administration’s pattern—too little, too late. Only after reporters pressed the White House and a UN official criticized the West’s response did Bush emerge from clearing brush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to offer condolences to the stricken. [No, to fuel anti-UN theme] Contrast the slow response time to Bush’s lickety-split reaction when a series of hurricanes hit Florida during the campaign. A caller to C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” Thursday morning was reminded of the way Bush on Aug. 7, 2001, brushed off that Aug. 6 presidential directive saying “Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S.” and resumed his golf game. White House aides said Bush wanted to assess the full magnitude of the South Asian tragedy before speaking out, but it looked to the world like Mr. Bush didn’t want to be bothered. URL: msnbc.msn.com/id/6770551/site/newsweek/What’s needed is not a mystery. As soon as word of the earthquake broke, everyone knew how bad it would be. No other country than the United States has the specific military resources needed in the early stages of such a large catastrophe. Congressional staffers with access to classified information knew the aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, was in the region, loaded with heavy-lift helicopters. They pressed the administration to divert the carrier to assist in the relief effort. Democrats assured the White House that if Bush needed political cover to divert resources away from Iraq, key Democrats were prepared to not only support the step but publicly call for it if that’s what the White House wanted. The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that the USS Lincoln would assist in the humanitarian operation. The Navy flotilla could have been on its way two days earlier bringing fresh water and supplies. “This was a tragedy that didn’t have to be nearly this bad,” says the congressional aide. “Lots of utility helicopters, that’s what you need when the roads are wiped out. Plus you need heavy transport C-5’s and C-130’s [cargo planes] to get aid from one place to another.” Why was the Bush administration so slow to engage? Part of it is institutional inertia. The military doesn’t like to get involved in humanitarian missions, and needed prodding. It’s no small thing to divert an aircraft carrier. The administration disdains the soft, touchy-feely stuff of diplomacy and foreign aid. [This is disingenuous. In 2005 Israel will receive $2.22 billion in military assistance and $360 million in economic support. Conditions for the military funding permit Israel to spend up to $580 million to purchase defense items or invest in research domestically, in Israel. This is the “foreign aid” Bush touts.] Bush made a point in his press conference of saying U.S. aid would be coordinated with three other countries—Australia, Japan and India—an obvious detour around the U.N. relief agency, and another slap at the world community. [And quite possibly, use of a humanitarian crisis to engage in anti-China military exercises] In a disaster of these dimensions, there is time for Bush to catch up and play the leadership role that is rightfully his on the world stage. He’s fortunate there won’t be a Christmas Tsunami commission to examine his administration’s immediate response—because it wouldn’t be pretty. URL: msnbc.msn.com/id/6770566/site/newsweek/
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Post by Moses on Dec 31, 2004 20:27:47 GMT -5
U.S. rides alone on disaster reliefThose looking for cooperation between the U.S. and the U.N. in aiding victims of the Asian tsunami disaster shouldn't hold their breath. The Washington Post reports today that the Bush administration is organizing a disaster relief effort entirely separate from that of the U.N.: "Speaking publicly for the first time since Sunday's Indian Ocean tsunami, Bush told reporters that the United States, India, Japan and Australia are forming an international coalition to provide immediate relief and rescue assistance, as well as longer-term help with rebuilding." "U.N. officials said they received no advance word about the U.S.-led aid effort. There was concern at the United Nations that this may have been a consequence of criticism that the United States had not been generous." As with the United States' last coalition of the willing, the Bush administration has made it clear that it expects the rest of the world to play an assisting role. U.S. Undersecretary of State Mark Grossman told reporters yesterday, "Our expectation is that the European Union, the United Nations and other countries will also join in this…Although…we make a substantial contribution, more than anyone else in these emergencies, this is certainly not for us to do alone." That sort of sentiment would be justified if Grossman's assertion that the U.S. gives "more than anyone else in these emergencies" were true of its contributions to the tsunami relief. But it's difficult to understand how the U.S. is leading the relief effort while Spain, a country with only a sixth of the United States' population, has already pledged twice the amount promised by the U.S. to date. It's telling to note that during much smaller past crises, previous administrations were more ready to open their wallets. As the Post reports, "After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, when about 9,000 people were killed and 3 million were left homeless in Central America, the United States provided $988 million in relief assistance." -- Jeff Horwitz www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html[14:57 PST, Dec. 30, 2004]
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Post by Moses on Jan 1, 2005 14:50:59 GMT -5
EUROPEAN OBSERVER: MISSED CHANCES IN ASIA - FRED KEMPE (WALL STREET JOURNAL, DECEMBER 31): Mr. Bush and his adviser Karl Rove showed their keen instincts for domestic politics with the president’s re-election, but they have yet to match those with similar knack for the world stage and shaping global opinion. The tsunami presents "a grand strategic opportunity" that can either be squandered or seized, says Craig Kennedy, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, which has tracked the declining European trust in American leadership with concern. "There is both a moral and strategic argument here. If you want to lead the world, you have to lead it in all respects." online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110450413784314119,00.html?mod=opinion%5Fmain%5Ffeatured%5Fstories%5Fhs PAID SUBSCRIPTION
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Post by Moses on Jan 4, 2005 10:18:17 GMT -5
U.S. President George W. Bush initially pledged $35 million in U.S. assistance to the victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami, later raising U.S. aid to $350 million following widespread criticism. Washington has been outclassed by Japan, however, which has pledged $500 million. The Japanese contribution raises to more than $1.6 billion the total amount of money raised for relief and reconstruction. Forty-four countries have now promised aid; among them the United Kingdom has pledged $96 million, Sweden $75 million, Canada $80 million, China $60 million and Taiwan $50 million. China's relatively modest contribution is tempered by the fact that in 2004 the central government allocated $385.6 million and 33,900 tents for disaster relief and resettled 6.11 million disaster victims in China, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. A total of 90 million people affected by disasters received help from Beijing, a number equivalent to nearly one in three Americans. www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050103-105842-2093r.htm
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Post by Moses on Jan 5, 2005 0:54:17 GMT -5
US COVETS BASE
Sirinapha writes: "Is the tsunami aftermath a "window of opportunity"for bolstering the Pentagon?s presence in Southeast Asia? The Thai people reject the proposed build-up of the American military at Utapao air base and in the Gulf of Thailand. The tragedy of the natural catastrophe in the Indian Ocean should not serve as a pretext for strengthening the U.S. military presence on land, sea and in the air in the region.
"The Pentagon has announced it is returning to its old Vietnam War haunts at Utapao Royal Thai Naval Air Force Base 90 miles south of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand. In this clear escalation of the American military presence in Southeast Asia, the ostensible plan is to set up a "command center"for the tsunami emergency relief effort. Utapao air base will serve as a staging base for U.S. military and rescue aircraft. The emergency relief operations appear to provide a windfall opportunity for beefing up the American military presence in Southeast Asia, part of the expanding Pentagon strategy of "forward positioning,"establishing sites, so-called "air cargo hubs,"where American forces can stash equipment and enter and leave as desired."
INDONESIA WAGES WAR ON ACEH
"IMC Washington: "The Indonesian military said on Friday it was still launching raids against separatist rebels in tsunami-devastated Aceh, despite having earlier called a ceasefire to help aid efforts. Our security operations continue, the only difference is that it may be less in scale and intensity,"Lieutenant Colonel Nachrowi, of the military headquarters' general information department, said.
"The principle is that all our forces in Aceh are basically continuing their duty under the security operation. But they also have to accord a large portion of their time for the humanitarian relief efforts.
"We continue to launch raids into suspected GAM [Free Aceh Movement] areas and our vigilance remains high."
PROTESTS AT THE UN
John Miller reports: "Acehnese and U.S. groups will call on the United Nations to exercise leadership essential for a coordinated, efficient and impartial relief effort in the tsunami-stricken region of Aceh. Condemning the Indonesian government's haphazard response they urged an international disaster relief operation to avoid a catastrophic increase in the death toll that has already claimed close to 100,000 lives.
"The Indonesian civilian government and military is unable and unwilling to quickly distribute aid to all survivors of the disaster. The lack of disaster response coordination among ministries and the military is compounded by notoriously corrupt military and civilian institutions,"said Robert Jereski, U.S. Coalition for Earthquake and Tsunami Relief in Aceh. "The Indonesian armed forces are continuing their military operations in Aceh and are frustrating the delivery of aid to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Rather than helping the people, in a number of areas the troops are intimidating villagers, scaring them away from their villages, looting their homes, and stealing food".
ISRAELI RESPONSE
Gideon Levy writes in Ha'aretz: "Even if people are born equal, they are not equal in their death. It's important where they died and under what circumstances. The world has already pledged billions for the regions in Southeast Asia that were ravaged, conglomerates and individuals in Europe and the United States have mobilized to donate and dozens of countries are sending aid, among them Israel, albeit with its usual grandstanding. When it comes to natural disasters, the world - and Israel, too - shows far greater generosity and alacrity than it does in cases of man-made disasters.
"When a tourist region is hit, attention is all the more intense. Anyone watching television in the West might think the tsunami struck Sweden or Switzerland. The majority of the survivors seen on the small screen look like Europeans. Here, we sometimes get the impression that this is an Israeli calamity. "The worst of all"was the banner headline on Friday in the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth, which reported the identification of the bodies of two Israelis."
":..Fewer people died in all the earthquakes that struck the world in the 20th century than in one remote war in Biafra, and far fewer than the number in another disregarded war in Congo. Whereas no one could have prevent ed the tsunami in Asia or the earthquake in Iran, wars can be prevented or stopped. But countries do not like to get involved in other people's wars. It is not just a matter of aid that was not delivered, but of sheer attention. The difference attests to self-righteousness and a double moral standard?"
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Post by Moses on Jan 5, 2005 11:37:58 GMT -5
It appears that Bush-Cheney/Usraelis is using the incomprehensible human catastrophe as another opportunity-- like 9/11 for military exercises, and Pentagon hype- "image", as an opportunity for subcontracts for his buddies, (in the defense subcontracting business), and to establish military bases in South Asia, and launch more military crusades against Israel's opponents. (Or those Israel perceives as its opponents).
Noted by Media Channel: "CNN was leading last night with Secretary of State Colin Powell's profession of "American values" in which he linked fighting terrorism and delivering humanitarian aid. The idea is to get the Muslims of Indonesia who denounced the US war on Iraq to love us. See how generous we are. See. See. See.
I have seen half a dozen pictures of US soldiers cradling babies and rescuing those in distress....Where are the interviews with humanitarian workers from NGO's on the ground who can tell us how things are really going? Why all the focus on "official sources" who are often the last to know what is really going on? What I have seen so far is Kofi arriving and Colin touring with little comment from the people themselves. Many do speak English. The limits of this "outside-in" approach to "journalism" is glaring.
THE VIEW FROM JAKARTA
We have all been reading the death tolls -- in Indonesia it was 94,100 last night. But add to that an estimated 400,000 refugees and you get a sense of the scale of the disaster. If you poke your head into the local media as I did when I surfed over to the Jakarta Post site, the story doesn't seem as positive as it is being depicted in the US media.
"Low Coordination Breeds Chaos"
"The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe/Jakarta
"The massive relief operation for tsunami-hit areas in Aceh is on the brink of chaos with the absence of a single authority directing the aid effort.
"In Banda Aceh, the flow of aid stalled on Tuesday when a Boeing 737 cargo plane hit a stranded water buffalo and skidded off the runway at Sultan Iskandar Muda airport, the hub of humanitarian programs for Aceh?.
"The role of Indonesian authorities in facilitating the international relief effort for survivors of the Dec. 26 disaster has also come under question. The massive aid program is the largest since World War II.
"A similar chaotic condition was observed in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, when a backlog of planes due to airlift aid built up at Polonia airport. The confusion was exacerbated by the presence of dozens of irked passengers thronging ticket counters because their flights were canceled or postponed.
In Lhokseumawe, a telecommunications problem disrupted aid distribution to survivors in distant refugee camps, and the undistributed aid packages were left piled up in a warehouse belonging to the local administration.
"All cellular services are down," head of North Aceh social welfare agency Iskandar Nasri said?
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, ?. did not deny suggestions that in the first week after the devastation, coordination among government agencies was poor, if not absent."
Don't you love how delicately that is put -- "if not absent."
GO TO THE SOURCE
And so, as is often the case, when you go to the sources that know the country best, the picture is very different -- a total screw up compounded by political intrigues, military maneuvers by the Indonesian military still looking for Aceh "separatists" and inadequate resources.
As for "American values" -- has anyone in the media mentioned the role the US played in helping the Suharto dictatorship come to power there with its killing of some 500,000 so-called communists, or the Ford-Kissinger backed invasion of East Timor, or the US companies which profited from the misery caused in Indonesia by the South East Asian financial crisis. Of course not.
If I was Colin Powell, I wouldn't boast about "American values" but rather just ask people to judge us by what we do, not what we say. And that goes for his traveling companion too, the Governor of the Jebanna Republic of Flori-duh who is being groomed for you know what.
The New York Times reports today: "Amid the rush of generous donations to the disaster relief effort in southern Asia, more donors have insisted that their gifts go exclusively to help those victims."
Chris McGill on the media's conscience. (sic)
"I find it sad that the media seems to have developed a sudden conscience on this matter and not yet on Iraq, though I could do without some minute details such as reporters standing by boats that have washed up on shore way inland. I think we get it. Forgive them - It's hard to break them of the long-standing conditioned habit of idiotically blowing around in a hurricane to tell people it's windy. I also have noticed the emphasis on english speaking surviving tourists and Sports Illustrated supermodels and not on locals except for the occasional doctor. Do you think the media's actions here and in Iraq may condone or perpetuate jingoism, bigotry, and/or possibly racism, here in this country?
"I also feel the Bush administration may be trying to capitalize on this tragedy to try and reclaim lost credibility from Iraq - This would be a true horror story in light of what I wrote above. I trust the world, and we in the US, are not that gullible.""
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Post by Moses on Jan 8, 2005 14:15:49 GMT -5
The other tsunami While the sea may have killed tens of thousands, western policies kill millions every year. Yet even amid disaster, a new politics of community and morality is emerging. By John Pilger
The west's crusaders, the United States and Britain, are giving less to help the tsunami victims than the cost of a Stealth bomber or a week's bloody occupation of Iraq. The bill for George Bush's coming inauguration party would rebuild much of the coastline of Sri Lanka. Bush and Blair increased their first driblets of "aid" only when it became clear that people all over the world were spontaneously giving millions and that a public relations problem beckoned. The Blair government's current "generous" contribution is one-sixteenth of the £800m it spent on bombing Iraq before the invasion and barely one-twentieth of a £1bn gift, known as a soft loan, to the Indonesian military so that it could acquire Hawk fighter-bombers. On 24 November, one month before the tsunami struck, the Blair government gave its backing to an arms fair in Jakarta, "designed to meet an urgent need for the [Indonesian] armed forces to review its defence capabilities", reported the Jakarta Post. The Indonesian military, responsible for genocide in East Timor, has killed more than 20,000 civilians and "insurgents" in Aceh. Among the exhibitors at the arms fair was Rolls-Royce, manufacturer of engines for the Hawks, which, along with British-supplied Scorpion armoured vehicles, machine-guns and ammunition, were terrorising and killing people in Aceh up to the day the tsunami devastated the province. The Australian government, currently covering itself in glory for its modest response to the historic disaster befallen its Asian neighbours, has secretly trained Indonesia's Kopassus special forces, whose atrocities in Aceh are well documented. This is in keeping with Australia's 40-year support for oppression in Indonesia, notably its devotion to the dictator Suharto while his troops slaughtered a third of the population of East Timor. The government of John Howard - notorious for its imprisonment of child asylum-seekers - is at present defying international maritime law by denying East Timor its due of oil and gas royalties worth some $8bn. Without this revenue, East Timor, the world's poorest country, cannot build schools, hospitals and roads or provide work for its young people, 90 per cent of whom are unemployed. The hypocrisy, narcissism and dissembling propaganda of the rulers of the world and their sidekicks are in full cry. Superlatives abound as to their humanitarian intent while the division of humanity into worthy and unworthy victims dominates the news. The victims of a great natural disaster are worthy (though for how long is uncertain) while the victims of man-made imperial disasters are unworthy and very often unmentionable. Somehow, reporters cannot bring themselves to report what has been going on in Aceh, supported by "our" government. This one-way moral mirror allows us to ignore a trail of destruction and carnage that is another tsunami. (rest at link)
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Post by Moses on Jan 14, 2005 1:42:41 GMT -5
Wolfowitz to check tsunami relief in south Asia
Thu Jan 13, 7:21 PM ET[/color] WASHINGTON (AFP)[/b] - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is heading to South Asia to visit countries battered by the tsunami, defense officials said, amid signs that Indonesia is bridling at US military presence in relief operations. AFP/DDP/File Photo Wolfowitz was scheduled to depart Thursday and was expected to meet with Indonesian officials in the course of his travels through the region, a defense official said. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has served as a base for relief flights into western Sumatra drew back to international waters Wednesday to conduct flight training amid Indonesian objections to the foreign military presence. The White House said Wednesday it was seeking "clarification" from Jakarta after Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla said all foreign troops had to be out of the country by the end of March, or "the sooner the better." But the Pentagon tread lightly around those developments Thursday, declining to comment on reports that Indonesia had denied the Lincoln permission to use its airspace for training flights. The Lincoln's commander is "very comfortable with all of the opportunities that the Lincoln battle group has to conduct its mission, which is humanitarian operations," Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said. Admiral Thomas Fargo, the commander of US forces in the Pacific, also is "comfortable" with the cooperation with the Indonesians, said Brigadier General David Rodriguez, of the Joint Staff. "This is a non-issue to admiral Fargo," Rodriguez said.
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Post by Moses on Feb 28, 2005 10:08:41 GMT -5
Rice Backs Resuming Indonesia Military Training[/size] Sun Feb 27, 2005 01:24 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department has recommended that U.S. military training resume in Indonesia after a break of more than a decade, as Washington seeks closer military ties with the world's largest Muslim nation. In an announcement Saturday, the department said Indonesia had met conditions set by Congress for re-establishing the training relationship. "The department expects that Indonesia's resumption of full international military education and training will strengthen its ongoing democratic progress and advance cooperation in other areas of mutual concern," the statement said. Formal military relations were cut with Indonesia in the early 1990s because of suspected human-rights violations by Indonesian forces. However, some counterterrorism training was resumed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as Washington sought to enlist Jakarta's help for the U.S. war on global terrorism. The Bush administration has previously tried to revive close ties with Indonesia's military, but the effort faltered after two American school teachers were murdered in the province of Papua in 2002. Investigations by police and nongovernmental organizations pointed to Indonesian military involvement in the murders. The U.S. Congress made any resumption of U.S. military training for Indonesian officers dependent on certification that Jakarta was helping the FBI investigate the killings. Boucher said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had determined that Indonesia's government and armed forces were cooperating. U.S. military aid was cut after Indonesian troops killed 57 demonstrators in East Timor in 1991, when the territory was part of Indonesia. Indonesia has not participated in the full training program since 1992. Supporters of the training program say it helps forge close relations between the civilian-led U.S. military and the armies of countries Washington is trying to influence. Although often overshadowed by other Asian giants like China and Japan, Indonesia is a key to regional stability which for 50 years had close military ties with the United States. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz visited Indonesia last month to review tsunami damage and announce a desire for a closer military relationship. Washington made a temporary exception to military-aid restrictions to provide spare parts for planes delivering relief to tsunami victims.
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Post by REW on Mar 24, 2007 1:05:00 GMT -5
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