Big time fake. I saw it coming Tuesday
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."
Frankly, I could give a flying **** what the rest of the world thinks. I don't care about them and I don't care if they don't like me. They can take a flying leap for all I care. They can all go to hell. When it happens in their country, the USA is the first place they look to for handouts. *iss on all of them.
World stunned as US struggles with Katrina
Because America already has so many of our citizens and military spread across the globe already helping them. Meanwhile a Hurricane wipes out practically two states and displaces millions of people. Foreign countries would fair far worse than we are with this mess.
Atlanta? You mean fake fuel shortages, then...
Mindset? Please elaborate.
Big time fake. I saw it coming Tuesday
No,
I'm going to lunch,
Then I'm having a fun weekend.
Bye!
"All we're seeing is the criminal element that was always prevalent there"
I've been thinking the same thing for days now. They were calling their leaders WARLORDS on the radio. Said, they were vying for future positions of power.
LOL Bye. You sound like Cindy Sheehan who was just asked a hard question.
There are 4 gas stations on my way home from work. I pretty much used them all before, whichever was most convenient. Their behavior on Wednesday determined which ones I will patronize in the future. And only one of them passed the test.
We need to let the world know that New Orleans was the one city in America where tourists routinely complained about never feeling safe. What is happening in NO does not surprise me one bit.
a little perspective
Criminals target tsunami victims
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4145591.stm
Tuesday, 4 January, 2005, 17:22 GMT
By Kate McGeown
BBC News
They have already survived an experience that most people can scarcely imagine. But the victims of the Asian tsunami now face a new danger - criminals and opportunists trying to cash in on their misfortune.
"Unfortunately it's a golden opportunity for people to make money," said criminal psychologist Mike Berry.
"Some people will be incredibly depressed and that makes them easy targets. They are very vulnerable," he told the BBC News website.
Given the scale of the disaster, it is remarkable that only isolated examples of crime have emerged so far. But for the already traumatised victims, the impact can be devastating.
There are already reports of looting in many of the affected countries - with homes, shops and even dead bodies being targeted.
And in Sri Lanka, some of the disaster victims have allegedly been raped in refugee camps.
One of the most disturbing allegations is that criminal gangs are befriending children orphaned by the tsunami, and selling them to sex traffickers.
The Indonesian government has banned children under the age of 16 from being transferred from the devastated province of Aceh amid fears that trafficking syndicates were moving into the area.
The UN's children's' agency, Unicef, said it had received several reports of criminals offering kidnapped children from Aceh for sale or adoption.
A spokesman for Unicef in Indonesia, John Budd, said there had been one confirmed case of a child being smuggled from the devastated Indonesian province of Aceh to the nearby city of Medan for trafficking purposes.
I don't think you could have a more vulnerable child on earth than a child in this situation
John Budd, Unicef
He said there were also unconfirmed reports of up to 20 other children being taken to Malaysia, and possible hundreds to Jakarta.
"I don't think you could have a more vulnerable child on Earth than a child in this situation," Mr Budd told the BBC News website.
"A young child who has gone through what they have witnessed will be barely surviving in terms of psychological health."
While he stressed that at least some of these children could have been taken by people who are simply well-meaning, Unicef was very concerned that others were being abducted by organised gangs, posing as NGOs or family friends.
Mr Budd has recently become aware of an SMS message being sent widely around Asia advertising 300 Aceh orphans for sale.
He said that as a matter of urgency, Unicef was setting up registration schemes around Aceh to account for all children currently on their own.
False uncle
The threat to children is not confined to Aceh. There are reports that a 12-year-old Swedish boy injured in the tsunami in Thailand may have been kidnapped from a hospital.
The boy's American father flew to Thailand to find him. But although staff said he had been there the day after the disaster, there was no longer any trace of him.
According to Unicef, a man in India who claimed to be one child's uncle turned out to be a fraud.
In Sri Lanka, the National Child Protection Authority is investigating reports that two girls were sexually abused at a shelter in Galle, and a separate report that another woman was gang-raped.
Police told the AFP news agency they had received no complaints of rape, but a rights group in Colombo, the Women and Media Collective, said it had been told of "incidents of rape, gang rape, molestation and physical abuse".
"There is likely to be a lot of anger around, and this can be taken out on the women," said Mr Berry.
Even the dead are not safe from those who want to cash in on the disaster.
Jewellery has been reportedly stolen from the bodies of victims in Thailand - and from their homes and shops.
Other countries in the region have been plagued with fake tsunami warnings.
In both East Timor and Malaysian Borneo, false reports of an imminent disaster have forced people from their homes - leaving them empty, and ideal hunting grounds for looters.
Opportunists are not only targeting the countries directly affected by the quake, but also others - many on the other side of the world - which have lost citizens in the disaster.
More than 2,000 people are feared dead in Sweden, but the authorities in Stockholm have said they are not publishing the names of those affected for fear that thieves could break into their properties.
Even those who want to donate to the crisis have been affected.
A collection box for the disaster appeal was stolen from Salisbury Cathedral in England, and fake e-mail messages claiming to be from Oxfam have been sent to people in Hong Kong, asking them to donate money to the relief effort.
Any money donated went instead to a bank account in Europe, according to police and charity workers.
that's the sad thing about socialism
You're an uneducated schmoo.
They helped each other because the socialist government is useless, and the people of South VN don't expect anything from it.
Bay Area had enough forethought to buy an emergency fire hydrant system which could be placed OVER ground.
I don't remember riots at the last CA quake disaster.
People should be looking at NO.
Where is Jessie Jackson telling people to stop looting that the WORLD is looking at the people of color as the only looters?
Where is AL Sharpton urging black people stop killing and start helping?
Where are the race baiters urging people to make this "their finest hour"?
Where is mr. "vote or die" telling the Mayor of NO to cut the political BS and do his damn job?
Perhaps you're not kicking us when we are down, but a whole lotta folks are and it's revolting to say the least. Human beings takeing great joy in seeing other human beings suffering pi$$es me off. I don't mean to take it out on you.
Sweetie,
That was mean-spirited and uncalled for...
I was hungry as a bear, itching from pineapple over-consumption and I didn't want to rudely leave you hanging.
My answer in mindset is that of 'they will fix things' versus 'what can I do to fix things'.
Oh yeah,
Cindy WHO??
""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."
Why don't they mention the fact that New Orleans and 99% of Louisiana is a democratic stronghold? Why not mention that these people are the poorest in the nation for a reason....that they are democratic robots who are in the condition they are in because of democratic policies and inept democratic leaders?
(rant off)
"I stopped worring about what others thought about me in high school."
Bet that's done wonders for you career too, huh?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.