Sunday, June 6, 2004

A couple of words on the passing of Reagan... I agree with Digby. [Link via Eschaton.] I also agree with Juan Cole. [Link via Smythe's World.] And Billmon. And Rep. John Dingell (said last year during the Reagan CBS movie controversy): "As someone who served with President Reagan, and in the interest of historical accuracy, please allow me to share with you some of my recollections of the Reagan years that I hope will make it into the final cut of the mini-series: $640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling." [From This Modern World.] 1:58:49 AM    comment [] Misplaced Priorities Donald Rumsfeld was in Singapore today pressuring Asian nations to devote more energy and resources to the Global War on Terror. Terrorism certainly deserves a global effort. It is an international problem. It causes the suffering and death of numerous innocent people across the globe every year. It leaves others paralyzed from fear and lack of security. Yet terrorism isn't unique in this. Warfare, AIDS, famine, disease, and lack of clean water have the same evil consequences. Yet only AIDS has attracted a similar "global war effort" -- an effort that falls well short of what is required. And as bad as terrorism is, the other global problems leave it far behind in terms of number of victims. From "the point of view of the universe," there really is no comparison. Terrorism isn't even in the top five. So it is with dismay that I read this post from Dave Pollard of How to Save the World. Be sure to examine the two charts he provides. First, the paltry sum the developed world gives to foreign aid isn't from lack of money. During the boom times of the 1990's, as income per capita in the developed world steadily rose, foreign aid actually declined. (And I have mentioned before how poorly the United States ranks among developed nations in terms of foreign aid.) Second, there was already an enormous and growing discrepancy between foreign aid and military spending before the Global War on Terror started. If we are truly committed to combatting evil, as our president claims he is, we should be waging global campaigns against warfare (especially ethnic conflicts), AIDS, famine, disease and unclean drinking water -- wars that, from a moral perspective, should have priority over the Global War on Terror. And as Dave Pollard argues, it is a mistake to view foreign aid spending and anti-terrorism spending as mutually exclusive. Increased development aid targets terrorism at some of its roots -- the hopelessness, unhappiness, and resentment of many in the developing world (which is not to say that there aren't other, perhaps more significant factors behind terrorism). 1:27:54 AM    comment []

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