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."
"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."
Sad but true in this case.
The socialist nirvans implication and the snide French comment made me ill.
"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.
The French have a different way of doing it. They go on vacation while thousands of their old folks die.
Oh, Please. How about all these people who are inviting total strangers into their homes? Others are giving when they have nothing left to give. I'm so sick of you America bashing cretins I can't stand it.
This is BS
I made the same point to my wife. There is no looting and mayhem in Slidell either.
I have to agree with him. Our social system has degenerated over the years. This is the natural result.
I wonder how many illegal aliens lived in New Orleans and yet, despite being here illegally and not speaking the language, had the wherewithall to get out before the storm.
Were they white?
Still, you have to admit. Its an embarassment on the world stage.
Yes, Katrina has exposed some of our social ills, but I don't think the rest of the world gets it. We have a federal system and we WANT it that way. All systems have strengths and weaknesses. My heart goes out to those suffering in NO, but I don't WANT a federal police force. And I want local law enforcement to remain separate from the duties of our military. The rest of the world is safer with our division of power, too. It's just that they would never understand that.
The weeds of liberalism bear bitter fruit..
The mayhem is confined to New Orleans.
Blame that on Nagin, Blanco and the New Orleans residents.
Illness aside, it is accurate.
Exactly. Even in areas that were completely demolished, the people outside of NO are behaving in a civil manner.
I don't know that I believe not a single tourist was mugged, but he does have a point. In defense of the US I'd point out that New Orleans is a high density democrat area, and a high percentage of democrats don't believe in moral absolutes.
untrue.
Many instances of rape were reported throughout the tsunami area. These reports are more anti-american drivel. Ethnic hatred is always wrong-- including ethnic hatred directed at Americans.
The breakdowns in human systems throughout the world consistently produces the same ill behavior. Helicopters were also shot at during aid missions across the tsunami area.
If I recall correctly, wasn't rescuers forbidden to go into Northern Indonesia by Armed Muslim thugs after the Tsunami?
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