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."
(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.)
Why are we wasting our time and money in South Korea? It's not like it's even buying us any positive feelings from these people...
Exactly. How many politicians ran with a plank in their platform to strengthen the levees? It's been known for decades the levees couldn't hold back a catagory 3 hurricane. Maybe President Bush and the current administration should bear some of the blame, but only a small portion. Any polititican, of any stripe, on the state and local levels who did not make this a priority for years should shoulder most of it.
It's also worth noting the levees on the Miss. and Lake Poc. didn't fail. It waas the canal levees.
Where are the gangsta rappers sending millions to da Hood that they've taken from that population in exchange for their poisonous philosophy?
The real european line: "world overjoyed to see racial tensions exposed in USA."
The simple math does not make sense with this statement. 68% of New Orleans is black. 90% of New Orleans evacuated prior to the hurricane. It would seem from those statistics that it wasn't only 'white neighbors' that got out before Katrina hit.
Oh, I forgot..simple math is lost on people blinded by idealogy or a template.
"We need to take a breath and remind the world that NO is the exception."
I disagree. Waisting our time trying to convince some European America haters is non productive. Lets spend our time getting things in order and stop caring what others think of us. Their words can't hurt us unless we allow them to.
Man I am so tired of hearing this crap. Seriously, how expensive is a Greyhound bus ticket? Regardless of race, I chalk it up to the ability to think ahead and plan. If you can't envision a future where you reap the rewards of hard work and study you'll remain poor, and that same lack of vision will keep you from getting out when you should.
By the way, I'm sure the respone to a flood in glorious socialized Europe would just be pristine. Justlike when 14,000 French citizen died during a frigging heatwave.
Captain, please , let's not forget the Miami riots of the early 1980s where they shut down all major highways and burned an entire section of their area of the city to the ground.
As much as it pains me to say it, there have been quite a number of stories on the looting in Biloxi, MS.
""I hear you but Yankee stadium clears out 60000 in 1 hr - ""
"But could this happen is New York City were 80% underwater and under siege by gangsters? You are comparing ideal conditions to the worst possible conditions."
There are clear roads out of the Superdome and there is a military airfield open for 3 days now.
We are coming off looking like jerks -
>>WE could have C-130 with aid in Sri Lanka in 36 hours, and I am still hearing of hospitls in NO without food and water after five days. Very sad indeed.
Very sad, and it gives you pause for thought, doesn't it? What happens when we are hit with another large-scale terrorist attack (as we've been told by the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc WILL happen)? Apparently they have no plans to protect citizens, and we are all on our own in a Mad Max scenario for at least a week.
I've planned for 2 or 3 days, but am now gathering supplies for a week at least, probably two.
Exactly.
Not quite sure I believe that. Anyone else have stats on that?
Nice hit piece.
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.
Yep. The hurricane hit us cause we went into Iraq and took out a despot. Hmmm....wonder if THAT chick should check into joining Fred Phelps' church.
I'm often on many of the ILLEGAL immigrant threads, and most know me as being very anti ILLEGAL immigration and pro Great Wall of Texas. I just cited that as an example to show how being black is used by many as an excuse/crutch for being poor and somehow unable (not smart enough?) to leave New Orleans. That smacks of racism in my book, but certainly not for Liberals who are just looking to blame Bush and rich, white, Conservatives (rich, white Liberals get a pass of course).
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