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GENEVA - U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said Friday the anger on all sides in the Middle East is the greatest he has seen in two decades of trying to help the troubled region make peace. "I've never seen nations as polarized as during this recent visit," said Egeland, who was in Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip at the end of July. "People were enraged collectively in Lebanon, everybody against the Israeli indiscriminate onslaught," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "In Israel, they were a united front to support the strong military measures. In the Palestinian...

When the U.N.'s Jan Egeland called the U.S. "stingy" with foreign aid a couple of years back, he was playing to a stereotype promoted by those who want governments to redistribute global incomes. He was also wrong, and now we have the data to prove it. The Hudson Institute recently released the 2006 Index of Global Philanthropy, the first comprehensive report on international aid by private institutions and individuals in the U.S. The index shows that millions of Americans give to the world's poor at a rate that is anything but "stingy." Voluntary giving by Americans dwarfs government aid the...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A year of disasters around the world sparked an unprecedented outpouring of aid, but richer nations still are not giving enough money to tackle lingering humanitarian crises, the U.N. humanitarian chief said. Jan Egeland said, for example, that as many people die in Congo every eight months as in last year's Indian Ocean tsunami. He also criticized political leaders for failing to take action to end the wars that create humanitarian crises or invest in disaster prevention to mitigate the impact of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. The work of U.N. and other relief workers in conflict-wracked...

The United Nations attacked international donors today for a shortfall in funding for victims of the South Asian earthquake that has left relief agencies struggling with a logistical nightmare worse than the Boxing Day tsunami. As a 12-year-old boy was confirmed as the first British fatality from the quake, Jan Egeland, the UN's disaster relief chief, gave warning that the death toll in the earthquake could rise above 100,000 because of a lack of aid. Mr Egeland told a news conference in Geneva: "We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare, ever. We thought the tsunami was bad -...

The UN's disaster chief has outlined a 10-year plan of investment to avert a natural disaster that could be 100 times worse than the Asian tsunami. Jan Egeland proposed diverting 10% of what is currently spent on emergency relief to tackle disaster prevention.

THE United Nations today appealed to Indonesia to lift its March deadline on foreign military relief operations in Aceh province but said a second wave of deaths from disease in tsunami-hit nations had probably been averted. More than 100,000 of the estimated 163,000 killed by last month's tsunami were in Aceh. Half a million people in the province are homeless and some 2000 to 3000 bodies wash ashore each day, Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief co-ordinator, told a news conference. The Indonesian government is edgy about a foreign presence in areas where separatists have fought the army for three...

Jan Egeland, the United Nations' undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, sure did get clobbered over his use of the word "stingy" in reference to the initial outpouring of millions of dollars in US and Western aid for those countries affected by the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. But statements like his aren't formed in a vacuum, not even when emanating from the vacuous UN. Seems it was former President Jimmy Carter who, back in 1999 at a lecture at Principia College, said, "We are the stingiest nation of all." The good news is that, regardless of who gets to claim first...

Tsunami? Blame America - By MARK STEYN Humanitarian honchos and Euro-libs denounce Washington's response to the Asia disaster A week ago, people kept asking me for my opinion of the tsunami, and to be honest I didn't have one. It didn't seem the kind of thing to have an "opinion" on, even for an opinion columnist - not like who should win the election or whether we should have toppled Saddam. It was obviously a catastrophe, and it was certain the death toll would rise and keep rising, and other than that there didn't seem a lot to opine about....

The United Nations fritters away money while the American military steps in to help the hopeless in southeast Asia.IF YOU'RE GETTING OVER being steamed at Norwegian U.N. apparatchik Jan Egeland, who a week ago thought the U.S. response to the tsunami "stingy," then you need to check in at The Diplomad, a tremendous blog run by a State Department careerist serving abroad and which has done more for the reputation of State among conservatives in the past few months than 20 years of Council of Foreign Relations meets and greets. Short summary: Your worst fears about the United Nations are...

WHEN ASKED Monday if climate change -- global warming -- was behind the deadly Asian tsunami, the United Nation's Jan Egeland -- he of "stingy" aid fame -- said no, the tsunami was a "geologically caused" disaster. "A tsunami like this is caused by an earthquake that has nothing to do with climate change, " he explained. Minutes later, however, Egeland did suggest a possible connection between global warming and the disaster. He had heard that one-third of the Maldives islands disappeared momentarily underwater, he said, adding that "actually climate change means oceans (are) growing, (so) certainly tsunamis will have...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Are there no limits to the audacity of the corrupt, lying socialists who run the United Nations? After bungling or pilfering virtually every project the UN has ever managed, this useless organization should now be in a position of having to justify its existence before receiving another cent from the United States of America. Instead, after watching these leeches administer the now-infamous oil-for-food program - through which billions of dollars earmarked for the destitute people of Iraq were instead used to line the pockets of thieving United Nations bigwigs - Americans now have to listen to the man in charge...

CNSNews.com) - President Bush said on Wednesday that U.S. aid to South Asian victims of Sunday's earthquake and tidal waves is "only the beginning of our help," and he commented that the United Nations official who said America is being "stingy" in its response was "misguided and ill-informed." The president made the remarks during a news conference at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, during which he gave his first public comments on the disaster that has affected many nations on the other side of the globe. When asked by a reporter if he was "offended by the suggestion that rich...

With $2 Billion Donated, U.N. Now Needs Help to Deliver Aid By WARREN HOGE NITED NATIONS, Jan. 1 - Jan Egeland, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, said Saturday that the commitment of relief money from more than 40 nations had reached $2 billion, but he said that the scale of the response was overwhelming the capacity to deliver aid. "The compassion has never ever been like this," he said, but then added, "The military and civil defense assets that many countries are providing us are as valuable as cash or gold would be today because it makes us move...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will visit tsunami stricken Indonesia next week, as the world increased aid pledges to $2 billion for tsunami-hit areas in South Asia, U.N. officials said Saturday. Annan was invited to go to the Indonesia capital of Jakarta Thursday and the officials said he had accepted and would probably issue a world appeal for relief from there, rather than New York. More than 1 million people in Indonesia, especially in Indonesia's and Aceh province as well as 700,000 in Sri Lanka will need food aid for months as a result of the disaster,...

Tsunami Relief: The Real Story Several months ago, we linked to a new blog by a group of career Foreign Service officers, called Diplomad. Diplomad provides sharp, knowledgeable commentary. It turns out that one of the site's contributors is stationed in one of the countries hit by the tsunami (I don't think he's said which one). His regard for the U.N. disaster relief effort is, shall we say, muted: Well, we're heading into Day 7 of the Asian quake/tsunami crisis. And the UN relief effort? Nowhere to be seen except at some meetings and on CNN and BBC as talking...

Q: Can you just flesh out in a little more detail the kinds of logistical problems you're facing? Are they problems of transportation, with coordination and other things? Just describe in a little more detail how that's unfolding and what you're facing. Mr. Egeland: Our main problems now are in northern Sumatra and Aceh. We have problems all over, and I agree that it is beyond the reach of all our combined resources in these five massive parallel operations from Somalia to Indonesia. In Aceh, today 50 trucks of relief supplies are arriving. They will have arrived because it's already...

Several things in bold due to the fact that this is a LONG read. Apologies that there really isn't a proper title for this press release. I didn't see this posted. Added to "Breaking News" due to the fact that the UN has the arrogance to omit the US from its list of "page after page of countries" which have contributed. Please remove from "Breaking News" if you deem appropriate. Thank you. New York, 30 December 2004 - Secretary-General Kofi Annan and UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland at press conference on Asian Tsunami disaster SG: Let me thank you for coming. This...

No one gives more than U.S. Americans face unfair criticism over big relief contributions, Peter Worthington writes By PETER WORTHINGTON -- For the Toronto Sun December 31, 2004 The Boxing Day tsunami catastrophe may well be the worst natural disaster in human history. It probably is in terms of lives lost, although one should remember the world's population has gone from under one billion in 1800 to over six billion in 2004 (it's tripled since 1927), so death from disasters keep increasing. When Krakatoa erupted on the Indonesian island of Rakata in 1883, it sent a tidal wave circling and...

The New York Times agrees with that United Nations official who suggested the United States was stingy in the aid planned for tsunami-devastated nations. The official later backed down, but it's unlikely the liberal newspaper will do so. In fact, the newspaper, in an editorial, said the United States has not only been stingy in its response to the Asian tsunami disaster, but in giving aid in general. The editorial said the $15 million initially offered by Washington was less than the figure the Republican Party plans to spend on President Bush's inauguration in January. Mr. Bush and Secretary of...

The Stinge-O-Meter, which the United Nations uses to measure the generosity of its members, is busted. The needle is spinning wildly, out of control.     Jan Egeland, the chief bureaucrat in charge of the U.N. emergency relief, such as it is, gave the Stinge-O-Meter a mighty spin in the wake of the Asian tsunami and read the miserable verdict: The United States and the nations of the West are "stingy."     Mr. Egeland, a Norwegian who throws up at the idea that anyone should spend his own money without bureaucratic guidance, says the trouble is rooted in the fact that Americans...

"What they're actually doing is using dead people to make cheap points." That's how the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan described some partisans' use of this week's deadly Indian Ocean tsunami to promote various and sundry political agendas. We think it about describes the exploitation of the tragedy by the United Nations' Jan Egeland with his "stingy" remark and the New York Times' criticism of the United States. It being Christmastime, most world leaders were on vacation when the tsunami hit. Kofi Annan was just arriving back in New York late Wednesday. By Thursday morning he still hadn't met with...

The other day, a United Nations official accused the United States of being “stingy” in terms of aid to tsunami victims in South Asia.  After criticism from the State Department, the official clarified his position.  Americans are not being stingy in helping tsunami victims, only stingy in terms of overall foreign aid as compared to other countries. This is a familiar attack, which comes up annually when the foreign aid appropriations bill is before Congress.  But let’s look at the facts.  According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, in 2003, the world’s major countries gave $108.5 billion...

The tragic loss of life from the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean now exceeds 100,000 and may eventually double that, due to disease, civil unrest, and other factors. In response, the United States and other nations have pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to aid the survivors and assist affected nations in recovering from the disaster. Unfortunately, some in the international aid business cannot seem to shake their reflexive criticism of America despite ample evidence of its generosity. The U.S. government initially announced that it would provide $15 million in humanitarian aid and send experts to help...

Excerpt from article: The senior U.N. relief official who chided wealthy Western nations for being "stingy" with their aid was not "misguided and ill informed," as President Bush said on Wednesday, the newspaper wrote. U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland made the statement in reference to general aid supplied by the wealthy countries, but later praised the rapid international response to the tsunami that hit 12 countries Sunday. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/30/quake.usa.editorial.reut/index.html

United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has cut short his holiday and is returning to his New York headquarters to oversee the UN's relief exercise for Indian Ocean tsunami victims. Mr Annan will meet tonight with the UN official directly responsible for coordinating the relief, Jan Egeland. Mr Annan's spokesman says that over the past two days, the UN boss has spoken by phone with leaders of countries hard hit by the disaster, not just to offer condolences but to find out what they need most urgently. The Red Cross has put the overall death toll at almost 78,000 people, and...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hundreds of tons of emergency supplies of tarpaulins, water purification systems, food and medicines poured into Asia on Thursday, but little was reaching injured, sick and hungry tsunami survivors. Some survivors have seen no aid since the tsunami struck ... Aid started pouring into Indonesia only to stop at the airport due to a lack of fuel for trucks to move it. Rescue workers were still struggling to reach some cut off areas and many have been too busy recovering the thousands of disfigured and bloated corpses to help deliver aid. The United Nations admits only a...

WITH Southeast Asia battling one of the worst natural disasters in modern history, Western politicians took the opportunity to create a perfect storm of petty recriminations. As the world scrambled to send money to help, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland huffed that rich nations are "stingy" with foreign aid. Trying to talk his way out of the ensuing flap, he explained Tuesday that he didn't mean stingy so much now in the current relief effort but more, well, stingy all the time: Our governments don't give enough cash to the Third World. What he doesn't get (natch, he's...

Blessed are those who wait. Every year it happens. As the calendar winds down, there are always some who feels an urgent need to race out ahead of the pack in giving out end of the year awards. Thus Sports Illustrated named its Sportsmen of the Year for 2004 sometime around Thanksgiving. And such sportsmen! The lowly Boston Red Sox, of all critters, apparently because they once again finished second in the American League's Eastern Division, behind the almighty New York Yankees. The injustice of a team winning baseball's championship when it should not have even been eligible to play...

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland praised rich nations Wednesday for their generosity in helping victims of the tsunami, but stood by his criticism that the rich do too little to assist the poor when there are no emergencies. President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell took umbrage at Egeland's comment Monday: ``We were more generous when we were less rich,'' he said. ``And it is beyond me why we are so stingy, really.'' The following day Egeland told reporters that his complaint was directed at no nation in particular, and didn't refer to the outpouring of...

President Bush defended American generosity Wednesday, even as his administration figures out how to pay for more help beyond the $35 million it has already promised to tsunami victims in Asia. In his first remarks since the weekend disaster that so far has killed more than 76,000, Bush - like some in his administration previously - took umbrage at a U.N. official's suggestion that the world's richest nations were "stingy," and indicated much more is expected to be spent to help the victims. "Well, I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," Bush said...

Bush Promises Long-Range Help as Impatience Grows in Region By AMY WALDMAN and WARREN HOGE ADRAS, India, Dec. 29 - World leaders, including President Bush, promised long-range help to Asian countries on Wednesday as impatience with the pace of relief efforts rose along with the estimated toll from the week's disaster, which officials said now surpassed 80,000 dead. As American planes and ships moved into place to help, Mr. Bush made his first public comments since tsunamis inundated about a dozen countries on Sunday, reflecting pressure on the vacationing president to appear more engaged in what aid groups are calling...

President Bush finally roused himself yesterday from his vacation in Crawford, Tex., to telephone his sympathy to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, and to speak publicly about the devastation of Sunday's tsunamis in Asia. He also hurried to put as much distance as possible between himself and America's initial measly aid offer of $15 million, and he took issue with an earlier statement by the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, who had called the overall aid efforts by rich Western nations "stingy." "The person who made that statement was very misguided and ill informed,"...

President Bush finally roused himself yesterday from his vacation in Crawford, Tex., to telephone his sympathy to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, and to speak publicly about the devastation of Sunday's tsunamis in Asia. He also hurried to put as much distance as possible between himself and America's initial measly aid offer of $15 million, and he took issue with an earlier statement by the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, who had called the overall aid efforts by rich Western nations "stingy." "The person who made that statement was very misguided and ill informed,"...

Tragedy is an incredible thing. In the face of disaster, death and destruction it brings out unknown facets and hidden strengths in people, as well as great compassion and, in many, a sense of duty. The quality of great human compassion isn’t derived of any one nation or people. Instead it is innate to the human soul. We saw it in the tears of those laying flowers at the gates of American embassies all over the world after September 11th and we see it again today in the compassionate outreach of individuals and governments from around the world in the...

Excerpt from Jan Egeland Biography Mr Egeland holds a Magister Artium in Political Science, University of Oslo. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and a fellow at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, and the Truman Institute for the Advancement for Peace, Jerusalem. Mr. Egeland has been Chair of Amnesty International, Norway, and Vice Chair of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International. Which means he gets a gross salary of UnderSecretaryGeneral|Gross $186,144 but pays no Income Taxes for I quote from the link: Income taxes: Most member states have granted United Nations staff...

Two events happened this week which seem unrelated, yet they are quite close. Both illustrate the opposite of the Christmas spirit. One was the firing of the CEO of Fannie Mae; the other was a UN official calling the US “stingy” for pledging $35 million for Asian flood relief. Of course, there was the usual overlay of incompetence of the American press in covering these matters. We’ll cover that as we go along. Let’s begin with the golden parachute for Franklin Raines, former CEO of Fannie Mae. Two weeks ago, Raines was fired as CEO of Fannie Mae (FNM) by...

As the Asian quake and tsunami death toll topped 100,000 and is rising, President Bush said the United States' initial grant of $35 million in SE Asia was 'only the beginning of our aid.' He said the United States, India, Australia and Japan have formed an international coalition to coordinate worldwide relief and reconstruction efforts for the Asian region. Aid agencies today warned disease will also cause massive casualties among the survivors as the biggest relief effort in history began. The president took issue with Jan Egeland, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator who called the US "stingy" in regard...

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) defended American generosity Wednesday, even as his administration figures out how to pay for more help beyond the $35 million it has already promised to tsunami victims in Asia. In his first remarks since the weekend disaster that so far has killed more than 76,000, Bush — like some in his administration previously — took umbrage at a U.N. official's suggestion that the world's richest nations were "stingy," and indicated much more is expected to be spent to help the victims. "Well, I felt like the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 - Rejecting a United Nations official's suggestion that it had been a "stingy" aid donor, the Bush administration on Tuesday announced another $20 million in relief for victims of the Asian earthquake and tsunamis and dispatched an aircraft carrier and other ships to the region for possible relief operations. The announcement brought the United States' total aid package to $35 million so far, and Bush administration officials said much more would be sent. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, displaying irritation with the suggestion of American stinginess, said the United States had been the most generous of...

The water hadn’t receded from the beaches in Sri Lanka before some trash-talking UN crony was lamenting the inadequacy of the United States’ response to the recent tsunami. Early Monday, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland accused the United States of being “stingy” with its relief effort. Egeland later backed away from his complaint, but not before earning the ire of many Americans who immediately volunteered time and money to the relief campaign. The United States government pledged an initial contribution of $15 million. No word yet on how much individual citizens have contributed to the pool, but traditionally,...

The Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. emergency relief coordinator praised rich nations Tuesday for their generous response to victims of the earthquake and tsunami waves that raced from southeast Asia to east Africa but said much more will be needed to rebuild the shattered nations. Jan Egeland told reporters his complaint Monday that rich nations were "stingy" when it came to helping poorer nations wasn't directed at any country or at the response to this weekend's disaster. "I have been misinterpreted when I yesterday said that my belief that rich countries in general can be more generous. This has nothing to...

I am not a writer just a ranter so be kind. I hope I post this correctly. Stingy? This coming from an organization so greedy that it has the blood of millions of adults and children flowing freely from almost every hand in every corner of every office and down every hallway of every floor of the United Nations Building. With all of the blood that is on the organizations hands I am shocked that it isn’t seeping out of the front doors. Who can say “Iraq food for oil”? Stingy? This coming from an organization that allowed genocide in...

It amazes me that people somehow think that because Bush didn't "speak in person" or rush to the White House that somehow he's "insensitive" to the tragedy in Southeast Asia. Its simply an logical leap with no foundation. "Although U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland yesterday withdrew his earlier comment, domestic criticism of Bush continued to rise. Skeptics said the initial aid sums -- as well as Bush's decision at first to remain cloistered on his Texas ranch for the Christmas holiday rather than speak in person about the tragedy -- showed scant appreciation for the magnitude of suffering and...

I only have access to a few English language television stations while I am visiting Israel: BBC News and CNN International. Every quarter hour they recap the top stories. Today’s big story (after the non-stop images of a tidal wave taking out resorts frequented by Europeans and few Americans) is the comment of U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland who said that western nations, particularly the United States, were being stingy with their aid packages offered for victims of the disaster. Without putting into context the fact that the United States provides more funding to the UN than any...

The United States was deemed "stingy" in its immediate promise of $15 million in aid to the post-tsunami relief effort in Southeast Asia by the United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Jan Egeland.

Since there's a huge uproar over the comments made by Jan Egeland and there doesn't seem to be a transcript of the press conference posted by the UN (and even if you E-mail the UN they tell you to read a Fox News Transcript of him backpedalling because his comments were "taken out of context.") I decided to transcribe the relevant part of the press conference so all could read what this arrogant UN Humanitarian really said. And he said a bunch. Hit the link and watch the 27 December 04 Press Conference. I've added the time markers. [I can't...

Earlier today, responding to these remarks by the UN's Jan Egeland But U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised. "It is beyond me why are we so stingy, really," the Norwegian-born U.N. official told reporters. "Christmastime should remind many Western countries at least, [of] how rich we have become." "There are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy," he said, adding that politicians in the United States and Europe...

Stingy Americans?: U.N. Official's Comment Hits Nerve of American Charity By John Heilprin Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - A suggestion by a U.N. official that the world's richest nations were "stingy" irritated the Bush administration, especially when U.S. aid for Asia's earthquake is expected to eventually rise from the millions to more than $1 billion. The comment reopened the question of how to measure American generosity. The answer ultimately depends on the measuring stick. The U.S. government is always near the top in total humanitarian aid dollars - even before private donations are counted - but it finishes near...