Posted on 09/02/2005 8:04:20 AM PDT by finnman69
LONDON (Reuters) - The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.
World leaders and ordinary citizens have expressed sympathy with the people of the southern United States whose lives were devastated by the hurricane and the flooding that followed.
But many have also been shocked by the images of disorder beamed around the world -- looters roaming the debris-strewn streets and thousands of people gathered in New Orleans waiting for the authorities to provide food, water and other aid.
"Anarchy in the USA" declared Britain's best-selling newspaper The Sun.
"Apocalypse Now" headlined Germany's Handelsblatt daily.
The pictures of the catastrophe -- which has killed hundreds and possibly thousands -- have evoked memories of crises in the world's poorest nations such as last year's tsunami in Asia, which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing.
But some view the response to those disasters more favorably than the lawless aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."
SINKING INTO ANARCHY
Many newspapers highlighted criticism of local and state authorities and of President Bush. Some compared the sputtering relief effort with the massive amounts of money and resources poured into the war in Iraq.
"A modern metropolis sinking in water and into anarchy -- it is a really cruel spectacle for a champion of security like Bush," France's left-leaning Liberation newspaper said.
"(Al Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden, nice and dry in his hideaway, must be killing himself laughing."
A female employee at a multinational firm in South Korea said it may have been no accident the U.S. was hit.
"Maybe it was punishment for what it did to Iraq, which has a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster," said the woman, who did not want to be named as she has an American manager.
"A lot of the people I work with think this way. We spoke about it just the other day," she said.
Commentators noted the victims of the hurricane were overwhelmingly African Americans, too poor to flee the region as the hurricane loomed unlike some of their white neighbors.
New Orleans ranks fifth in the United States in terms of African American population and 67 percent of the city's residents are black.
"In one of the poorest states in the country, where black people earn half as much as white people, this has taken on a racial dimension," said a report in Britain's Guardian daily.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, in a veiled criticism of U.S. political thought, said the disaster showed the need for a strong state that could help poor people.
"You see in this example that even in the 21st century you need the state, a good functioning state, and I hope that for all these people, these poor people, that the Americans will do their best," he told reporters at a European Union meeting in Newport, Wales.
David Fordham, 33, a hospital anesthetist speaking at a London underground rail station, said he had spent time in America and was not surprised the country had struggled to cope.
"Maybe they just thought they could sit it out and everything would be okay," he said.
"It's unbelievable though -- the TV images -- and your heart goes out to them."
There were fears of child snatching for sexual slavery, during the tsunami recovery period. All was not fine and dandy in Asia.
No, Mr. Asselborn, a "strong state" is the PROBLEM, not the solution. Dependence on the state is precisely the reason so many were left stranded in New Orleans in the first place.
This isn't new. Many of our major cities have suffered looting and riots. Remember Watts? Or the reaction to the Rodney King jury verdict? Or the riots that erupted after MLK was assassinated?
It funny that the people of New Orleans do not blame the mayor or the governor. They only blame the Federal Government. I haven't heard anyone from the MSM attack the governor or the mayor.
Nope,
that still isn't what I meant.
It's more mindset than violence that I'm referring to.
Why is it that our media will only present the worst about America, be it this crisis or Iraq?
Sri Lanka has pledged $25,000 to our relief efforts. What, did these people really believe our streets were paved with gold and ours was a land of milk and honey? Give me a break.
I wish we could bring all our soldiers home, put 60,000 of them on the border, send the rest home, and next time these cheese weasels call with a problem, tell them to call the UN, maybe they'll pass a resolution for them.
Even when I went to grab a bite yesterday at lunch, the TV in the sandwich shop was showing police surrounding a bank in Gulfport that was being robbed.
Anyone that doesn't understand the difference between 15,000 refugees in the entire town of Biloxi, with road access in and out of town, and 15,000 refugees in a single building in NO with no access and no supplies and people dying in their midst just doesn't have any understanding of what is happening down there.
Funny to hear the socialists saying this is due to not enough socializm. It's BECAUSE of socializm this is happening.
The Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans welcome your solidarity, I'm sure.
I'm not trying to 'kick you when you're down'; I'm just surprised that events drifted out of any semblance of control for three days and counting!
Americans are seen as 'can-do' people; so this is truly shocking to me.
There, I said it. Again. When Rudy was responding to 9/11, he had a 95% + functioning city to respond with. NO has next to nothing.
Exactly. But don't expect the media to show it. Some jerk anchor on MSNBC last night ticked me off when he defended their continuous loop of looter footage with: "Unfortunately viewers don't want to see the good stuff. They only tune into the bad stuff." Excuse me? I'd rather see 400 hours of people helping each other than 4 seconds of looting. I believe these 24/7 cable news outlets have done us all a disservice by turning news into supposed entertainment.
Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach are rat counties and they have an emergency plan. They seem to "play well" with others.
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