Free Republic

Any sane person knew that the "peace" in Gaza was going to last just long enough for Hamas to re-arm. Few people expected them to re-arm with the help of $1 Billion from cash-strapped US taxpayers. I know Obama likes to yap about how he won and his proxies love to say he has a mandate. I don't recall "arming psychos for jihad" on many priority lists this last election season. But that's exactly what's happening.

Q: As a native of Zambia with advanced degrees in public policy and economics from Harvard and Oxford, you are about to publish an attack on Western aid to Africa and its recent glamorization by celebrities. ‘‘Dead Aid,’’ as your book is called, is particularly hard on rock stars. Have you met Bono? A: I have, yes, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last year. It was at a party to raise money for Africans, and there were no Africans in the room, except for me. Q: What do you think of him? A: I’ll make a general...

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—In her AIDS-scarred South African township, Sweetness Mzolisa leads a chorus of praise for George W. Bush that echoes to the deserts of Namibia, the hills of Rwanda and the villages of Ethiopia. Like countless Africans, Mzolisa looks forward to Barack Obama becoming America's first black president Jan 20. But—like countless Africans—Mzolisa says she will always be grateful to Bush for his war on AIDS, which has helped to treat more than 2 million Africans, support 10 million more, and revitalize the global fight against the disease. "It has done a lot for the people of South...

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Travelers to Africa and Asia all have their favorite forms of foreign aid to "make a difference." One of mine is a miracle substance that is cheap and actually makes people smarter. Unfortunately, it has one appalling side effect. No, it doesn't make you sterile, but it is just about the least sexy substance in the world. Indeed, because it's so numbingly boring, few people pay attention to it or invest in it. (Or dare write about it!) It's iodized salt. Almost one-third of the world's people don't get enough iodine from food and water. The result...

If the turbulent economy has you ready to stuff your mattress with your savings, here’s how to get a better return for your money — while helping to alleviate global poverty to boot. MicroPlace (microplace.com), an eBay-owned business, connects the working poor to would-be lenders, allowing you to invest as little as $20 to get a one to three percent return on your investment — a better rate than offered by many savings accounts. MicroPlace uses your money to fund organizations that make loans to people working to lift themselves out of poverty. Like the popular micro-lending site Kiva.org, MicroPlace...

Mexico and the rest of Latin America likely will continue to receive scant attention during the early part of the Barack Obama administration, the founder of a Latin American think tank in San Antonio said Friday. State Department program funding in the Bush administration is flowing to Asia and the Middle East, not to Latin America. The crush of the global economic downturn and the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars likely will continue to divert attention of the incoming Obama administration away from Latin America, said Ted Terrazas, founder last year of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Americas. “We...

Hillary Clinton to work for early approval of $15bn aid LAHORE/NEW YORK: US Senator Hillary Clinton has assured President Asif Ali Zardari that she will work with Congress for the early approval of a $15 billion Biden-Lugar aid package for Pakistan, a private TV channel reported on Friday. According to the channel, Zardari telephoned Clinton and told her the Pakistan government was working hard to bring economic stability to the country. Clinton appreciated Zardari’s efforts for establishing democracy in Pakistan and praised Islamabad’s role in the war on terror. APP reported that the president said Pakistan was striving for peace...

Although many Americans believe immigration is a domestic issue that should be excluded from talks with other governments, this is not a view held by other nations – or by the United States. Indeed, the US negotiated its first immigration deal in 1907, maintained for more than two decades a controversial treaty with Mexico covering immigration, and has kept up immigration talks and deals even with Fidel Castro since the early 1960’s. For many Latin American nations, not just Mexico, immigration is the single most important issue in their relations with the US. The Caribbean islands all have a similarly...

Is there a hidden quasi military draft in Barack Obama's budget? It is one I do not think American college students nor their parents nor many Americans will find.....umm pleasant. I do not understand why college students would cast a vote for someone purposing this kind of budget which will effect many many that attempt to gain an education or why a parent facing the daunting higher education bills for a child or even why any American would seek to send more of our desperately needed funds to foreign shores to help others who are also in need. The education...

Former President Clinton told a U.N. gathering Thursday that the global food crisis shows "we all blew it, including me," by treating food crops "like color TVs" instead of as a vital commodity for the world's poor. Addressing a high-level event marking Oct. 16's World Food Day, Clinton also saluted President Bush — "one thing he got right" — for pushing to change U.S. food aid policy. He scolded the bipartisan coalition in Congress that killed the idea of making some aid donations in cash rather than in food. Clinton criticized decades of policymaking by the World Bank, the International...

Making Egyptian Aid Conditional   By Daniel MandelJewishPolicyCenter.org | Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Dear Mr. President,The United States has an important relationship with a foreign country that permits its territory to be used for the purpose of smuggling lethal and increasingly sophisticated weaponry to groups designated as terrorists by our State Department.This same country has repeatedly promised your predecessors that it will introduce multi-party democracy, but instead has cracked down on democrats and reformers. Meanwhile, it grants free rein to Islamist groups in tightly controlled and manipulated elections.This same country has played a leading role in blocking American efforts...

Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike inflicted misery on millions of Cubans. But when the Castro dictatorship looks at the devastation, it sees opportunity. Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, who took over as head of state in February, for years have been calling for an end to the U.S. embargo, which they say is starving Cuba. But Cuba can already buy from U.S. producers all the food and medicine it can pay cash for. What the totalitarian tag-team really wants is an end to the ban on private-sector credit to the Cuban government. Their demand has gone nowhere in Washington,...

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged donor nations on Monday to follow through on more than $7 billion in aid pledges to the cash-strapped Palestinian government. "We need to make certain that everyone is paying attention to their Paris commitments to the Palestinians," Rice told reporters before a meeting to discuss aid to the Palestinians on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. At a Paris conference last December, donors pledged $7.7 billion in aid over the next three years, but the Palestinians say only a small fraction of that money has been paid. Arab nations, in particular, have...

That Barack Obama is a dangerous socialist is a given. His hard left orientation and what he would do if ever given the power of the White House and Congress should make Americans shutter. Last December Obama slipped back into Washington to be the main sponsor of Senate Bill, 2433, The Global Poverty Act of 2007. Obama’s bill will give our money away to the whole world. It’s a kowtowing new tax on the American taxpayers payable to the corrupt socialist United Nations, and no amount of lipstick can dress this pig up. The official description of the bill is...

Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) Western depot has 19 million condoms, but lacks essential drugs. Investigation revealed the Kisumu town storage area had not received vaccines, whose shortage would put the lives of newborns in danger. The depot manager, Mr Geoffrey Alumila, said they had not been given vital vaccines for prevention of polio, tetanus and TB for several months. "The shortage of vaccines and other drugs in public hospitals is as a result of lack of supply," he said, on Thursday. However, he said the delivery of condoms has been constant. "We have 19 million condoms in our stock,...

Barack Obama, who lamented Friday that “we have not managed our federal budget with any kind of discipline,” is nonetheless promising to spend $50 billion on a United Nations anti-poverty program that critics say will drive up American debt. “The short-term weakness in the capital market is a reflection of long-term problems that we have in our economy,” Obama told reporters in Florida. “We have been loading up enormous amounts of debt.” Yet Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, have pledged tens of billions in new spending on a U.N. program that promises cash to poor countries. The program...

Barack Obama, who lamented Friday that “we have not managed our federal budget with any kind of discipline,” is nonetheless promising to spend $50 billion on a United Nations anti-poverty program that critics say will drive up American debt. “Obama and Biden will embrace the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty around the world in half by 2015, and they will double our foreign assistance to $50 billion to achieve that goal,” the candidates vow in their campaign platform. In December, Obama also sponsored the Global Poverty Act which, if passed, would require the president to commit to cutting...

"No incursion will be tolerated anymore," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, chief military spokesman. The prospect of the ALLIES fighting each other as they hunt down Islamist militants still appears remote, given the Pakistani government's desire to receive billions of dollars in aid from the U.S. But the repeated warnings against U.S. troop raids reflect the strong anger felt among Pakistan's senior ranks that the U.S. is overstepping its bounds with a close ally.

U.S. Tanzania AIDS Deal by: Jesse Masai, September 11, 2008 A public-private partnership will enable the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) to significantly expand its network of centers of excellence in Sub-Saharan Africa by building two clinics in Tanzania, a country hit hard by HIV/AIDS. On September 2, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced a grant award to BIPAI of $22.5 million over five years to support the operations of the two centers of excellence and associated satellite clinic facilities. Mr. Jakaya Kikwete, president of the United Republic of Tanzania, participated in the announcement...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2008 – The Pentagon will send an assessment team to Georgia to determine what role the U.S. should play as the nation’s military rebuilds after clashes with Russia, a Defense Department official said today. “The Department of Defense is sending an assessment team to Tbilisi later this week to help us begin to consider carefully Georgia's legitimate needs and our response," Eric S. Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. After the assessment, officials will review how the United States will be able to support the reconstruction of Georgia, including...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2008 – With the off-loading of 17 tons of humanitarian supplies from the USS Mount Whitney over the weekend, the Defense Department’s part in providing relief to Georgia is over, Pentagon officials said here today. The Mount Whitney – the flagship of the U.S. fleet in the Mediterranean – delivered the supplies to the Georgian port of Poti over the weekend. The USS McFaul and Coast Guard Cutter Dallas had previously delivered supplies to the port of Batumi. DoD delivered 1,145 short tons of relief to Tbilisi via 62 air sorties since Russia invaded the Caucasus republic...

1 p.m. local time (9 a.m. GMT) I just learned important news -- the Russians have opened a new checkpoint in Poti, their third one altogether. Their new checkpoint is located on the seafront, some 300 meters away from the existing one at Nabada. The Russians have already dug trenches, and put armored vehicles there. This was preceded by the continued increase of their military forces in Poti. Today, four armored vehicles, and up to 40 soldiers entered the town; yesterday six armored vehicles and, so I was told, up to 60 soldiers arrived. Right now, it is said that...

KARALETI, Georgia (AP) - Russian soldiers turned back a U.N. aid convoy on Monday in a blunt demonstration of their power in a tense zone around the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

We’re going to spend $1 billion to fix the Georgia between Russia and Turkey, not the one between South Carolina and Florida. Sorry, but the thought of us spending $1 billion to repair a country whose president, though a democrat, recklessly provoked a war with a brutish Russia, which was itching to bash its neighbor, makes no sense to me. Yes, we should diplomatically squeeze Russia until it withdraws its troops; no one should be invading neighbors. But where are our priorities? How many wars can we fight at once without finishing even one? Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now...

DHAKA (AFP) - Bangladesh wants rich nations to pay the billions of dollars it says it needs to help fight the effects of climate change because they are the biggest environmental culprits. < > "We need at least four billion dollars at least by 2020 to build dams, cyclone shelters, plant trees along the coast and build infrastructure and capacities to adapt to increasing number of natural disasters," Kabir said. < > "We hope Western countries will grant the money as compensation for being the biggest carbon emitters," Kabir said. "They are responsible for our woes and the increasing number...

A nice-sounding bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations. Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not endorsed either Senator Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. But on Thursday, February 14, he is trying to rush Obama's...

WHEN PRESIDENT BUSH traveled to sub-Sahara Africa in February he was greeted by large and tumultuous crowds of admirers - which mystified many of his critics, who believe that the animosity toward his administration abroad is universal. But polling data from the Pew Foundation shows something different: Approval ratings for the United States exceed 80 percent in many African countries, some with large Muslim populations. In Darfur, many families name their newborn sons George Bush. What is it that the Bush administration did differently in Africa than it did elsewhere? Certainly one factor is that Africa is not the Middle...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 2008 – The United States will provide $1 billion in recovery aid to Georgia, President Bush announced today. Russia invaded the Caucasus republic in August and still has troops in the country in violation of a cease-fire agreement reached Aug. 13. Through Operation Assured Delivery, the U.S. military has delivered more than 2 million pounds of humanitarian supplies to the former Soviet republic. Bush said the new funds will help meet Georgia’s humanitarian needs and support its economic recovery. “More than half of these funds will be made available in the near term and will support reconstruction...

The world's wealthiest countries are failing to deliver on their promises to give money to the world's poorest nations, a UN report says. The UN report on progress towards the millennium development goals says this is threatening targets for drastically reducing world poverty by 2015. The UN report says there has been some improvement but not enough. World leaders signed up to ambitious goals eight years ago aimed at reducing poverty, hunger and disease by 2015. Now the UN report says wealthy countries are not living up to the commitments they made at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 - and...

The world’s rich donor countries have clashed over plans to improve the quality of their overseas aid, with the US and Japan arguing against setting themselves tougher targets. In a meeting this week in Accra, Ghana, officials have tussled over proposals to force donor countries to co-ordinate their aid programmes with each other and to use financial systems set up by the recipient developing countries wherever possible. The conference follows the so-called “Paris declaration” of 2005 in which rich governments agreed to make aid more predictable and to reduce requirements to use it to buy exports from the donor country....

Pushing back against an increasingly aggressive Moscow, President Bush said Wednesday the U.S. will send an extra $1 billion to Georgia to help the pro-Western former Soviet republic in the wake of Russia's invasion. "Georgia has a strong economic foundation and leaders with an impressive record of reform," Bush said in a statement. "Our additional economic assistance will help the people of Georgia recover from the assault on their country, and continue to build a prosperous and competitive economy." Vice President Dick Cheney, due in Georgia on Thursday, planned to make the massive aid package a major highlight of his...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2008 – U.S. military aircraft and ships continue to bring humanitarian supplies to Georgia, defense officials said today. The humanitarian need still exists in the former Soviet republic, and the United States will continue sending help “as long as it’s needed,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Russian troops continue to be in violation of the cease-fire agreement signed in August, Whitman said. “There has been some progress, but they remain in violation,” he said. So far, 62 air sorties have flown humanitarian aid to Georgia, and two ships – the USS McFaul and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2008 – The Coast Guard Cutter Dallas has finished off-loading humanitarian relief supplies in the Georgian city of Batumi and has left port, a Defense Department official said here today. Since Russia invaded Georgia on Aug. 9, all of the U.S. aid that has gone to the nation has been humanitarian relief, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. Defense officials said that Russia still has troops in Georgia and is not living up to the terms of a cease-fire agreement. The Dallas unloaded 34 short tons of aid at the port, raising the U.S. total to 947...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2008 – The Defense Department and U.S. European Command stand ready to assist as required to save lives and alleviate human suffering during the humanitarian crisis in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, a senior EuCom official said yesterday. “Working side by side with the republic of Georgia and international organizations, U.S. European Command is providing immediate life-saving support and restoring essential life-support systems as part of a coordinated interagency effort,” Michael Ritchie, EuCom’s director of interagency engagement, said in a teleconference with bloggers and online journalists to discuss the relief effort dubbed Operation Assured Delivery. Operation...

BATUMI, Georgia - A U.S. military ship carrying humanitarian aid docked at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi on Wednesday, avoiding the port of Poti, which is still controlled by Russian forces. The move came amid escalating tensions between Russia and Georgia's Western allies. Batumi, where the Coast Guard cutter Dallas docked, is well south of the zone of fighting in this month's war between Russia and Georgia. The United States and European nations have assailed Russia's recognition of two Georgian territories as separate nations Tuesday, and Moscow has also criticized the United States for bringing humanitarian aid into...

TBILISI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - U.S. warships have scrapped a plan to deliver relief supplies to Georgia's flashpoint port of Poti on Wednesday, a source close to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said. "The ships will not dock in Poti tomorrow," the source told Reuters, referring to a planned mission by the USS McFaul and another vessel. Their presence would have been sure to enrage Russia, which has troops patrolling the port following a brief war with Georgia. "There was a possibility that the McFaul might go to Poti but no-one has given us a final decision. We're not sure...

"I speak to you not as a candidate for President but as a citizen — a proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world." — Barack Obama, Berlin, July 24, 2008 Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is also a proud globalist and self-proclaimed agent of change. As the Democratic National Convention begins in Denver, many still ponder just what kind of change Obama has in mind for the country. His sponsorship of the Global Poverty Act, and more recently his Berlin speech, are prime examples. Peppered with "one-world" phrases such as “people of the world,” “global...

USS McFaul Brings Aid to Batumi, Georgia Story Number: NNS080824-07 Release Date: 8/24/2008 1:00:00 PM By Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet (CNE-C6F) Public Affairs BATUMI, Republic of Georgia (NNS) -- USS McFaul (DDG 74) pulled into the port of Batumi, Georgia, Aug. 24 to deliver humanitarian relief supplies to the country as part of the larger United States response to the government of Georgia request for humanitarian assistance. This represents the first U.S. Navy ship to arrive and deliver humanitarian assistance to Georgia. "Our job was to get the supplies to Georgia as quickly as possible," said...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2008 – The U.S. military has delivered more than 1 million pounds of humanitarian relief supplies to Georgia. Georgian soldiers, working with U.S. soldiers, assist in delivery of humanitarian assistance supplies to the people of Georgia Aug. 21, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Marine Maj. Rob James  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. As of Aug.22, 36 missions had been flown by Air Force C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft as well as Navy C-9 Skytrain, C-130 Hercules and C-40 Clipper aircraft, U.S. European Command officials said. Two U.S. ships are on the way,...

BATUMI, Georgia (Reuters) - A U.S. navy warship arrived in Georgia's main Black Sea port of Batumi on Sunday with humanitarian aid as Russia ignored Western demands to remove its remaining troops from Georgia's heartland. Russia says the residual troops are peacekeepers needed to avert further bloodshed and to protect the people of Georgia's separatist, pro-Moscow provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia two days after Moscow said it had wrapped up its withdrawal. On Georgia's main east-west rail line, a fuel train exploded on Sunday after apparently hitting a landmine. The conflict erupted on August 7-8 when Georgia tried to...

BATUMI, Georgia (Reuters) - The first U.S. warship to bring aid to Georgia arrived in the country's main Black Sea port of Batumi on Sunday, in a strong gesture of support for the ex-Soviet republic in its conflict with Russia. The USS McFaul, a guided missile destroyer, is loaded with humanitarian aid including beds and food for the tens of thousands displaced by the confrontation that erupted on Aug 7-8 over Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region. GEORGIA COMNFLICT 2008

Us warship arrives in Georgia

At the Tuesday-morning meeting with committee staffers, Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: "I'm groping here." Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we're not bent on its destruction. "Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran," Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2008 – Although some movement of Russian troops in Georgia has occurred, it’s difficult to determine whether it’s an indication of withdrawal or just a repositioning of forces, a Defense Department official said today. “There have been some movements around [the town of] Gory, but it’s unclear whether that is the beginning of a significant withdrawal,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “The only movements we’ve seen are relatively minor.” The Defense Department remains steadfast in its support to Georgia as officials work to determine whether Russia is commencing with the drawdown terms it agreed to or is...

ISTANBUL (AFP) — One of three US ships carrying relief supplies to Georgia cleared Turkish straits and headed for the Black Sea Friday, where it was due to arrive in the Georgian port of Poti in a few days. The two other ships -- the Coast Guard cutter Dallas and the Mount Whitney, currently being loaded up in an Italian port -- are also bound for Georgia with humanitarian aid.

NAPLES, Italy, Aug. 21, 2008 – Two Navy ships and a Coast Guard cutter are transporting humanitarian relief supplies to Georgia. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Weaver and Petty Officer 2nd Class Gary Smith prepare humanitarian aid supplies for loading aboard USS McFaul at Souda Bay, Crete, Aug. 20, 2008. Nearly 55 tons of supplies were loaded as part of the humanitarian assistance for the Georgia following the conflict between Russian and Georgian forces in the former Soviet republic. U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Eddie Harrison   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. These deployments...

Although a U.S. European Command team is focused for now on the humanitarian crisis in Georgia, it may eventually review the nation’s military needs in light of its conflict with Russia, according to the group’s commander. Brig. Gen. Jon Miller, who is heading EUCOM’s Joint Assessment Team, said Wednesday that part of his mandate is "to be prepared" to evaluate the condition of Georgia’s military. "It’s a possibility, but it is not my mission right now," said Miller, adding humanitarian aid is a more immediate concern. Miller’s comments came after meetings Wednesday with a congressional delegation that included Sen. Joe...

As if Barack Obama didn’t do enough damage with his “above my pay grade” response on abortion at the Saddleback Church presidential forum on Saturday, Jay Ambrose finds another revealing nugget in a different answer Obama gave Rick Warren. When asked about his own shortcomings, Obama gave an initially touching response in identifying a “fundamental selfishness” in his youth that led to destructive behaviors. Unfortunately, Obama then expanded on his statement to accuse Americans of a lack of charity: “Americans’ greatest moral failure in my lifetime,” he said, “has been that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in...

STUTTGART, Germany, Aug. 19, 2008 – U.S. European Command is coordinating sustained airlift support as the United States continues to send humanitarian supplies and medical supplies to the former Soviet republic of Georgia. So far, the U.S. military has delivered more than 270,000 pounds of aid on 12 missions to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, with more relief on the way in the coming days, officials said. Flying out of Ramstein Air Base, Germany, the missions are delivering bandages, surgical supplies and medicine, as well as emergency shelters and bedding. The joint effort, with the Army, Navy, Air Force and...

WASHINGTON (AFP)--The United States will consider providing $1 billion in emergency aid to Georgia, a top U.S. lawmaker said Monday on his return from a visit to the conflict-torn nation.